With Ajay Bhalla On The Rock Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

Climbed the Rock along with Malini in Khasi Hills,
Khyllang rock about sixty kilometres away West
From pleasant Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya,
Reaching upto the sky by more than 1000 feet.

With a stent in heart, running sixty three years,
I still didn’t give up, but reached the top, and no help.
The way was steep, lucky the surface not slippery,
Only the top should be railed in to prevent accidents

We managed quite a few steep slopes like ants in line,
And cracking jokes on everything under the Sun,
Munching biscuits, groundnuts, gulping sandwiches,
And posing every now then with favourites to freeze.

There was a husband rock, the highest and the wife
Just by the side but not so tall and strong, and then
There was a baby-rock which many did not attempt,
But Vijay and I went up there and felt family-men true.

We could see large number of teenage groups
Boys and girls, with no supervisor, climbing up
Like hll-goats, with not a single false step,
But too bold for me to be comfortable.

It was a grand view but the camera even
In video mode doesn’t capture the grandeur
As my own eyes do, the depth and periphery
Are observed by natural eyes not artificial.

Moreover the eye captures what comes next moment
And thereafter too, whereas the camera once having clicked
Or captured cannot wait in time or go back to see what is
Happening at the next moment, mind supplying interval.

Ajay Bhalla and his team of officers had taken care
To ensure that no-one will slip or get tired or fall,
Nor would anyone be thirsty or hungry,
It was luxurious outing, in the lap of beautiful Nature.