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I’ve gone to Tekdi all my life. Even before I started going by myself, I remember my parents taking me there as a child. It’s a magical place. A hill, an oasis of green with its own resident peacock population right in the middle of the city, two minutes away from home. Also, the hike can be a killer workout if you choose to make it one. Everyone goes to Tekdi. You meet friends, family, far off acquaintances that you awkwardly smile at trying to remember their name. Even people you haven’t met for years or assume are in a different country might suddenly show up there one day. But apart from all of this, the place has a warmth because of all the memories attached to it, especially the pond in the quarry.

For the longest time, I always felt left out when I went to Tekdi. It was because despite going there for so many years I had never seen a peacock. I know it sounds silly but there are supposed to be a lot of peacocks there and everyone I know had seen one and I hadn’t. EVER!! That changed in 2013. On my first walk on the hill after I returned from Italy, I saw one. A majestic male perched on a branch a few feet away. I still remember the smile on my face. I had that memory on my mind when I began my evening hike a few days back. Somehow, I wanted to smile like that again.

That is how everything fell into place I guess, with a sincere wish to smile again. On the way down from Vetal Tekdi, I heard a rustle in the trees. I ignored it at first thinking it might be a fellow hiker. Then, as it kept getting closer, but without any sign of the person, I peered into the woods. Low and behold, a peacock emerged and calmly walked across my path. I was elated! Furiously happy with what had just happened so unexpectedly. As I continued downhill smiling to myself, something else struck me. I had always followed the same trail whenever I went on the hill, without fail, for the past 20 years!! Why? The hill is full of crisscrossing pathways that probably lead to the same places but also different access and exit routes maybe. Why then had I never explored? Why had I ignored these pathways to a point where I did not even realize they existed? Why was I so comfortable with my choice of pathway?

So I chose a different trail in the same general direction I was headed. It was amazing!! It was lower on the side of the hill, completely in the shade. I saw a completely different vista of the city from a perspective I’d never seen before. There were water reservoirs for the wild animals and birds by the pathway and also 2 temples I had never seen before. The trail then led to a wall that I regularly see, but I was on the other side. I had always wondered what was on the other side. That day it was me!! I then climbed over and reached the end on my usual trail.

The entire way back home I was smiling. Honestly, even as I write this, I’m still smiling. That sense of adventure, the thrill of seeing a wild peacock, it’s still there. It’s still attached to a place that I’ve gone to thousands of times before. The question now is, have I really been to Tekdi?? It’s funny how you find these little excitements even in the most mundane and routine things you do in life. Tiny escapes that make you wonder and smile and question your assumptions. So, when was the last time you did something for the first time, again??

P.S. – On the way back, I crossed two men in a very animated conversation. What I overheard was, “the astronomy of the Bhagvad Gita is amazingly clear. Shri Krishna says….” It blew my mind to bits!! Here I was raving about peacocks and dirt tracks and people around me were also discussing the nuances of spirituality and astronomy on their evening stroll. The fact that these things can happen together at the same time and in the same place will never cease to amaze me. It reminds me time and again why I love living in Pune, why I love living in India.