I did something yesterday, which I never thought I would do. I did the Savandurga Trek. I had heard a lot about this trek being the most difficult one in Bangalore and I had made up my mind that I never would finish this.

To give some context, I am bad at hikes, like terrible. I don't know how to describe it, but I am slow, I need time to motivate myself in every step I take when I am hiking.

I never told this to anyone but I love mountains and there is a part of me that loves this entire concept of climbing mountains, soaking in the beauty of nature, and reaching the peak. But then comes this other side that I think for a long time has been dominating, the one where I constantly feel that I can't do it because maybe I am not physically fit or because I am slow when it comes to climbing mountains or the leg pain that happened to me 2 years back will be back again.

The same story happened this time as well. I agreed to join the trek with my team but one day before I started doubting the yes.

Anyway, I joined for the trek & there we were on the bus at 4 in the morning starting our journey to Savandurga. I was sleeping throughout the journey & didn't think about the hike.

As soon as we reached & got off the bus, I saw the mountain, my first reaction was How the hell am I going to climb this?Is there a way I can run from here? But none of this was an option & I started mentally preparing myself for the long journey ahead.

10 minutes into the hike & I had given up. I was like, I am sitting here and asked the rest of the folks to continue. Hari stayed back with me, & we slowly started our journey to the peak with enough breaks in between. As we were climbing up, I was blown away by the view. There was a feeling of calmness and gratefulness in being able to witness the view.

There were enough places in between where I had given up but thanks to the constant motivation and encouragement from Hari I somehow reached the Fort Wall. I had no plans on going to the peak and was done.

By this time, the rest of the folks had visited the peak & were on their way back to the Fort Wall. When they reached there, Sivanesh mentioned the peak was only 15 minutes from the Fort Wall & which motivated me, I have this moment, right now, and I have to make the most of it. I don't know if I will ever visit Savandurga again & wanted to prove to myself that I can do it and not go back home with the self-doubt and regret of not finishing it.

I mentally prepared myself & thus began the journey to the peak. It took me more than 15 minutes to reach the peak but when I reached there, it was the best feeling ever. Suddenly all the self-doubt that had been cropping up slowly vanished.

As I sat at the peak, slowly soaking in the view, I realized that sometimes, the things that scare us the most are probably the things that we need to do the most. All the things that I have been worried or scared about felt so small in front of the mountains.

Soon, we started our descent, and as a gift for completing the hike, Karthik plucked these flowers from the tree.

As we started our descent, I couldn't stop thinking about how at the very same points during the ascent I was under doubt on whether I would ever finish it or not.

This was my fourth hike, but Savandurga is so far my favorite one.

I never thought I would say this, but for some reason, I can't wait to do my next hike. I know there is still a lot of effort I need to put in to prepare myself but I am looking forward to the next one.

PS: Once again, thanks to Hari, Karthik, Sivanesh, Akshay, and everyone for being patient with me & helping me finish the hike.