The last part of the trail was particularly tiresome to climb. Our thighs refused to cope, and it was getting terribly exhausting. But you see, when you are in the mountains, the mountain rejuvenates you. We gathered our strength and reached the top of a hill. We were so glad to see the camping tents that my mother exclaimed the name of Lord Shiva in joy!

It was a cute little hilltop, an open area covered in dead yellow grasses and tiny red tents. As soon as I reached the top, it took my breath away. I noticed we were over the tree line, and we were surrounded by mountain ranges on all three sides! Mr. Ajit assigned me a tent in front of all the other tents, and I pretty much collapsed in front of it.

After a long day’s climb, when we finally reached our base camp, a steaming hot lunch was served, and we proved how voraciously we could eat when tempted enough to do so. Mr. Ajit kept briefing us as we were mouth-deep into our plates about our day, and I came to know that we were in a place called the “Gulling Top.” The bright, giant peak that has been in our view all day long was nothing other than the infamous Mt. Dronagiri peak!

This peak was yet to change my life, then and ever after…

The wind around us was cold, but the sun made sure that we were comfortable and warm. I spent some quality time with my parents sitting in front of the tent with the peak of Mt. Dronagiri in front of us. We were discussing how the day went for each one of us, and we wondered about how the peak would look when the sun set. Laughter from afar glided to our ears through the soft, cold wind as we enjoyed our family time, waiting for the sun to go down.

In no time, our anticipation came to an end. Soon, the sun went behind the hill at our back, and we felt the strong chill from the winds around us. The sky grew darker, and all of a sudden, we were in the shadow of another hill when my mother screamed at me with joy. We all looked to our left and witnessed something stunning, something magical. A less-witnessed view of Mt. Dronagiri!

The peak of Mt. Dronagiri was bleeding red and yellow, reflecting a shiny glow from the light of the setting sun. I ran inside my tent and brought out my camera gear. With two dead walnut trees in position, I framed my composition so that the peak could be seen through them. I pressed the shutter button, an action that changed my career! This very shot won an award from 1x.com and made me an award-winning photographer at one of the most prestigious online photo art galleries in the world.

As we were discussing the marvellous view, we didn’t notice how quickly the night caught up to us. It was dinner time, and we had a super delicious local meal for the night. While returning to my tent after dinner, I noticed that the sky was pitch dark with billions of stars gleaming on and off. It was bitterly cold outside; as a result, everybody was preparing to get into their sleeping bags when I noticed something unusual. The valley in front of us was glowing! There might have been some locality down there whose light was the reason for this surreal glow at that hour of the night, but to me, it was as wonderful as surprising. I took little to no time to set up my tripod and captured another long exposure image of the scenic beauty with my smartphone