The Adventurer

 

I lifted my head up and looked around tentatively. It was deceptively calm and a gentle breeze played with the strands of loose hair around my face. That was good news. The breeze meant that it was my second awakening and I am not too far from the great hills where the breeze is constant. The quiet also meant that the forces were away. My heart leapt - this could be the day. As my vision cleared, I looked ahead and saw the gentle hills rise up in the horizon and my lips broke into a smile. Seeing the great hills tends to do that to me. They looked taller than usual today but that did nothing to diminish the happiness that surged in my heart. The sheer cliffs and slippery slopes don’t deter me but egg me on to try my new-found strength. They are a challenge, a calling that cannot be ignored. After all, it is at the foot of the great hills that I discovered my life’s purpose. The cave came much later, eerie in the quiet darkness that is its core, beckoning to me to venture into its depths and unravel its secrets. But the cave is an adventure for another day for that is what I am. I am an adventurer. 

Not for me the life of quietude in the plains, spending the day eating, sleeping, playing and being content with what the plains have to offer. Not that what the plains offer are not wondrous. The plains have been kind to me. Long ago, when I lay helpless, weak with limited vision, unable to fathom the land I was in, they had nurtured me. Those days, I could not see the hills and did not wonder at what lay beyond. But even then, the embers of the fire within me pushed me to exercise, to work on my skills, to improve my strength, and of course to test the forces. Slowly but steadily my range of movement increased. Then, one day, I had ventured farther up the plains and found myself at the foot of the great hills. They stood like sentinels guarding the beyond. The hills gave my life new meaning. Since that day, I have made it my life’s purpose to conquer the hills. Every morning, after my first awakening, I consume as much nutrition as I can and take some much needed rest. It’s the second awakening that brings me close to my destiny. When I say destiny, I do not mean the beyond. I do not know what lies there. It could be a wondrous land or a dark abyss that would consume me. My destiny is the adventure itself - to pull myself atop the great hills and behold the beyond.

I lifted my head up and looked around tentatively. The quiet seemed complete. I could not sense the forces around. I ventured forward slowly but steadily towards the hills, my senses tuned to detect the slightest movement, the slightest sound, anything that would indicate the presence of a force, for the presence of a force would doom my mission. I have often wondered whether the forces are good or evil. I have come to realise that they are not malevolent. Just as I have a purpose, they have one too. They are the keepers of the beyond. I learnt a long time ago that I cannot fight the forces. The forces have power and speed beyond measure. But there is one great secret that makes my adventure possible. I have been studying the forces for long and found that they are not constant. They can only be in one land at one time and there are other lands they need to be. Around the plains and the great hills, they are strongest at night and weakest at my second awakening. So that is when I strike. Stealth is the key.  As I made my way up the hills, I realised that they are indeed taller today than usual. But that is to be expected. The hills tend to be taller when the forces are weak. I pushed forward doggedly, pulling myself up with the new-found strength in my arms and pressing my tummy against the sheer sides for support. As I stretched my hand up to find my next hold, my fingers came upon a flat surface. Finally, I was almost there. I gripped the surface and pulled myself up with all my strength. In an instant, I was sprawled on top of the hill I had chosen to climb this morning, my arms still gripping the surface and my tummy just ahead of the incline that I had just climbed. My legs still dangled down pointing towards the plains far below.

I was startled by the suddenness of the change around me as I heard a rumbling like a thunder cloud drawing near. Oh, no. While I had been busy savouring my success, I had let my guard down and the forces had drawn near. I looked ahead and could see the beyond stretching ahead of me. I knew it was too late but being the adventurer that I am, I lunged forward in one last desperate attempt as the forces swirled around me and enveloped me. As the forces took over and carried me far away from my beloved hills my disappointment and frustration poured forth in a heart-rending cry that was drowned out by a rumble that sounded like, “Anu, stay off the pillows or you will fall off the bed”.

I often wonder what is going through the head of my seven month old daughter when I pull her away from atop the pillows kept around the bed to keep her from falling to the floor. If you could understand her language, I imagine, this would be her story.