I was in the Snowy Mountains, but I was missing the Himalayas

In June 2020, I went to Snowy Mountain with a coworker and reached the top point. There was beauty all around, and right In front, I could see a long road and a mountain wrapped in a white snow sheet. I could also see the small hills merging into each other.

But was I happy?

This was the scene that was slowly driving me into crazy thoughts about my neighborhood places in the great Himalayas. I was living every moment and every step, moving forward, when suddenly something touched my face; it felt like maybe it was going to rain. After some time, that touch increased. That white touch started spreading all around me. I was happy to see this, but I was still remembering Gulmarg, Kashmir, and the Himalayas.

I have been to the Snowy Mountains many times, and every time I went there I felt that something was missing. Whenever I saw the mountains of my neighboring states back in India, I felt nothing could be better or more beautiful than this. I have lived in the mountains and realized that nothing is more beautiful than living in snow-clad mountains. But here in the Snowy Mountains, it is only the momentary beauty that reminds me of my native place.

Whiletravelingg in the Himalayas, I climbed the peaks. I touched the sky the day I was in Khilanmarg at the beginning of February a couple of years ago, and there were more than 20 feet of snow under my feet.

In the beginning, I was full of excitement and energy as I heard about Snowy Mountain, which is the only place in Australia where it snows. I left by my car at 6 in the morning from Canberra with a coworker of mine, as we had to do a trek after reaching there. This was my first time going there in 2017. We were passing through very beautiful sights on the mountain.

The sun was bright, which was a sign of good weather and our exciting journey. First, we stopped at a place on the way and relieved some of our stiffness, and then we started walking in the mountains. We kept going, and we found some amazing views, which made us feel that we should see them leisurely.

The view ahead was becoming beautiful. Snow-clad mountains were visible far away. Sunlight was still falling directly on the mountains, and when we went a little ahead, suddenly I saw a white sheet. At first, I thought that it might be clouds, but when I looked carefully, it was a white sheet of snow on the mountains.

I was happy, but these were not the mountains that I saw in my country. One feels happy seeing such things for the first time in Australia, but this happiness is not the same as what I feel in Kashmir or Uttarakhand.

I remember when I stayed in Gulmarg for the first time, there was nothing for miles in the snowy field except a few tourist huts and local residents, small restaurants by the locals, and tourists carrying wooden boat-like skateboards. The weather would suddenly take a turn in the Himalayas. Darkness would start to prevail in the weather. The trees would look black due to the darkness, and the white sheet visible behind them spread a shade of beauty in different colors.

Now, we had come close to the snowy mountain, and the road was looking very beautiful. There were lush green trees, and a lake, and, as far as I could see, there were mountains and snow everywhere. After some time, we reached the tourist spot, and now our next stop was trekking and skiing.

The white sheet that I was so eager for was now right in front of us. We were going towards it. There was a lot of good in this climb, including pleasant weather, peace, snowy fields, and a snow-clad mountain. The mountain looks beautiful, and the white coating adds a different charm to it. Seeing the beauty of the mountain, I felt better.

But was it really so?

As we were moving ahead, the weather was getting colder due to the height, and cold winds were blowing. But my body was missing something while walking here. There was nothing like what I felt while walking in the Himalayas.

I stopped there and started looking at that mountain covered in a white sheet. I had thought that in the months of May and June, there would be a lot of white snow all around us. After that white rain, the weather would be colder, but it was not so. I felt like, as we collect artificial snow in Mussoorie and Shimla in the summer and tourists enjoy it, the same was going on here.

I was in the Snowy Mountains, but after reaching here, the picture started getting clearer. I kept going, but I did not see anything that could remind me of the Himalayas, although my local coworker was pretty happy because he had never been to the great Himalayas.

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