Five Days In The Blue Mountains

By Senthil Rajkumar

I was on a journey to empty my cup so that, I can refill the same with new experiences and lessons. My aim was to unlearn obsolete things, re-validate previously defined rules and methods, assimilate new thoughts so that I can move onto the next level. During my journey I realized that if I am to truly move ahead in life then I should not only look at increasing the size of my cup but should also cleanse my cup by purging unwanted thoughts..

• Language: English
• Publisher: Senthil Rajkumar
• Release date: Oct 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310879043

Book preview

I endeavor

to be stress free

I don't create, accept or relay stress

Five Days In The

Blue Mountains

by

D. Senthil Rajkumar

Copyright © 2014 by Senthil Rajkumar

ISBN-13: 978-1500834388

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

Preface

The way this book came about is a cliche. I went to the Nilgiris with two main objectives. First one was to relax and the second one was to write a book. I had planned a longer stay at the Nilgiris than the one it eventually turned out to be. Due to shortened stay the trip objectives changed from relaxation to travel oriented self healing. My shortened stay prevented me from writing a book and I didn't try to fool myself. On my return I decided to write a book based on my travel to the Nilgiris. This seemed a lot more easier task than my previous attempts at writing a book.

Ever since my essay writing competition in my sixth grade I always knew that I am a writer and will author many books in the future. I have been serious about writing a book for the last ten years. During the first few years I was able to narrow on a few subjects but didn't make any attempt to write, in the next few years I was able to progress further by creating a document and giving the book a title. Many empty documents and one liners later I finally decided that the computer is my enemy and resorted to pen and paper. This time I made tremendous progress even though my mind was way faster than my hand I was able to gain momentum. After nearly three months of sleepless nights, missed meals and 15 kg s weight loss I was able to finish half the book.

The book was an analysis of a movie and I had given my views and thoughts about many subjects that the film dealt with like caste, money etc...At that point I developed doubts about the ownership of the views and thoughts represented in the book. I feared that the movie makers might walk away with the credit for my effort and this thought became a major road block. For the next few years I was in the in-between world Neither could I bring myself to complete the book nor could I write another book. Years went by without any progress and I saw couple of books making news with the analysis concept During the Nilgiris trip I decided that it is time to move on to a different book for I felt like I had out grown my half finished book. The way I saw world now was totally different from how I saw it when I wrote that book. I thought I will write a quickie with a simple concept. A less effort intensive book seemed enticing to me. Although the decision to write the book was taken within hours of me reaching Chennai I kept procrastinating. Although I thought about what to write I didn't write even a single word during the first 21 days. Initially I pushed myself to write as soon as possible reasoning that it is best to write when the memories are fresh. Due to a combination of tiredness, laziness and stress induced hesitation I couldn't do so for a week. Once the first week went by I no longer could push myself with the fresh memory reason instead I started giving reasons for procrastinating like I am taking in the events and analyzing the same. This argument seemed reasonable and further delayed my attempt to write.

Finally one day after nearly three weeks I told myself that I am writing this book because it was supposed to be a quickie demanding less effort myself and that I should not complicate it. As I was writing the book my neighbor started constructing their second floor and I had to deal with the constant hammering sound. The loud hammering sound in conjunction with the constant fear of them inflicting damage to my property kept me on tender hooks. I wrote most of the book with the hammering sound in my head. Bang Bang Bang Oops Bang is used for gun shots, well to me it sounded the same. After nearly 30 days of hammering finally they stopped. I wondered whether they were constructing or bringing down their house. I was ¾ done with the book when the 2014 football world cup started. Amidst sleepless nights and emotional fluctuations I made progress on the book at snails pace. Finally the world cup got over and after having witnessed the historical thrashing of Spain and Brazil, I went back to dedicating myself to writing but couldn't do so for another week due starting trouble. When I some how got back into my groove I had to comprehend the loss of my trusted laptop which had been serving me for more than 15 years. After many hurdles I finally finished this book and like any other creator I am very proud of my creation.

What should have been a quickie took me almost 3 months to write. At times when I was in the mood I wrote extensively on subjects that I was dealing at that time. Even smaller aspects got more attention from me. But when I was not in the mood and was trying to find my rhythm I seemed to have written less even on important aspects. Initially I focused on the trip but gradually found expressing my views through the events of the trip. I tried hard to limit myself to aspects that were related to my travel but found slipping into analysis and viewpoints every now and then. The biggest problem I faced when writing this book was maintaining consistency levels. When I reached the end of the book I couldn't finish it. I just kept writing more and more. It was like I didn't want to let go. I somehow forced myself to finish the book but then I found myself writing more for the preface. I had fun writing this book, hope you will have the same reading my book.

Five days in the Blue Mountains

by Senthil Rajkumar

Introduction

As I lay uncomfortably in my side upper berth, I was staring at a piece of cloth that was to my right corner. It was the 1st of May 2014, I had just finished my trip to the Nilgiris and was returning to Chennai by Nilgiris Express also known as the blue mountain express. These side upper berths are my nightmare, they are way shorter than the normal sleeping berths which forces me to lie down with my legs hanging outside. Why am I staring at this piece of cloth? Well, as I climbed up to my upper side berth I saw this piece cloth lying there, it looked like a ladies handkerchief but I am not very sure of it. I wanted to throw it away but couldn’t find anything with which I could move it safely. I know it is just a piece of cloth which doesn’t pose any threat to me or for anybody but I just couldn’t bring myself to touch something that was alien to me and the place. I was staring at it because I didn’t want it to be there but it was still there and I couldn’t do anything to change that. Luckily the short berth made sure that I would never use that part of the berth because I had to lie down diagonally. Probably because of this fact I didn’t try hard enough to remove that cloth but it was still staring at me, reminding me it is still there and I am not doing anything about that. As I lay in complete co-existence with the piece of cloth; I wondered whether this is life. The short berth, the piece of cloth and me

I had boarded the train from Metupalayam which is a small town on the foot hills of Western Ghats. As I was entering the railway station that evening I noticed that the railway police were busy checking the baggage for possible threats which I thought was slightly odd because Metupalayam is really a small station and its only claim to fame is that the Nilgiris Mountain Train starts from here. Then again I told myself, anything for safety. Anyway, after getting my baggage checked I was walking on the platform looking at the time on the big old fashioned clock that hung distinctively for everyone to see. With more people using their cell phone to check time, I wondered how many had really used the clock. My first instinct was also to check my cell phone but I liked the old clock better. The clock was big, round, pleasing, attractive and was right in front of me. I do have a weakness for beauty and curves. I made a quick assessment on effort needed to check the time and decided to go with the station analog clock which is totally absurd considering that while I was making this assessment I had already seen the time.

Every time I am presented with options I invariably go into assessment mode irrespective of the significance of the outcome. Having choice is supposed to be good then why is it making life more complex than what it needs to be. For example the presence of some many news channels confuses me I am spoiled for choices I don’t know why so many are there in the first place? It is mostly the same news across all the channels then why? Then I realized it is about finding a comfort zone. I figured I liked certain channels for varied reasons including the anchor’s personality, credibility & presentation. If everyone is like me then there needn’t be any choice right, well first of all the possibility of everyone being like me is very less. Even though not impossible unless someone cloned me and put the clones on a new planet or if I am the only person on the planet, it is a very unlikely scenario. Even under such a scenario my preferences will change according to lot of factors including mood, need etc if I am not given any choice then I will be wondering what I am missing. So decision making is always a complex prospect irrespective of the choices involved because there is always a choice even when there isn’t any. I prefer having choices and evaluating them rather than wondering could have been my other choices. In another world where I was never exposed to options at all then the above argument will not hold but then again that possibility is very remote. Just like me people make choices with which they are comfortable at that point