Dr.

Aneeta Madhok
Professor - HR & OD,
Dean – School of Business Management
NMIMS University
Article

Fusion Magic

I am convinced that magic happens in that moment when clouds turn into
raindrops…..and when it happens millions of times each moment, the earth bursts forth
and awakens a green which is only to be experienced and cannot be put into words. You
don’t have to go too far to witness this magic……just take a short drive to cloud-laden,
rain-soaked Khandala in the monsoon and you will know what I mean.

There is no Mumbaikar who has not

seen the Sahyadri formation called the
Duke’s Nose. On the Pune expressway,
just as we are halfway up the Khopoli
ghats, emerges the view of a large
protruding formation of mountain rock
which, from this point, looks like an
aristocratic upwardly turned snobbish
expression of British nobility. History
speaks of this point as a place where
one reclusive Duke spent many hours of
solitude contemplating where life had
brought him. Many a time, I too had
looked up at this awesome mountain and wondered who he was and what a life he had
led.

The invitation to feel the magic came in the form of a monsoon trek to the Duke’s Nose,
organized by the British Council’s
Association of British Scholars on a rainy
Sunday in July. We assembled early
morning at the Convent of Jesus and
Mary at Khandala for our last cup of
warm tea for a long time to come. The
num there told us some of the stories and
legends of the terrain and bade us
farewell. From then, it was a three hour
wald through rolling hills, rocks, rivers,
fountains, ponds, paddy fields all soaked
with the magic of the cloud and rain. We
were a small motley crowd of some
friends, acquaintances and strangers from many walks of life. As we went on our way,
excitedly pointing out the views of waterfalls beyond the clouds in the hills, holding out a
helping hand across moss covered rocks, slippery grass, bubbling brooks and raging
streams, wading through paddy fields and marshes, we became award of a bond that held
us together in the absolute wilderness around.

The final ascent was a clamber up the

rocks that took our breath away in more
ways than one, to reach the tip of the
mountain. After paying obeisance at the
swayambhu Shiv temple at the top, it was
time to open the dry packets of lunch that
had survived the rainwater. Celebrations
happened as we cut the birthday cake for
our daughter right on top of the world.

After a short rest, it was the return journey

back the way we came. This time there was
a silence amongst us which made words meaningless. Partly silenced by exhaustion,
partly overwhelmed by nature, we made our way back to the waiting bus that took us to
the Convent where we had started.

They say, “You never conquer the

mountain; you only conquer yourself.”
Communicating with nature brings you
face-to-face with your nature within. The
joys and inhibitions, the fears and the
strength, the spirit of adventure, the
unknowns within reflected in the world
outside. The encounter was not just with
the mountain.

Would I do it again? Yes, definitely. Aati

Kya?

Aneeta Madhok
August 2006