That Little Sack on your back!

 

Recently, members of my trekking group completed three rather difficult treks successfully. Over the weekend, we had a small gathering to listen to their stories.

One of them shared his story of how he suffered from fear of heights and how he struggled to navigate thru the challenging terrain. He was in the middle of nowhere with an Indonesian guide who hardly spoke any English. So there was no dialogue, no words of experience or wisdom. There was no way back, he had to overcome all his fears and move forward. Not easy.

Seeing his struggle the guide offered to carry the little sack on his back. It wasn't very heavy, nor was that impeding his trek. But he had no particular reason to refuse help so he agreed.

Miraculously, he started moving well on the terrain. The weight wasn't much but the fact that he had no weight on his back made him feel free, made him think positive and take the challenge on. Real life is not a fairly tale so he did struggle but on the whole he performed much better than before.

Probably we all carry some light sack on our backs. Something that may be insignificant ... may be some sense of responsibility, guilt of not being there for loved ones, guilt of not exercising regularly... something that keeps working at the back of our mind which drags up down.

Maybe once in a while, we should assess the loads and our backs and offload those which drag us down! Worth a try!

Drive away blues!

 How to drive away Monday Morning blues?

We usually start our working day with some meetings and greetings. Usually the discussion goes this way

Q: How are you?

A: Good. same old same old.

Why don't you try this. Instead of asking "How are you?" ask "What is new?" see how the expression changes. There may be some who are dying to tell you what is new in their life. Some others would not have thought of doing something new for a long time. If you keep asking "What is new?" instead of "How are you?" you will slowly start motivating people around you to break the monotony, go out of their routine and do something new, something interesting, something that will create memories.

When someone asks you this question, share minutest new thing you have done or experience you have had. You may have tried tomato sauce instead of usual chili sauce at your routine McDonalds meal but describe the experience, describe how you felt, describe whether it worked or it didn't.

Even if you are living the most perfectly happy and contented life, try something new. If it works you will be happier. If it doesn't you know you had the best life already.

Start a new cycle! do something new! Drive away blues...be it Monday morning or life in general!

When was the last time you tried something for the first time?

 

When was the last time you tried something for the first time?

Usually I never miss an opportunity to do something new, something I haven't imagined before. I may or may not possess the required skills. I may or may not be able to learn it on the go. I may make a complete fool of myself.

But this is what attracts me to the activity. I tell myself - It is ok to fail. It is ok to suck at it. But it is always worth a try. A new experience is alluring. Helps you to appreciate skills t
hat you don't possess. Helps you to build empathy if something goes wrong.

Last week I got an opportunity to flip Pratas. Prata is the lowest priced meal available in Singapore. It costs roughly about a dollar a piece and comes with unlimited helpings of curry. So prata flippers are often neglected beings. Probably they make lesser money that those who flip burgers.

But the skill level required to flip a prata is immense. Firstly there is no undo button. If something goes wrong you need to scrap the dough and start from the beginning. Hand dexterity required to handle the thin layer is very high... more skilled you are thinner are the layers in the prata.

I sucked at flipping prata. So one thing is sure the next time I see a prata flipper I will look at him with admiration...

That's enrichment, I guess.

What do you think? When was the last time you did something for the first time in life? What did you learn?

#firsttimeinmylife #Prata #prataflipping #singapore #singaporelife #firsttime #corporateevents #corporatelife #corporate

Why are we so happy on Jan 1st?

It's a mass illusion. Hysteria of some sort. Come Jan 1st every year. all over the world, we all feel very happy. There is a spring in our stride. There is a smile on our face. The sky appears more blue, trees are greener and moon appears a little bigger.

Trust me, it is all in our minds. Nothing has changed. The Sun and the Moon are blissfully unaware of what we are counting. They are just charting their own course around celestial spheres without a hint of emotions. Birds are busy finding their own food, just like yesterday. Fish are swimming, just like yesterday. And as a famous forward goes - year is new but you have same job, same spouse but bigger targets.

Everything is the same. Yet magically all of us are feeling happy. We are digging thru our address books to send best wishes. I received some wishes from contacts who were completely lost somewhere in time dimension or space dimension or perhaps the wavelengths changed. But without fail all of them wished me and my family well. I totally appreciate that.

To me, our happiness on beginning of new year is tacit acknowledgement that nothing lasts for ever. Whether we like it or not we believe in circle of life. If 2018 was bad, we hope the negative cycle would be broken and steady accent will start. If 2018 was good, those who see glass half full try to make 2019 better and those hapless souls who see otherwise brace for negative cycle.

The modern world is filled with negativity. There are barriers of trade, religion, politics, cast, race, gender, generation, money ... virtually everything. I read pages and pages of daily news to find one positive, optimistic news. But what I love about Jan 1st every year is somehow everyone turns optimistic. Everyone believes things will turn out to be better. Somehow all the barriers would lower down. We hope that as everyone around us is going to be an year older it would make them nicer, kinder. We hope that experience of one more cycle of seasons would make us wiser. The world will take one step forward to be a happier place.

It is that silver lining to a dark cloud that shines brightly across the whole world which probably makes all of us happy just for a day!

Happy 2019!

​

Elusive Mt. Fuji Part 6

Watching the sunrise at Mt Fuji wasn’t the end of our trek. The destination was reached but the journey was far from over. We still had to climb down 1700 mtr. This was a different challenge altogether. 

From the summit of Mt. Fuji to our dormitory was simple 45 minute descend. The same queue that ascended was descending. But the mood was quite different. There was no competition, no rush. There were smiling faces, laughters. Row of colourful jackets looked pleasing to the eye. We reached the dormitory and had our breakfast. 6 AM. Little did we know that there was another challenge waiting for us.
We packed and checked out of the dormitory. 7 AM. Wondering if there would be any other place whose check out time was 7 AM.
By now the sun had started beating down. It was quite warm. Being a volcanic mountain, the top of Mt Fuji is quite barren, there are hardly any trees or any shade. But that wasn’t the biggest challenge. The biggest challenge was the slippery slopes. Its famous as sand run in Japan. Basically its a very steep slope with gravel, small pebbles and sandy soil in different proportions. This makes the slopes very slippery and dangerous. The possibility of slipping and falling down exists at every step.
Initially, I was very careful. Making sure my trekking pole is nicely placed, making sure I was getting tight grip for every step, determined not to slip and fall. But later, I saw some trekkers literally running down the slopes. They were not scared of slipping and falling. In fact, they were using slipping down the slope to their advantage to cover some distance. Instead of controlling the slipping, they were anticipating and allowing the slipping and moving down very fast. They seemed to enjoy it too. After a bit, I threw caution to the wind and I tried that technique too. After a bit of trial and error, I started enjoying that too. I was coming down much faster and had lot of fun. Sure enough I was slipping and falling but was getting up with a smile and doing it all over again.
My Vonfucius mind said - your glory is not in worrying about the fall but to get up every time you fall with a smile.
We took long stops, refreshed ourselves with drinks, clicked pictures. With this worry-free technique descend was fun. Before we knew we were in the bus that took us back to parking lot.
It was exactly 24 hours since we started our ascend. Out of those 24 hours we were trekking for almost 16-18 hours. We were carrying a back pack which was nearly 5 kg. The meals were paltry and basic to say the least. We were at the mercy of weather, for some time we felt hot, for rest of the time we shivered. The beds we slept were so narrow that you couldn’t move your hands without touching your neighbour. In short, we went thru all the hardships we could in last 24 hours.
Yet when we got into the car we said - The fun is over, we have to go back to grind till next time buddy!
So here we are back to the grind of air conditioned offices, swanky cars, plush sofas, flat screen TVs and high speed internet, pining for next escape to the mountains!

Sunrise at Mt. Fuji

After all the hustle bustle we reached the top. Since it is volcanic mountain, the top of Mt. Fuji is quite unusual. There is a crater in the center and one can walk around the crater. So all the thousands of climbers could be accommodated easily. Offcourse vantage positions towards eastern edge were taken first. My fellow trekkers were faster than me, they went and blocked one such vantage position for us. The stage was set for grand finale.

Eastern skies were brightening up, wind was blowing hard. We were in luck as there were hardly any clouds in that direction. The tricky part of climbing all the way to watch sunrise or sunset is one small ill-positioned cloud can play the spoil sport. But the Universe was conspiring to show us the sunrise. It was very cold and blowing wind made it seem colder that what it was, so much so that it was difficult to take off gloves to click pictures or video. After initial hesitation, I flicked the gloves off and started taking pictures. After all, that was the reason, I had climbed 1,773 meter.

Cloud formations were striking, blowing wind was changing their shapes every few minutes. The sun was rising behind the horizon, it was apparent from changing colours of clouds. My vocabulary is too limited to do justice to describe colour palette that changed every moment from dark to black to grey to shades of pink to shades of orange till finally it became light. As the light went up the landscape started getting clearer. There were magical moments that unfolded in front of our eyes as the landscape turned from 2D to 3D. The contours became clearer, the crescent shaped Kawaguchi lake separated itself from the dark background. The mountain range on the right was struggling to contain all the clouds which were trying to escape to the left and engulf the view.

The magical moment came when the orange sphere appeared on the horizon. There was a loud cheer and sporadic claps, cameras clicked non-stop. Only when the Sun appeared on the horizon, we realised how fast the earth was moving. We could watch the sun only for a few seconds before it became it became so bright that we had to look away.

We had toiled for it for last 10-12 hours and it lasted only for a few minutes. But it filled our hearts with joy and sense of fulfilment. The images we saw were imprinted on our minds. We took a lot of pictures but those could capture only minuscule version of what we saw. The images we carry in our minds can’t be replicated on any medium and the air that we breathed smelt different. Just as the sun appeared in the sky, wind slowed down, there was welcome warmth in the air. There were smiles all around. Tiredness had evaporated. Sense of accomplishment filled our hearts.

We went around to take a look at the crater. It was huge, appeared bottomless from where we were standing. We were in awe with nature’s brute force which would have caused this eruption.

I hear a popular phrase - he conquered so and so mountain or so and so peak. I don’t really agree with this phrase at all. Peaks, mountains and nature in general is not really conquerable. It is not meant to be conquered at all. We are too inconsequential to make such preposterous claims. The only feelings I carry back from treks are gratitude, humility and feeling of oneness with the world.

Destination was achieved but journey wasn’t over. We slowly climbed back to our refuge without speaking a word. 

Cosmic peace had filled our minds.

Elusive Mt Fuji Part 4 Rush hour @1:30 AM

We got up next day morning at 1:30am and got ready to summit Mt. Fuji. The temperature outside was in single digits and very windy. So we had put on 3 layers - cotton T shirt, down jacket and windcheater, hand gloves, woolen cap and most importantly the head torch. Luckily we didn’t have to carry our sack.

We were excited that long cherished dream was going to be realised. 

Got ready to step out but I couldn’t come out of my dormitory because there was a big queue outside... a big human traffic jam towards the summit. At first, I couldn’t believe it. Guess One has to see it to believe it. The queue was at least a 1 km long and building up. The headlights made it easy for us to track the queue. There were twinkling stars in the sky and headlight formations along the route to climb up. 

When you have closely packed group moving forward slowly, its difficult to chat. Only sound in the air was footsteps and trekking pole. The footsteps on gravel-soil road sound like chap chap. When the trekking pole hits the ground it sounds like chuk and when you pick it up it brushes against the light gravel and makes the chyak.

Chuk Chap chap chyak
We were moving slowly along three lanes. Carefully watching our footsteps, trying not to slip. Careful not to touch each other. Carefully planting our trekking poles in empty spaces.

Chuk Chap chap chyak
Wind is blowing hard making some of us shiver. We are thankful that we are in group. Those in side lanes breaking the wind speed and provide the warmth to others. Slowly we are getting used to the warmth created by the group.

Chuk Chap chap chyak
This is not a city road so the width is not uniform, in some places its narrow and wider in others. Its breaking the monotony of the group. Three lanes are merging into two or even one, testing our patience. As soon as we hit wider sections we start running. Its mad rush to reach the top before sunrise and secure a good viewing spot.


Chuk Chap chap chyak
Some impatient folks look beyond the safety ropes and figure out that there is still some space to climb up safely. So they cross over and take the short cuts. Some brave hearts follow them, others give condescending looks. The tempo is building, initial calmness is giving way to impatience.


Chuk Chap chap chyak
We hit rockpatch. Taller trekkers can still manage to climb, shorter ones use their hands to climb. Everyone is trying to avoid contact and worse stepping on hands. But mishaps are unavoidable. The initial oneness of group is slowly giving way to competition.


Chuk Chap chap chyak
Japanese volunteers are the most sincere. At this hour in those mountains, they are guiding the crowds with their fluorescent sticks while speaking continuously in Japanese. By now heartbeats are up and some are slowing down. Others want to overtake. Tempo is definitely in the next octave.


Chuk Chap chap chyak
We see some trekkers napping in sitting position on narrow spaces on the sides. They must be the trekkers who couldn’t secure the accommodation but decided to do hike anyway. Wind is getting stronger and sheets they are wearing are clearly inadequate to protect them from winds. But they are so tired that they are napping anyway. We feel pity for them, but only for a moment. We are in a rush. We have to reach the top before the sun. Bye folks, we feel sorry for you but sorry can’t stop. Just like in cities. By now, all trekking courtesies and etiquettes are out of window.


Chuk Chap chap chyak
Oh take a look. The sky on eastern direction is brighter. We can easily spot the brightest point and imagine that the sun would rise from there. There are hardly any clouds on the horizon. Great! Twinkling stars are slowly disappearing, making way for the sun. We look at watch, still sometime before sunrise then look at the peak, the queue is slowly winding up Mt. Fuji. It looks like a fluorescent centipede moving slowly over the obstacle. We are not sure if we will reach the peak before sunrise. So rush!!


Chuk Chap chap chyak
Cut the line! Take the short cut! Avoid the hands! Oops Sorry! Don’t stop! Give way please! Where is my group? Never mind, they will find you, keep moving. I want to take a picture. No no. You will drop the camera. Move move move.

Its rush hour at 1:30 AM @Mt. Fuji.


Chuk Chap chap chyak
Chuk Chap chap chyak
Chuk Chap chap chyak

Elusive Mt. Fuji Part 2

There are four trails to reach the top of Mt. Fuji. Yoshida is the most popular and highly congested trail. I heard that one has to stop and give way to oncoming human traffic on this trail. It didn’t sound very different than Japanese train station so I requested Yuriko-san our boss for the trek to find another option. So she chose Subashiri trail.

We were four of us Nitin, Yuriko, Georgia and myself. All of us were from diverse backgrounds. Nitin is my classmate but has spent 25 years in Japan, Yuriko is Japanese looking to study abroad, Georgia is Canadian has studied in China and now doing higher education in Japan and me living in Singapore and travelling to Japan on work and trying to squeeze in a weekend to sumit Mt. Fuji. Sheer diversity of the group was fascinating. I love this aspect of trekking the most. It puts you in unimaginable situations and pairs you with totally unknown souls. I had several such treks in past two and half years. In each and every trek, I have come out more enriched, more accomplished and have formed strong bonds with friends whom I may never see again. Like Harry Potter’s story, activities select people so more often than not they come with similar attitudes and value systems. So four of us from four corners of the world had one aim to see sunrise from top of Mt Fuji next day morning!

Weather plays an important role in any trek and more so in Fuji. One can’t go by what the weather report says, one can’t even believe own eyes. Eternal rule is : Weather will change. If you have clouds, you will get Sun. If its warm it will become cold, eventually. We had to be ready for all 3 seasons - summer - which was where we started, winter - which was waiting for us at the summit and rains/ clouds - which was lurking in there somewhere, held the key whether we see the sunrise or not.

Something inside was telling me that behind the clouds and whistling winds, the Universe was conspiring to get me to summit and show me the festival of colours that the Sun plays with horizon, everyday. 

We offered our prayers at Komitake Shrine, hoped for good weather and started our climb!




Part 1 of this blog can be read in : http://www.vivekvaidya.com/2018/09/elusive-mt-fuji-part-1.html

Elusive Mt. Fuji : Part 1

Mt. Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan standing tall at 3776 m. The kanji depicting Mt Fuji also means wealth or abundance. I thought it is so befitting as Mt Fuji is as elusive as wealth or abundance is. It is open for climbing for just 68 days in a year. (July 1 - Sep 9). This season also coincides with typhoon season hence climbing Mt. Fuji and catching glimpse of rising sun requires a lot of planning and dash of luck.
I missed the opportunity in 2017. The weather played spoilsport last year and I had to change my plans. So I was determined since then to summit it this year. Planning began since Jan 2018.
There are 2 distinct itineraries for climbing. First type doesn’t involve any stay at the top. One starts at level 5 in late afternoon. Climb all the way to summit to catch the sunrise and descend to reach back. Second type of itinerary starts involves stay at level 8 or below. This requires a lot of planning as the dormitories get sold out 3 months before. We opted for this. My Japanese colleagues did all the planning.
They booked the dorms for every weekend in the season. The plan was we check the weather, choose the weekend and just go.
It worked spectacularly well. I summited Mt. Fuji on 26th August and saw the sunrise.
Plan to write all the stories here. Stay tuned!
Do leave comments about what you would like to hear!


PC: Abhijit Vaidya

Simulation of Life

Trekking in many ways is short gamified version of life.

We prepare a lot to go for trek. We go to gym, go for hikes, stretch ourselves to simulate trek. In real life we go to school, take degrees and try to prepare ourselves for real life situations.

But soon enough, as we start tiring and breathing gets heavy we realise either we could have prepared better or probably no amount of preparation was enough. Similarly, when we start our career, we realise all skills required to succeed were not taught. Somethings that were taught may be needed to unlearn.

We anticipate almost all kinds of weather situations and carry things that protect ourselves. Sunblock, wind cheater, warm jackets, gloves, ponchos, thermals, fleece jacket etc. But does that guarantee that we won’t feel cold? Does that guarantee we won’t get sunburn? Does that mean we will not get drenched?
No. Just like real life!

We find all kinds of trekkers around. Some carry heavy sacks packed with extra medicines, clothes, jackets... things required in eventualities. Some carry almost nothing... just bare necessities. To me later seem happier as they have less to worry because they worry less. Somehow they manage with what they have and those carrying large sacks remember what they forgot to pack. Just like real life!

Some trekkers are too technical. They wear gadgets that measures their speed, elevation, distance, heart rate...everything. They are conscious about how fast they are moving and whether they are in good form. Some others couldn’t care less. They stop everywhere to take photos. They notice chirping birds, color of the sky, vividly shaped stones. They are in no hurry. They enjoy journey don’t pine for the destination alone.

Those who rush have more statistics, less stories. More knowledge, less memories. More gadgets, less pictures. They are proud, later are happier. Just like real life!!

Why do we trek?
Because it is gamified capsuled version of life, that helps you to live life better.

Limitless human spirit

There were some moments in my trek, when I felt I was someone special to be at right place at right time.

We were slowly coming back from Everest Base Camp. It was very tiring. We ran out of breathe very often. But as soon as we reached the spot, it felt as if the body released some reserve energy. All of were happy, cheerful. Lot of high fives going around, everyone posing for photos. Thirty minutes we spent there was what we we walked for ten days. One important item on the bucket list was ticked. As we started coming back, all the additional efforts started weighing down on us and we started to walk even slower.

Out of blue, we heard a bell ringing softly. Many yaks, cows had crossed us but they didn't have bell around there necks. So this was something different. We saw a a trekker as ringing the bell as he walked. When we saw his fellow trekker we were surprised beyond words. The person following him was completely blind.

Human spirit has no limits.

Road we were walking on was trecherous. We had to be careful about every step. A wrong step could mean twisted ankle or fractured bone. But when we got that right, we were rewarded with great views. View of nice blue sky, contrasted with snow white mountains, green valleys, turquoise green coloured river curved thru the forest made us forget our tiredness. Physical efforts was our investment beautiful views was our reward.

I wonder how it worked for that blind man. I felt humbled. All my problems seemed miniscule. All my fears seemed absurd.

A motivated blind man merrily climbing up to the Everest Base Camp made me feel that I don't really have any right to complain about my life. It opened my eyes to possibilities I had never imagined before.

I love trekking because once in a while, in many unexpected ways, we experience things that might shake us out of our protected lives, set patterns and cosy limited realities, to show us the human spirit that we can never imagine.

Never too late to start your life!

My surprises about remarkable people in trekking was far from over.

After successfully reaching Everest Base Camp, I was on my way back. Literally zipping down the slope, rushing towards higher oxygen, talking loudly. Thats when I noticed a lady walking very slowly, carrying a long stick in her hand and her nepali guide was offering hand at every step and she was refusing to take it. This looked very interesting so I slowed down. I was curious about this lady and wanted to know more.

One remarkable thing when you are on such trails, in a contrast to our urban life is, if you smile at anyone on the trail, you get a smile back. Conversations are easy to start. No introductions nor any ice breaking is required. Color, race, age doesn't matter. If you need a smile you get it, if you need company you get it, if you need a hug you get it.

It wasn't difficult to start conversation with this lady. As luck would have it, she was from India and spoke same language. Conversation started flowing from word go. To my amazement, she was 75 years old. She had successfully reached Everest Base Camp. Looked very satisfied as she was slowly making her way back.

I wanted to know her story. She was an ordinary middle class woman from humble background. She did her first high altitude trek when she was 60 to Badrinath. She liked it very much. So she did a few more treks, Kedarnath, Kailash Manas Sarovar and finally Everest Base Camp. What great spirit! I asked her what was her motivation. From Childhood to early adulthood she did everything her father told her to do. She studied, she learnt to cook, she learnt to do little things at home. Then she got married. Then she did everything her husband asked her to do. She managed the household, raised the kids, made them good human beings. They got married too and then at 60 she was an empty nester with her husband again.

She said, "That's when I asked myself, what do I really want. I had lived my life for all others so far. Never thought of myself. So at age of 60 I had lived a reasonably happy life but I didn't real know what I wanted. So I went for my first trek without thinking too much. I didn't even know whether I will be able to complete it, leave alone liking it. But once I was in nature, I knew that was my calling. I knew this is what I wanted. Since then I never looked back. As soon as I reached back, I would plan my next trek. This makes me really happy and make me forget all the hardships I have faced in my life. At age of 60 I started living my life. I thank god for that."

The simple conversation turned profound. Its never too late to start your own life. Peep in your soul and ask yourself what you really want and start doing it.

Age is just a number!

I have completed 5 treks in last 15 months. 2 out of them were high altitude treks. My friends and colleagues tease me that my mid-life crisis is manifesting itself in resurgence of my old hobby. Trekking was rather easy in 20s, it was less tiring, more fun. I would walk up the slope singing, talking non-stop. Trekking in 40s is a different ball game altogether. Walking up the slope now needs preparation and determination. I had to accept that trekking was manifestation of my mid-life crisis by saying 40s is new 20s. In heart of hearts I was feeling very proud that I had embarked on my latest mission of trekking to the Everest Base Camp.

What happened in that trek completely changed my perspective.

"I am Nick I am an American and I am 64 years old"
Nick was my fellow trekker. I didn't know how to respond.
"Are you sure you will be able to complete the trek?" Our guide asked in a polite tone. A very offensive question asked in a polite tone doesn't hurt.
"Well, I have to because after EBC, I am planning to go to another peak at 6000+ meters."
He looked very confident but I wasn't sure. But all my doubts were laid to rest once we started walking together. Nick had obviously prepared very well and he was walking very well. I could barely catch up with him.

Nick wasn't alone we also had Meg with us, she was Japanese about same age as Nick. She had an equally amazing story. She had taken a month off and she was planning to do Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp treks back to back.

I was proud of myself for doing trekking to EBC in 40s but it was such an humbling experience to meet people who were much senior and were planning to do much more than me.

I saluted their motivation. I saluted their determination. I saluted their perseverance. I saluted their preparation. I saluted their families and friends for their support

If 40s was new 20s for me, 60s was new 40s for them. 

Global Nomads

Another set of interesting people I met in my treks are backpackers. Somehow, I am fascinated by them. I always saw them in cities like Bangkok. I would be dressed in business suit, trying to wade my way through slow moving traffic and I would see backpackers fumbling with their maps, with their heavy backpacks, watching the world go by. I really envied them.

In my trek however, quite a few fellow trekkers were backpackers too. So this was my chance to know more about them. 

I travel too. But mine is all official travel, everything is planned, the flight, the hotel, the taxi, the clothes, every day, every minute, every second. Their travel was completetly opposite. Except for next destination, nothing was planned.

I had to get them talking.

"Travelling is a bug. Once you have it, its hard to stay in once place. In last ten months, I have been to over 30 countries."
"Fascinating. How did you plan this?"
"The basic plan is there was no plan. There are no rules. I took one way ticket to perth. I stayed at a hostel, met like minded people. Then plans kept happening. I met a group who was going to New Zealand, I joined them. After three weeks, I met a group of three girls, who invited me to go to Bali. It was great fun. Later I found this amazing deal on Euro rail so I went to Europe for three months, then China, India, Jorden....." I lost track of his travel.
"So you are always on the move", thats the best way I could summarise it.
"Yes. As a matter of fact, I haven't slept in the same bed for more than 4 days in last 10 months"
"Wow. Don't you get bored with staying at hostels, shared rooms, common toilets?"
"Sometimes I do. So I check-in a five star hotel for a couple of days. Sleep on soft bed, have sumptuous breakfast, hot water baths, go to spa, get pampered."
"Then?"
"Then I get bored with artificial smiles and forced courtesy and start missing my travel buddies. Then I get back to hostels."
"Don't you call home? Aren't they worried?"
"Yes, I do call once in a while. The unwritten rule for travellers is call home just at the right frequency. If you call less, it means you are having too much fun. If you call too often, it means you are in trouble, may be you need money. Family feels worried."
This was counter-intuitive to me. I mom felt reassured if I called her every day.
"So what is the next destination?"
"Well, I am going home after this."
"Nice. Are you missing home?"
"Umm. Not sure all I can say is I am ready to go home."
"So what is more relaxing, travelling or going home."
He smiled. He had never thought about it.
"I will think about it when I feel settled at home." He said.

This simple conversation was enriching in so many ways.

At home, I don't sleep well if I change my pillow. Sleeping in different bed every four days, is simply unimaginable.

The world around us is inherently uncertain. We put a lot of efforts and work hard to make it predictable. That is why life looks like a struggle. When you start enjoying uncertainties of life, world becomes home. 

Why do we trek? part 2

Learn to keep weight down!

 

"Porter porter... give way" my guide called out.

I was breathless as I was climbing up the steep slope of Mount Kinabalu. I stopped readily, gave way to the porter. He was a lean man, carrying large sized cargo, walking much faster than me.  I could only watch him in admiration as I was sweating and panting.

I was on my way to Laban Rata, our base camp for Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak on the island of Sabah. I was carrying my day pack, couple of litres of water, extra jacket and few knick kancks, weighing just about 5 kg. I watched the porter who was carrying about 40 kg, walking twice as fast with admiration. Worst of all he didn't even have proper footware, just floaters. My bathroom floaters were in a better shape than those. He wasn't alone. These porters were carrying our bags, food items that would be cooked to serve us lavish buffet, gas cylinders, clean bedsheets, towels and all those similar items that make our stay luxurious at Laban Rata. This was a common scene in all treks.  No trek was possible without porters. They were lifeline of not just the trekkers but also the villages we passed through. 

While going to Everest Base Camp I saw a porter carrying entire fridge on his back. It was a high altitude trek, most of us very finding it difficult to breathe or walk briskly. But the porters around were carrying cargo that we never thought could be picked up by one human being. They were walking with a speed we could not catch up with even though we didn't carry any weight.

I was astounded, pained and intrigued at the same time. My initial reaction was pity and feeling of guilt. I was there for fun, recreation but porters were their for work. I blamed their plight on myself. I felt its because I want to come and relax here they are made to work like this.

My trek in Ladakh was different. There the cargo was carried by mules.
"Why don't they use animals?" I asked my guide who was walking alongside.
"If they use animals, they won't earn enough."

It was an eye opener for me to see in the age of smartphone and artificial intelligence, some humans still considered animals as a threat to their livelihood.

"Its their money, don't pity them."

They were working hard, so I could enjoy. It filled my heart with gratitude. So I started interacting with them. I talked, laughed, joked with them. I even tried picking up the load they were carrying. They burst into laughter looking at my plight. 

But they appreciated, someone was thinking about them, ready to put himself in their shoes. Talking to them, understanding them opened me up to their wonderful, innocent world that enriched my life.

Usually porter is an entry level position. Most guides start as porters. That's how they were familiar with every turn, every corner, every season. They knew everything. They were also very happy, smiling folks, always ready for fun. They want to sing and dance whenever they get a chance. So I decided to have fun their way. In Mount Rinjani I had an extempore singing and dancing performance with the porters. 

Such inconceivable and enjoyable moments with guides and porters in foreign countries are the heartwarming experiences I will always cherish.

I asked one of them, "How do you manage to stay happy, despite the hardwork."

He said, "No doubt carrying the load is painful. But we learn to forget the pain as soon as we keep the load down and learn to enjoy ourselves."
It was profound!

In our urban lives we carry mental loads, not physical ones. They are invisible hence more dangerous. Seemingly uneducated, fun loving porter unknowingly told me secret of happiness!!

Why do we trek?

To learn to keep weight down and enjoy!! 

Why do we trek?

In last 15 months, I completed 5 hikes in 5 different countries. I started off with Markha Valley in Leh, then Kota Kinabalu in East Malaysia - tallest peak in South East Asia. Then I went to Mount Rinjani on Lombok island in Indonesia. In August, I intended to go to Mount Fuji but bad weather forced us to change the destination and we went to Mt. Shibutsu instead. Finally, in the month of October I went to Everest Base Camp from Nepal side. With this flurry of treks, I surprised my family, close friends and myself too.

Trekking was part of my life in 20s when I was in my graduate engineering course. Every semester would start and end with a trek in Sahyadri range on ancient forts. When I look back at my life in engineering course, I don't remember my subjects, my studies, my professors nor my grades for which I struggled so hard. I don't even remember what I learnt and how that is helping me in my life now. All those memories are hazy. What I remember very clearly are my treks. I can close my eyes and see the rocky mountains, green valleys. I can hear cuckooing birds and waterfalls jumping from the cliffs. I can smell the wild flowers and jungle grass. I still remember who said what and how we laughed till tears rolled on our cheeks. When I think about those days my heart is filled with serene happiness.

Life zipped past me. I was in my mid-forties before I could think of trekking again. That's when I accidentally stumbled upon an opportunity to do my first high altitude trek in Leh. I grabbed it with both hands and rest as they say history.

I jokingly tell my close friends that my mid-life crisis manifested itself in resurgence of trekking in my life. I had fond memories of this adventure sport in my early life, its helping me to cope with uncertainty in later half of my life. What I didn't know is it is not just filling the void. It is much more than that.

Trekking has opened me to a lot more life experiences than I could ever imagine. It has transformed some simple moments in golden life time memories. It has helped me to have deep connection with people across the world, whom I may never see again. But those moments will bind us together make us miss each other wherever we are.

In this blog series, I plan to share my memories, experiences. They enriched my life beyond my expectations, hope you will find them enjoyable. 

Over-measured Life!

A few days back, someone gifted me a Fitbit. Without knowing much, I started using it. It was quite fascinating. It could measure everything I did – how many steps I took, what was my activity level per hour, how was my heart beating… Everything. I enjoyed watching how many calories I burnt, how well I slept and how my weight and BMI changed over a period of time. It was the best thing that could happen to me I thought. The app was very user friendly. I could even measure whether I had enough water and whether I ate healthy food. I started feeding all this information in the app voluntarily and enjoyed looking at the analytics. It was fun but not for too long.
Soon I realised that instead of me possessing Fitbit, Fitbit had possessed me. As soon as I opened my eyes, I would look at the app to measure how well I slept. Instead of drinking water when I am thirsty, I would wait for the app to prompt me. Instead of asking my body whether I had enough exercise, I started to look at my step count.
In short, I had lost connection with my body. I measured everything, felt nothing. I should drink water when I felt thirsty. I should stop exercise when I felt tired. Instead, I was over-relying on a measurement instrument.
This is no way to live, I thought. The device did inculcate good habits in me, it helped to attain my active life style but I was falling prey to over-measurement. This led me to be disconnected from my gut feeling and connection with inner self.
Thats when I remembered the fundamental principle that I learnt in Engineering. The principle said - the measurement device should not alter the original parameter you are trying to measure. In this case, the measurement instrument was completely changing my mindset. That definitely wasn’t the intent. I needed to make some change.
One day, I simply didn’t wear it back. Now I feel like a free bird. I am still as active as before, I still know how many calories I burnt and how well I sleep, but I don’t measure it, just feel it. I have just left my over-measured life behind and feel more connected to self. I feel more, measure less.
This newly acquired good habit has rubbed off on other aspects of life too. Now I have stopped counting how many likes I get for my Facebook post or how many comments I have received for my profile picture or how long a person has taken to read my Whatsapp message. Measuring such petty things made me feel unappreciated and unhappy. As soon as I stopped measuring them, I felt appreciated.
Since then I follow a simple rule to avoid over-measured life : Don’t measure anything, that your inner self can feel!

Is success tiring you?

Every success, whether big or small, has its own price to pay. Success brings limelight & recognition not without hard work and exhaustion. A few months back, I was re-discovering this the hard way. The success was sweet but I had to pay heavy price - my health. At work, I had started several projects to reach my goals. I wanted to be ahead of all others and wanted to leave no stone unturned in my quest. Each project required tremendous efforts, dedication and focus. I felt it was all worth it because each project was successful. The spiral of success was pulling me inside and I was running with all my energy. I wanted to reach the top at shortest possible time, so I was running harder and harder.

Like world of physics is governed by Newton’s laws, Corporate world is governed by Murphy’s laws. Out of several Murphy’s laws which derail your plans, one law that clearly stands out is “When everything is going smooth, you have overlooked something very important.” In my case, it turned out to be my health. All successful initiatives were taking a toll on my health. I was working non-stop often feeling tired, fatigued, irritable. I had stopped exercising, meals were irregular. Global initiatives meant, con-calls at unearthly hours causing lack of sleep. No matter how hard I wanted to run, I could not. I fell ill and doctor strongly advised me to improve my lifestyle.
That is when I decided to take a break and go for a trek in the Himalayas. We had a strict exercise regime. I had to work hard to get back in shape and improve my stamina and endurance. I started exercising with the same sincerity and rigor that I showed at work. Slowly but surely I got back in shape and exercise regime worked.
The trek was most enjoyable. Being closer to nature and un-connected from internet gave me enough time to reflect on my challenges. It was almost like meditation which helped me listen to my inner voice and sort out my priorities. Little did I know that the trek would also teach me something about the way I was chasing success.
This learning came on the toughest day in our trek - we had to cross the highest pass in our trek which was located above 17,000 ft above sea level and later walk for another 4 hours. It was cold, windy and air had 25% less oxygen. We had to fight all adverse situations and cross the pass.
I was upto the challenge. I started on an upbeat note. I started walking as fast as I could, just like I was chasing my projects at work. I wanted to reach the peak as fast as I could. I was a man in hurry, I was worried that if I don’t keep the speed I may fall behind or worse still I may not even make it to the peak.
Initially, it felt good, I was making good progress but soon my legs started tiring and I suffered from shortness of breath. Soon, I was so tired that I could not take even one step forward and had to rest to catch my breath. That is when the most experienced trekker walked up to me and said, “What is the hurry dear! You are walking too fast. That is not sustainable.”
“I don’t want to be left behind”, I said.
“You would be left behind if keep running like this. Slow down. Find your own natural speed.”
“My own speed! What does that mean?”
“It’s the speed at which you don’t feel tired. The speed at which you don’t feel like stopping. The speed at which you can enjoy walking.”
“But that will be too slow?”, I said in bewilderment.
“You don’t have a choice. That is the only speed you can sustain.”
I was introspecting.
He started walking past me as he said,”When you are crossing that pass, you are not competing with anyone else. You are competing with yourself. You could win only if you walk with your natural speed.”
I realised he was walking very slowly, almost at a negligible pace. But he was comfortable, able to look around, admire the beauty and smell the roses.
I was still short on breath so I had no other choice but to follow my fellow trekker’s advice. His advice sounded profound. I remembered a quote by confucius, which so far had made no sense to me - It does not matter how slow you walk towards your goal, as long as you don’t stop. I got up and started walking slowly. Small steps at low speed made the walk enjoyable. Rather than thinking about the peak,  I started looking at breathtaking views around. I heard cooing of birds and noticed rabbit-like animals jumping around. The glaciers look relaxing and the grass looked greener. I started enjoying the journey than worrying about the destination. I didn’t care whether I was falling behind or leading the pack. All I cared about was whether I was walking with natural speed or not. I had to ensure I don’t tire myself up.
Needless to say, my team leader’s advice worked like a magic and I crossed the highest pass without getting tired. It was a great feeling. I had stopped competing with others and started competing with myself. I had stopped running and worked on finding my natural speed. That made the success very enjoyable.
This was the turning point in the trek that helped me to set my work-life right. I came back to work refreshed and charged up. But I didn’t start running like I did before. Instead, I worked on finding the natural speed of each initiative, each team and each project. If I could keep moving with that natural speed, I reckoned, I would enjoy my journey not just the destination, like I did at my highest mountain pass.
So, if your success is tiring you up, probably you are running too hard. Stop, take a break and find your natural speed - speed at which you wouldn’t get tired, speed at which you can enjoy the journey and not just worry about reaching the destination, speed at which you could smell roses on the way. Go find it!!

Dichotomy of Krishna’s love

Last week I had a pleasure of watching a colorful, artistic, surreal, opera-like musical play  - The Rajput Princess. It was a story of the divine love between Meera - the princess and Lord Krishna. Although, artists were amateur dancers and singers who weaved a magic around us for a couple hours. The play made a deep impression on my mind.

The play refreshed the story of Meera-Krishna in my mind. While attending a wedding ceremony curious young meera asks her mother who her husband was. Her mother points to a temple of Lord Krishna and says he is your husband. Meera assumes this as truth and grows up thinking about Krishna and hearing his stories all the time. Astonishingly, without seeing Krishna in person, Meera falls in love with him and declares to her husband on the wedding day that her heart belongs to Krishna. The large-hearted husband builds a Krishna temple for her and accepts her love as a part of their life. However, his father and brother can not accept seeing Meera in love with Krishna. Meera’s husband gets killed in a war. The jealous father and brother ask Meera to leave the palace. Meera has to spend the rest of her life as a simpleton going through all the worldly hardships but her love for Krishna sees her through. Her mystical, heavenly love makes sure she remains happy despite worldly miseries.

This play reminded me all the stories of Hindu Gods I grew up with. Out of all Gods, Krishna is the most interesting. Everything about him is unconventional. He is mischievous, political, bends rules, in short he does everything that other Gods don’t. Above all, Krishna stands out as the most woman-friendly God. Krishna is a woman-magnet. Ever since his adolescence, woman got attracted to him. Radha who was a married woman fell in love with him. So did many other gopis in Gokul where he grew up. In raas-leela, a festival in which all women come and do a folk dance, every single gopi felt that she is dancing with Krishna. Fascinating isn’t it? As a king Krishna had many wives and yet he was a subject of romance for many other women.

When I wear my analytical hat, I find these stories absolutely amazing. Krishna seemed to have a magical effect on women who would confess about their love despite their marital status. Considering conservative Indian societies, this was unheard off. But their love was so powerful that woman were ready to break the conventions. Another puzzling thing about Krishna’s women was they all knew the existence of other women in his life but they didn’t seem to mind. All gopis in Gokul knew others loved him and he loved Radha the most. But that didn’t deter them from liking and loving him. They were never jealous with each other. They were in love with him together.

The reason why this play had deep impact on me is, it highlighted the flip-side of Krishna’s love. Most women who loved Krishna had to pay a price for it. Some of them like Meera, drew societal wrath. They were publicly shamed, often isolated. More they loved Krishna, more difficulties they had to face. Krishna’s love gave them mental strength but worldly hardships. Some others like Radha, loved him dearly, may have fancied their chances of being with him forever. But never came close to being there. More they try to hold on to it, more it slipped out of hand. And there were many gopis who loved him unconditionally, despite knowing that they have no real chance of getting him. Yet, they could not stop.

Loving Krishna meant an extreme sacrifices for his women. That’s the dichotomy of Krishna’s love.

Romance in Umbrella

Well, let me start with a confession. Part of me is highly influenced by Bollywood films. I adore all the cliches, be it old movies or new. Like millions fellow Indians, I like to try out things that I see on screen, whenever I can. 

Till that day, Walking with a girl in rains carrying one small umbrella was one such unfulfilled dream.

I was very young when I watched  the song "Pyar hua ikarar hua hai" featuring Raj Kapoor and Nargis. Reactions of people around me told me there was something special about that song. When was in my teens, I heard Gulzar's song "Mera Kucch Saman" my favourite lines were 

Ek akeli chhatri me jab adhe adhe bhig rahe the
Adhe sukhe adhe gile sukha to mai le aayi thi

There were innumerable other songs which showed couples walking together in rains in an umbrella, looking at each other and then falling in love. I was quite intrigued by those scenes. In those days, I used to think that they fall in love and develop romantic interests because they walked in an umbrella. So I was all keen to try that out on a girl I liked in the class.

It was last lecture of the day. Not many students were there in the class but my crush was there. Therefore, I was there too. She was concentrating on the lecture, I was concentrating on her. She looked beautiful but she was not aware of it. A thunderstorm broke out when the lecture was about to get over. There was lightening, clouds roared loudly. All the essential ingredients of a romantic walk were coming together. I made sure I had my umbrella. I was also tempted to check if it was opening properly before offering it to her. I was also tempted to practice the tune of of pyar hua ikarar hua hai... on whistle to ensure it comes out well. But I would have attracted undue attention from the professor so decided against it. I was rehearsing my pick up lines to offer her the umbrella. I was quite excited that I would fulfil my childhood dream today, albeit a small one.
The lecture got over. She started leaving the class. I rushed forward with my umbrella beating anyone else who could probably indulge in a similar daydream.
‘Hi!’, I said
‘Hello, how are you?’ She was warm and friendly.
‘I am good. Thank you. It’s raining so hard. We can’t possibly go without an umbrella’, I started building my case without wasting any time.
‘Yeah true!’
‘Do you have one?’ I asked her.
‘No, I don’t.’
I could not believe my luck. When something has to work it just works, I thought to myself.
‘I have one. We can share it.’ I tried to sound as casual and friendly as possibly could.
She just smiled.
‘Is that a yes or a no?’, I said to myself, completely inept at decoding this non-verbal communication.
‘Shall we?’ I kept pushing the agenda, blatantly.
‘That’s a sweet offer but…’
I knew it was a no. Words didn’t matter.
She didn’t carry her umbrella because she was carrying her raincoat. She quickly wore it, got on her scooter and whizzed past me, splashing water on me. Umbrella could not help, literally.

By next rainy season, my crush had become someone else’s love.  I lost my umbrella and any intereste in trying out romantic umbrella walk.

In the meanwhile, Bollywood kept churning out songs after songs showing romantic couples with their umbrellas, making me feel more and more inadequate.
Years passed by but I was unable to find an umbrella and a girl willing to share it at the same time.

Life moved me to Singapore where the rains was a daily affair. Well in my forties, like many other dreams, I had lost hope of fulfilling this dream, till it suddenly happened that day.

It was raining heavily and I had to step out of the office and go for a meeting couple of blocks away. I borrowed my colleague's umbrella. It was quite a small umbrella, good enough for me.

When I was about to cross the road I heard a sweet, gentle female voice.
‘Excuse me!’
‘Me?’ I turned around.
An unknown girl was trying to talk to me. She was a her thirties, slightly shorter than me, had a fair complexion, straight hair and sweet smile. She was wearing a short black dress and looked beautiful.
‘If you don’t mind, may I walk with you in your umbrella till next block? Would that be OK?’
What? Was it happening for real? Or was I daydreaming again?
‘I know it’s an odd request and if you say No, I completely understand. But I have an urgent meeting, just a block away and I can't find any taxi too’, she kept pleading.
‘Oh of course. You can join me. That’s not a problem at all.’
‘Thank you very much,’ She said with a smile.
Both of us held the umbrella and walked quite close to each other, saving ourselves from rains. I was close enough to smell her perfume. Heavy rains were forcing us to walk even closer. My arm was brushing against hers. But she was quite cool. She kept talking about the weather and sudden rains. I was trying to find out what I actually felt. But I wasn't quite sure, what I actually felt. It wasn’t too long before we reached our destination. She thanked me with a warm friendly smile and left.

I stood there for a while. Something that I was waiting for since my childhood suddenly happened to me and I was not sure what I felt about that. The girl was beautiful, warm and friendly. I walked quite close to her but did I feel romantic? Hell, No. Did she feel romantic? I am sure she didn’t.

So what is the fuss in movies all about? Do movies show the real life or what they show in movies is what we bring to real life? Do we actually feel romantic or we feel that we are feeling romantic because that is what is shown to us in movies? Do we stay true to our feelings or do our feelings get shaped by what we see on big screen, year after year?
Well, one sparrow doesn’t make a summer. I can’t conclude based on my experience alone. Have you felt romantic walking as a couple with umbrella in rains? What is the big deal with romance in umbrella?