South Indian Rose on the Mountains

[I recently had the joy of interviewing Gayathri, a woman trekker from Chennai. She volunteers and organizes treks for Chennai Trekking Club (www.chennaitrekkers.org) and blogs her experiences at www.cgayathrisai.blogspot.in]

I did not know what to expect: would I see a young tomboy with an attitude, a slight unfeminine walk, suntanned skin, who will plop her elbows on the table, and start talking in a loud “I don’t care” accent; or would I see a young, frowning, serious young woman, with slightly built up muscles, vibrating a certain sense of toughness, who will slip into her seat with a certain smoothness and discipline and wait for me to begin.

But there she was, truly a South Indian Rose of the Mountains—sweet, chirpy, with large eyes that flashed and peered inside me—curious, questioning, slightly anxious, and thoroughly excited, thin, little and lithe who seemed more a bouncing ball than a girl who can hang on trees.

Yep, this is GayathriSai Chandrasekharan, a woman who treks, loves trekking, and is very good at it! She caught my eye in a recent blogpost on a very difficult Palani Exploratory Mission (fondly nicknamed as PX5), where she was the only woman trekker in a team of close to 40 of the best trekkers in South India. The mission saw some hard moments where even the best of trekkers were losing their nerve and cool but the writer says, “I have nothing but admiration and awe for Gayathri for her speed, stamina and her cheerful nature. When all of us brokedown, she was still soldiering along without a single word of despair. And of course for being the only rose amidst a sea of thorns.“

And she caught my eye because I love the mountains and do enjoy a moderate trek, but frankly, am no good at it. I slip and fall and slog and climb and worry and pray and wonder and watch my heart sink. But I look for role models—women role models, who swing up large boulders, jump over a ledge, can ease into tiny crevices for foothold, have enough grip on the next little crevice and somehow magically raise their entire body over the hurdle. I did have one, in a former female colleague in United States who was the President of Mountain Search and Rescue team, New Mexico and I loved to hear stories of how she once survived for eleven days in an ice cave during a massive snow storm. But I wanted to see, touch, know an Indian woman who did that.

Gayathri is a single child to a Tamilian family who like many others was initially protected from taking “risks.” Nope she is not an engineer nor does she work for a software consultancy firm. She works in a bank. Yes, her parents were anxious when she took to the mountains. But now they know that her co-trekkers are some the coolest and nicest men that Chennai has to offer.

How many treks has she been on? She has trekked for a year now and treks almost once a month—10 in total. She has been on 3 easy treks including one ladies trek that she organized, 5 moderate to moderate + treks and 2 difficult treks. She will be organizing a mixed-gender one-day endurance trek in June. Why mixed-gender? Because she does not believe that women should organize only ladies trek. There should be progress, she chimes. If we are to be at par with guys then we need to organize mixed gender treks too, she asserts.

Yes, her first trek was an easy level ladies trek. But nope, it was not easy for her—she struggled and her muscles were sore afterwards. But she did not back out. She simply went back and this time with a friend for an overnight trek. She caught the attention of fellow trekkers in her third trek when a moderate trek suddenly turned difficult after the group lost their trail. Her will and spirit shone through that dark, very rainy night in the narrow, very slippery ledge on Nagala in Andhra Pradesh. This girl has the courage, they noticed!!!

Does she ever get afraid? Yes, she does. Albeit briefly. After her third trek, she offered 108 coconuts to Ganesha. In her PX5 mission, there was a moment when she lost faith, and her heart overcome with exhaustion melted into tears in her eyes. She said, “Let me go.” But something in her quickly stepped back—Nope, I am not a person who gives up. She quickly climbed up and continued her journey.

It is in the tough moments, when we encounter ourselves—our insecurities, frailties, those aspects that make us uncomfortable, flinch, worry, do we also have the opportunity to triumph and grow—like that moment when the seed cracks open to release the new sapling, like the moment when the flower wilts out to make way for the fruit, like that moment when the fruit breaks free from the Mother Tree to raise another generation of trees. Provided, we can stop still a moment and believe as the Three Idiots do—“All is Well!”

And to all the women who are reading this post and wonder about mountains and deers who climb it and wonder and wonder about the secrets behind that crest, in that valley, and beyond—maybe you should follow Gayathri’s example and just give it a shot.

Let the mountain ranges in India be filled with not one, or two, or three roses—but may a Hundred Roses Bloom!