Travel Blog - Journey, Stories and Experiences

It's 5 am in the morning. My mother opens up the gate and two regular dogs arrive waiting for this time to eat their food. One has golden fur, and one has black fur. We have nurtured them since they were only a few months old. I started giving food to the golden boy, and after a few months, he brought his friend. That's how their connection with my home started. Soon, they started spending a big part of their day inside my home, sunbathing in winter, and making sure all the home flies are eliminated from this territory. Soon they regained their health, and their fur got dense. This transformation must not have gotten hidden in their community, and I am sure some of their friends would have asked them, "Where are you getting all the food from?" and they must have replied, "We eat the same food. It is just our body type!" I say so because no other dog visited us with them from their territory. However, this got changed when the black boy became a young father....

 Can you hear the sound of my breath? I am panting. Why? I am walking on a stone-paved trek that goes to Kedarnath Dham. It is not an easy trek, especially when you have weight on you. The cold wind seems to help a lot, but I have a trick. I do not see in the front. I always look down towards the road. This way, I don't know how steep the climb is in front of me. It helps more than you think. The person you see with me, I have named him Saarthi, because he tries to show me the path. I do not need his help. I have climbed up and down this trek more than 5000 times in the past 7 years. I know you are amazed to know my stamina, but everyone says that I am born for this.  I am born to bear the weight of humans on a steep trek to the God whose one of the names is "Caretaker of Animals". I am a mule. An innocent and young mule. Everybody says that I am lucky I don't have to fight for survival every day in the jungles. I do not feel so. Saarthi keeps me company, and I love t...