Snow Walking, Murphy’s Law and Some Coffee

Somewhere near the northern hemisphere there was a place quite popular for every half year of daylight in summer and another half year of dark days during winter. Winter was harsh and the temperature used to keep dropping down till it got extremely cold.

It was a bleak early morning. I stepped out of my apartment. I glanced at a beautiful snowflake outside. Snow was drizzling down on the front door, in the apartment pathway, over the house roofs, on top of the cars parked on the streets, the lampshades looked white and there was snow and a lot of snow all over the place.

I saw tractors shoveling away the snow on the streets. I quickly walked to the bus station close by and hopped into a bus to the university study campus. I was thinking about the technical report I had to work on. Due to the harsh weather, there were very few buses those days. If I missed a bus in the morning, I got to take the next bus to the campus in the evening and then the same bus to return back home.

I hopped out of the bus and walked towards the campus. I entered the lobby and stood perplexed to find not a soul around. It just struck me that it was a holiday and there were only few staff working that day.

I got busy and involved in preparing the technical report. The clock was ticking fast and the time had not attracted to my attention.

In the nick of time, i realized its evening and the time for my last bus to return home. I felt an adrenaline rush and ran towards the exit door to catch the bus. Alas! I looked in vain. I missed the bus and it left me stranded alone in the campus entrance.

I hung in there, mellowed down, took a deep breath and within no time I found myself walking. I had never walked such a long distance in snow. I wore warm, waterproof winter boots, dressed in layers of clothes that could withstand cold and wet conditions. In order to counter attack Murphy’s law, I decided to give it a whirl.

I started walking slowly. It was a wide highway road. I walked on the designated pathway carrying a small backpack with a laptop, bottle of water and no food. In a span of six months, I learnt the art of snow walking. Never took missteps and never misaligned my body with the center of gravity and kept it intact.

Snow walking is similar to beach and sand walking. But when you walk on sand, the foot is firmly placed on the sand. On the other hand, when you step on snow, it creates a deep hole and your foot is planted on the hole. It requires enormous energy to take further steps and move forward.

To maintain roads for transportation purpose, corporation used winter service vehicles called Snow Plowing to move away snow and the loose gravels towards the edges of the road. As i walked on the edges of the highway road, it was getting more and more difficult.

I humbly ignored few strangers who offered to drive me home. I continued walking and traversing through a mild slope road and found that I almost covered the distance and reached the destination. A sigh of relief after hours of walking. My hip, thigh and groin muscles ached a lot.

I reached the apartment. Cooked my meal in a jiffy. Bathed. Felt relaxed. Had a coffee along with my meal. Fell asleep on the bed with my blanket tucked around.

When I look back at this snapshot in a broad spectrum of my life events, this was the pivotal moment that taught me resilience, strength and courage to face my challenges alone. I feel a sense of satisfaction and gratitude. I look forward to visiting this place again, but definitely not venture walking long hours in snow again.