the Horseshoe at Himalayas

As a grown-up, I respect charms and omens. Though I don’t share those beliefs with anyone, I have always been a deep appreciator of charms. Maybe I am a dreamer or just a fool to give a little space in my life for charms and omens. What to do!

 

I grew up in my ancestral house. It was there that I had my first tryst with a horseshoe charm. On the main doorframe of my house stood an old and tattered horseshoe.  This was securely nailed onto the doorframe. It was heavily painted brown. I have had time to discuss this horseshoe story with my long-lost grandmother. She told me that my grandpa got it from a friend of his. She told me that there was a belief among the natives that a horseshoe placed on the main doorframe of a house would bring good luck.  I grew up looking at this horseshoe until I was 9 years of age. Then I left my ancestral house to move to my house. The ‘horseshoe charm’ remained deep in my heart and I had a wild wish that one day I too would get a horseshoe.

The trick about the horseshoe charm is that it has to be a worn-out horseshoe, genuinely used by a horse, stallion, or mule. Added to it, the receiver has to have it as serendipity, as a coincidence. A purchased horseshoe will not bring him luck. One has to pick it up from the road. 

In 2007, I was in Texas, USA. Before leaving for the US, the horseshoe charm again struck me. ‘Ya, I will try my luck getting a horseshoe from a Texan road. After all, Texas is the land of cowboys’ I told myself.  True, Texas is the land of horses and cowboys. Nevertheless, I never found a horseshoe anywhere on Texan roads or super highways. After reaching Grapevine, I shared my ‘horseshoe wish’ with my US host. He treasured it in his heart. As I was packing home, my host gave me a present: a beautiful horseshoe-decorated leather photo-holder!

My guide gifted me my horseshoe at Hampta. 

This happened last year. For me to pick my horseshoe charm, I had to trek all my way up a mountain: it  was the Hampta trek, at around 1600 ft. (On each trek, I am aware that Himalayan mountains are sparingly gifted with tattered horseshoes. This comes from the animals that trekkers and climbers use.) Then it happened: to my great joy, I struck a beautiful worn-out horseshoe at Hampta. A photo was done: Rakesh, our guide gifting me my horseshoe.

A life without any dreams is a dead life. And, in everyone’s life, some dreams are fulfilled and dreams go dead...In my life too this is true. ‘Horseshoe’ is just one dream that came true. And I  discount all my dead dreams to the 'Horseshoe' dream that came true in my life!   Today, this horseshoe finds its place on the main door-frame of my house... and I smile to myself each time I spot my horseshoe in my going out and coming in.

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