Treading the wind

And I was swept off my feet. Literally!!! I had to make quite an effort to keep my feet on the ground. Before you get any wrong notions about anything, it is the force of the wind that I was referring to.
This weekend, I along with a bunch of friends had gone for a trek. With the monsoon making its presence felt in and around the state, it was but obvious that we pay the forts a regular monsoon visit. It is on this particular trek that we experienced the power of the wind.
With a slight drizzle for company we started to ascend the mountain fort early in the morning. The greenery around, the newly sprung plant life, the wet smell of mother earth and fresh air made the climb seem worthwhile. We reached the first half of the mountain. And as soon as we put our foot on the flat land after the initial climb, a blast of wind greeted us. And the fun began. We managed to stay on our two feet and moved a little ahead. Caps and jackets were flying away along with the leaves and small insects. We somehow managed to hold on to our belongings. The intensity of the wind was such that we could hardly stay put at one place. With every step we were being swept to one direction. The wind coming from one direction, made me positive that one part of me might just go numb and get paralyzed. Alright! Ok! I know that was an exaggeration. But that is what the intensity of the wind was like. Whatever we did, it was just impossible to walk straight. Forget walking, the moment a blast of wind came in, we had to scurry around to find a firm footing and something to hold on to. But all we had was the rocks. The funniest part of this whole thing was that just when we thought we had won the battle against the wind and start walking, another blast of wind used to push us down. And to give the wind company was the rain. So we had to face a double attack so to say.
And all through this ordeal, we could not help but laugh and smile. Because we were feeling like drunkards making an effort to walk and stand straight. And after all, this was the first time that we were experiencing something like this.
After quite an effort we reached the top of the mountain fort. Though not very big as compared to a few others that we have been to, the climbing experience made this mountain fort seem very high and difficult. But at the same time, an enjoyable and memorable climb. This climb kind of gave an idea of what it must be like to conquer the Everest. And we seemed to have conquered ours for the time being. And with that has grown my respect for the power of the wind.