A Sunset at Pachmarhi

Written on 26 Jan, 12–13 Feb

Narrator: Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Man 1: Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird!
Woman 1: It’s a plane!
Man 2: It’s Superman!

Location: Dhoopgarh mountain peak, Madhya Pradesh — the highest point in the state
Date: December 30th, 2023
Event: A sunset at 1350 meters above mean sea level with four of my friends and about 500 others

In no way can this piece do justice to what I witnessed. Seeing this sunset was one of the most mesmerizing moments I’ve experienced in my life. Please go there if you haven’t; Pachmarhi is an amazing place.

While it’s the last week of the year and you’re itching to travel somewhere, you get a call from someone you least expected in your contacts, and he asks if you’re up for a trip for the new year.

The entire trip happens without any fuss, with the friend who called you, Ojas, and someone you met for the first time when you pulled up the car to his home to leave for the trip, Mayank.

It is in our favour to remind us that our time on this planet is limited — this revelation can either make you more nihilistic or it will give you more reasons to live more fully. We all are different systems and beings shaped by our experiences and reactions and with the fate of what we came with on this planet. Most certainly, this wasn’t our choice in the first place, but we bear along the struggles and the joys that come with it and keep traveling, one Sisyphean journey at a time. I’ve also started to question if the decisions that we make are really something pre-decided and not something that we make consciously and rationally. It also makes sense to say that we are all connected with everyone and everything that’s around us in one way or another.

I saw loud kids, couples, parents who begged for some peace from their kids, many grown-ups who had come with their parents, groups of people in similar age groups like ours. Of course, on one end, there was a line of folks who had left their subordinates to make sure they click the greatest pictures and videos on their iPhones.

I was carefully and silently watching everything happening around me while watching the sun go down. I sat with my friend on my left, but we didn’t speak a word. Initially, it was bright enough that it hurt a little to see it with naked eyes, but then it started revealing its beauty as it slowly descended and faded its brightness.

There’s a point when the sun starts acquiring a hue of orange as it bids us goodbye, then it sets behind another peak. A time comes when it starts to form a negative crescent as it goes behind the mountain.

I wondered and hoped if people would stop speaking, chatting, and sit in silence, but that didn’t happen. Had it been a European nation, there would be pin-drop silence at this point in time and everyone would have watched the sun with complete attention.

I felt euphoric as it went down, and seconds passed in my life, everyone around me, and on this planet. We were all witnessing something simultaneously, but it was interesting how each person feels and experiences things differently. I believe all of it is shaped by our personal experiences, what we read/watch/follow, and what we stand for and prioritize in life.

The chatter didn’t stop, and some started a commentary about the progress of the sun. Something was going away, like a bride, but people were happy this time as they were waiting for a moment. It was a new start and a new beginning. Lives must have been made and lost, but every day this same place witnesses a beautiful sunrise on one end and a sunset that every tourist who comes to visit the place comes there to watch.

I wonder if someone must have expressed their love in this spot. I wonder if someone who must have seen the same sunset while they were single and is now coming this are with their partner. I wonder if someone is seeing this sunset as an adult, something they had seen when they were five. I wonder what everyone must be feeling when they watch the sunset. I wonder who everyone must have been until the time they’ve seen the sunset and what they will become after they are done watching it. I wonder how much this sunset must have caused a moment of realization in the lives of the folks with whom I am watching it. I wonder what the folks who see that sunset at Dhoopgarh would feel today.

You may say with every passing moment, we create history — something that becomes part of the past. Just like that, after witnessing this sunset, if it resonates deeply within you, it can mark two distinct phases of your life. Such as the life you begin after marriage or when you bring a child into this world. These moments fundamentally change your lifestyle and alter your perspective on the world.

The sun glides like a bird you follow in the sky. It is with you once, and suddenly it’s gone, while you wonder, “It was right here, where has it gone now? Why can’t I see it?” It was simply on its own path, its course of flight and journey; you just happened to be a part of it — for a limited time.

I write this in autumn while trees shed their leaves. The sun is responsible for all the leaves and its greenery to stay, but that too follows its own process. Once it’s full of green with no space left, and now it’s all gone, and there’s no weight for the tree to hold, the tree is free, atleast for now.

While the sun goes away, it tells us there’s no permanence in this world. Everything goes away one day, and everything has a limited lifespan. A leaf you saw yesterday isn’t the same leaf today, and it will also change itself tomorrow, naturally. You may catch one sun one day and live with it, but tomorrow it will be different, and you’ll be different, although it might look the same. It’s best to catch the sun that’s with you today and live on.

One cannot spend time just with the sun for the whole day. We optimize for the parts when it looks the most beautiful and harmless. Ironically, it is also at the moment when it goes away. In the same way, not everyone can play all the roles in our lives; you are your own sun and radiate one energy. Some folks will be attracted by that, and some will come close to you to fill a role they would like to.

The sun can also be someone you loved or an old friendship that has gone stale now. It’s served its time and is now gone. It was with you one day but now it is gone. For some, their sun is with them. Although if you can and have the courage, you have the choice to reignite it and go close to the person — become a sun together and radiate an energy for yourself and the rest of the world.

Everywhere around us, there’s a sun; we love the shines of some, and some of them burn us. While we consciously and unconsciously navigate our lives, staying with the suns we like and dodging the suns that burned us. This not just holds true for the people around us, but everything with which we choose to spend our time. But you need to know that you’re free and have all the choices in the world. Like right now, on a Tuesday afternoon, I am delaying my work for the day and choosing to write and finish this piece.

There’s, of course, a lot more to write, and if I decide to spend my time on it, this piece will never end, but I need to stop somewhere. I’m currently reading a book by Haruki Murakami, ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.’ He picked up running as a lifelong activity, and that fuels his days, his life, and his writing.

Marathon running is not a sport for everyone, just as being a novelist isn’t a job for everyone. Nobody ever recommended or even desired that I be a novelist — in fact, some tried to stop me. I had the idea to be one, and that’s what I did. Likewise, a person doesn’t become a runner because someone recommends it. People basically become runners because they’re meant to. I write because I’m meant to, I have been happy and sad because I’m meant to, I picked up learning a ukulele because I’m meant to, I meet someone because I’m meant to. In the same way, I’ll end this piece and now move on to do the things I’m meant to do since I’ve stepped on this planet. Rather, I’ll catch a different sun and spend time with it till I am bored.

I’ll end this by saying — the sun was my favorite song I heard every single time; it was someone I had to let go, a friendship I lost. Except this time, I wasn’t very happy when this sun went down; maybe it was meant to be that way. The sun was my father.

You may check out everything I wrote between June 2022 and November 2023 on this page; I then moved to this platform.
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