A white void, vast as a mountain’s foot, lies amoebiacally here. Its thick blunt limbs fill gaping valleys. I feel strange tickling sensations under the soles of my feet. I stand at the edge of a steep fold of land and gaze at Gurudongmar lake, a couple of hundred feet diagonally below. It is unfreezing itself as morning grows; as if by volition. The stray thought of slipping over this rocky slope makes me breathe hard. My carotids knock on my throat. Pinballs of thought guzzle oxygen. And here at about 17,800 feet, it is scant. My team leader gives me an oxygen aerosol-can and keeps an eye. Not many months ago we were on a jeep winding around sharp Himalayan roads on the way to Sela-pass. We were at little under 14,000 feet, near the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Chinese-Tibet. After initial nausea, I had an onset of strange altitude sickness. Breathlessness, copious salivation and I sank into a state of semi-consciousness. I saw whiteness, flashes of closely grazing Yaks, cloud
I am Yuvan, a naturalist, writer and activist based in Chennai. My work revolves around bringing nature education to children. In my travels I seek to understand how our mindscapes and cultures may be rooted in, braided with place and wilderness. My writings have appeared in Sanctuary Asia, Roundglass Sustain, The Hindu, etc. My book 'A Naturalist's Journal' is a collection of essays on countryside wilderness and my journey in walking out of the schooling-college system to educate myself.