By Irene Saha
It’s mountain hours on earth. The time is mountain, mountain, mountain on the mountain clock.
Mount Everest is feeling exhausted and lonely after a long million years. She wanted to talk to someone of her own kind but who would still be up at this hour, she wondered. She remembered her friend Mauna Kea living on the other side. They have not talked for 85,000 years; who’s got time for talking anymore anyway. Mauna Kea might be busy working. It has been tough for all the mountains on the surface of this planet. The darned bipeds have left not a single slope unscratched. The work never stops. She thought about the fleetingness of life on earth and tried to connect through the plates, sending tremors through the ancient masonry.
“Do you remember our old cousin Seamount?” Everest asked Mauna Kea.
“Bear Seamount? What about her?” Mauna Kea replied.
“I was thinking of visiting her. We need to plan our millennial trip. Why don’t we all go and visit her? She might guide us on how to go back to our ancestral home. The surface life no longer feels safe,” Everest sighed.
“Did you talk to the others? What do they think?” Mauna Kea questioned.
“I cannot make it for another six months; I have guests to host,” Annapurna said in a sleepy voice as she joined the vibrations.
“What guests?”
“Oh, you mean the humans! They are everywhere. Sometimes I wonder how lucky Olympus Mons is, living far away from all this chaos,” exclaimed Mauna Kea.
“I don’t think she is safe for long either. I heard the humans are already buying plots there,” replied Everest.
“What about Kangchenjunga?” asked Mauna Kea.
“She must be busy polishing her curved golds,” Everest replied.
“Helen and Fuji have become the new bffs and want to go somewhere colder, they cannot go through another breakout. Also, I have to remind them all not to call me Everest when we are there.”
“What should we call you then? Radhanath Sikder?”
“Come on!”
“Chomolungma or Sagarmatha?”
“No, by my mountain name. We must not forget our mountain self.
Mount Everest added, ”Oh and remind me to pack the antique whale family, I will return them to the ocean on the way. The humans will not leave me alone anyway and I need to make space for the souvenirs they bring for me.”