Friday, March 20, 2015

Fuji-San

There is one memory of Japan which stays on in the mind after all these years. The sight of Mt Fuji
I have seen it in all seasons during my many visits to Japan. As a dear friend of mine used to describe, it is of course "The Perfect Cone"

       It was during one of the busiest schedule in my Tokyo visit. We were in the implementation phase of a project. Days were longer in office, we used to leave in time for the last train (12 pm) and reach our apartment well into the next day. We were a team of five people then working in the client’s office. Project work was like a perfect example of Murphy's Law. We were dousing more fires on a daily basis than ever before. The morale in the team was dipping and the shoulders were dropping and people were getting burnt out. 

  It was like everyone wanted a small win, a small victory so that one could motivate the team for better days at work. 

         It was around this time that Preetam (our engagement manager @ that time) brought up climbing Mt Fuji. He did point out that it would be a costly affair. Not a lot of guys were interested in climbing a dormant volcano. I had always wanted to climb Mt Fuji, it was one of the items on my bucket list. I was always curious on how the crater would be like on top of the volcanic mountain. I had read a lot about dormant volcanoes and a few friends of mine had climbed Mt Kilimanjaro. I was up for the challenge right away. It was already end of August and it was pretty much the last weekend where we could get to try climbing Mt Fuji.

              I had read that meteorological condition of Mt Fuji was similar to that of Himalayas, hence we had to be well prepared and carry the right equipment.  We went shopping in Shinjuku and picked up Gale wind jackets and climbing gear. North face jackets and gloves did burn a big hole in our pocket.
Inoue San and Hemanth from our team agreed to join us.  Preetham convinced our sales guy Shimomura san and hr Sreevishnu to join. So finally Me, Preetham, Preetham's wife, Hemanth, Inoue San, Shimomura san and Vishnu decided to climb Mt Fuji.

             We selected the subhashiri route ( http://www.fujiyama-navi.jp/fujitozan/route/page/subashiri/lang/en/). One thing was that this was one of the most scenic route and this ensured we would get down faster on the sand slope. 

            We started on a bright sunny Saturday morning and reached subashiri 5th station.
Our trail was approximately around 7.8 kms of climb to the summit and would normally take 6.5 hours. We decided to acclimatize for a few hours and rest in 6th or 7 station and climb in the night to reach the summit well in advance for sunrise. 

                         We started the ascent in the evening and after a couple of hours stopped in one of the huts. We got talking while enjoying the meso soup. Preetham's wife and I had a lot in common. She was part of the blue cross and had participated in tiger census in Jim Corbett. We ventured from treks to climbing and started discussing on Himalayas and base camp. In such company last thing we get to do is sleep :). She was very well versed in all these and she was questioning on if I had viewed the glacier, what wild animals we have spotted during the treks etc. 

         Finally we thought we need to sleep till 12 pm and then resume the climb. When we decided to resume Shimomura san told me that Preetham and his wife would return to the base as Preetham's wife was feeling nauseated and it might be altitude sickness. 

                       Climbing needs a lot of stamina and it’s better to not attempt it in case we are not in the best of health. So we started on the trail and reached the seventh station. Only way for us to understand it was the torii gates. From the seventh station as we climbed our speed reduced. We were panting after a few feet and were taking a lot of breaks. We decided to break into groups of two and climb together as it was getting difficult with multiple breaks. After passing the old seventh and 
eighth stations the trail became far more steeper. When I reached the 8.5 station I came across the last hut before the summit. Me and Inoue san had meso soup and it tasted like elixir. 

The hardest part of the trail was in front of us from 9th station to summit. Finally at around 5 am we reached the summit. We both crashed into a corner, tired, flustered and trying to get some air. We noticed that Shimomura san was the first to reach and he waved from afar. I wanted to get some breadth and said let’s wait for the sunrise. Then after the hard part of climbing was over, my mind was relieved, calm and happy to have one item off the bucket list. Curiosity to look at the crater was very much there but wanted to watch the sunrise as a lot of people had told me it’s a sight by itself.

There it was the Sun finally at around 5.35 am in the morning. 
It was the moment a lot of us were waiting for since quite a while.
The sight of the golden sun, slowly rising on the horizon was enough to dispel the longing and quell the tiredness.

Looking at the joy emanating from the people's faces at the onset of the sun. Sun surely does rise in the east. The cries of Sugoi, the clapping of the hands and couples huddled together mesmerized at the beauty of the sun, lost in thought, lost in the moment, lost in one another....

All I could remember is our song. I searched for that song in my iPod and was lost in it for a while.
Such beautiful lyrics... 

Nee Amrithadhare Koti Januma Jotegaati
Nee Amrithadhare Ehaku paraku Sangaati
Nee Illavadare Naa Hege Baalali


Nenapideye Modala Kavana
Nenapideye Modala Payana
Nenapideye Modala Dinada 
Bharavaseya Aasare

Nee Illavadare Naa Hege Baalali

All I wanted at that moment of loneliness was for a witness in life. It is not enough that I experience the beauty of nature, the sense of accomplishment, the joy of simple things. I wanted someone to share this happiness with. Memories will stay on, but shared memories have a stronger bonding I feel.

Then I remembered her wish list, 
·        most important thing for me in life she had said is patience
·        second most important thing is confidence
·        third most important thing is trust and comfort
·        fourth most important thing is sense of humor

She liked someone who can lead, decide and take care of her, someone who knows her in and out and is a witness for her life, with whom she does not feel alien, with whom she need not think twice to share, with whom she feels like a person without any mask, the person who makes her feel special and with whom she would give her life to be with.

When she had talked about witness for life, I had never understood the realm of it. Now it made some sense, the profoundness of that hit me there looking at the folks in joy. There the world became so small, I was on top of Mt Fuji, after having realized a long lost dream and after all that hard work, mind still thought of her. All I could do is sigh and answer Inoue san who had a long list of questions
Now with the sunrise done, it was about getting down safely.

 We went around the crater then started our descent. The run down the slope was fun. I never had in my dreams thought that there would be volcanic sand. As I tried put my foot down it would sink into the ground and as I ran down it was messing with my shoes. The morning was beautiful and I loved the feeling of being over the clouds and passing through them. 
         Then at a point during the descent, I was mesmerized with what I saw. A dreamy landscape wherein I was unable to differentiate where the sky ends and ground begins. It was for only a few seconds it felt so. But it was the most beautiful sight in this small life. 

After I reached the train station, I waited for the rest to join on the journey back to Tokyo.
There behind us was the Mt Fuji, something which was unconquered all these years. Now there was a sense of confidence, a feeling of conquering my own mind for a while, fighting against fatigue.
Little did I realize that this wouldn’t be the last visit to Mt Fuji.
A well-known Japanese saying suggests that anybody would be a fool not to climb Mount Fuji once but a fool to do so twice.
And I guess I had to prove I was a fool after all :)