Same, gloomy weekend, yes it was before I realised weekend could be a good thing to have! So, an usual weekend evening and home, actually the previous place I lived felt like home, this one was not so much home. I hated it and I still sometimes, years later, cheer up thinking that I am not in that place anymore. So, going back to the weekend. I decided to go on another trek to a waterfall nearby. It again rained and it was still noon, lush greens, water stream and mountains what else can you ever want.

So, I was walking and there were families and kids, which made me feel safer. I climbed up the mountain taking the usual stairs people had cut through the mountain and then while coming back I thought why not explore a little bit of Alps. I thought, why not just go and try to climb up further.I know not too much of a good decision making at play here. Now see from here, it was actual mountains so no predefined way was there or at least a way which I knew of. Okay, thinking about it now, I get shivers but you see, wanderer me can sometimes take over completely over this smart, reasonable Sooti of yours!

So, I decide to try to climb up and there is no signal, so there is no way to find any maps on my phone. I go a little farther away and I find a sort of uphill climb. I have no pictures, but imagine it not yet dark, but it is evening, it has just rained, it is all a little gloomy and cold. And there are not a lot of people around, and you are this person who decided to ( I am smiling sheepishly now, even writing about this ) climb further up the mountain, into a more forested mountain area which you have no idea about. Of course all of this thinking is in my head now but at that time, I just thought, I will find an easier way up, then will quickly go back and climb back down. Just as I was trying to find a way up this new slope, I found this old man my grandfather’s age and this woman my mother’s age. I thought I would ask them and they were like okay kid, you are walking with us back downstairs, going up there is not the correct way to the city. Of course, they misinterpreted the question, I wanted to climb up only, I explained. And they were like kiddo, we don’t think there is a way for you to go up there, it is already too late. So, she made me climb back to the farmlands instead. I didn’t even have to go back, they were taking a no-stairs way since the old uncle could not climb down the stairs. And were locals, so I got a nice explanation of the area from the lady and got a pretty cool companion for the rest of the walk. I still feel I need to grow up and make better choices but I think till I am learning that, I have got a set of cool people who have got my back, and hopefully will keep me alive!

Coming back from there, I took a train to this town Esslingen. On the way home …

Should I tell this story for today or is it too much for a day?

Also, the older trek I talked about is this one here - https://shruti.page/excerpts/i-felt-i-found-the-warmth-i-was-looking-for/