Opposites and Equals

Today I am going to tell a little story and some thoughts in this post. The story may or may not have any link to the thoughts like any other things in this life and universe. While each is related and linked to each, they are also not. Just as a grain of sand can be the entire cosmos or it can just be that – a grain of sand.

I will begin by quoting one of my favorite Zen thoughts - A person may appear a fool but he may only be guarding his wisdom carefully

Summits of My Life

Climbing mountains is my journey through life, a pilgrimage and a quest for my own true self. Reasons I chose this path of exploration are many and diverse; breathtaking views, infinite possibilities, solitude and redefining my own boundaries are primary among them. And the fact that they are there only helped. People say that I do things that very few in the world do and when they ask me why, I reply ‘why not?’ Though in my opinion what I do is not so uncommon; you and I, we all climb our own mountains of body and mind and of soul and your journeys are no less exciting or unpredictable than mine and at the end we all do wish to reach the top and then get down safe and happy back from where we began. And perhaps in this regard our climbs begin to differ.

Learning to Fail

I looked up at the white summit, across and over a convex wall of rock-hard ice... it looked tantalisingly near yet I knew I would never reach it, at least not today. I had reached the end of my endurance, expertise and wits. I had nothing more to counter the mountain’s defences. If I wished to live then today I must quit. For the moment it was a summit too far.

We all are where we want to be

Once upon a time in the late eighteenth century there lived a group of monks by a fast mountain river that flowed from the hills and through the serene woods where the monks lived in a modest monastery. These monks lived a very simple life doing what they were supposed to do, and taught by their master. They cooked and ate and then preached the Lord Buddha’s teachings among the poor village folks that came to see them. Out of all the monks the brightest was Chen who lived the life of a true hermit never seeking more than what was given, never saying more than asked and never going further than his monastery. He was a pure soul yet he wasn’t ready to go and his master, despite his best efforts hadn’t been able to show Chen that he was ready and now needed to leave.

Now what these monks had never done before was cross the river that flowed nearby though they drew its sweet water each day.

So the master talked to his brother on the other side of the river and one morning told Chen to go to the other side and get a rare medicinal plant back to the monastery.

Chen took leave from his master and walked to the river but on reaching its bank he could not find a way across. The waves were big and the water roared furiously. It was deep and very cold. There wasn’t any bridge or any boat or ferry and there’s no way any human or animal could swim across such a torrential river. Chen wondered and pondered and thought why his master would send him for this impossible task. And then he saw an old master on the other side, walking along the river. It was his master’s wiser and elder brother.

On seeing the old master Chen’s spirit lifted and he screamed at the top of his voice to the old man. ‘Master, master… how can I reach the other side?’

The old master stopped and gaped at Chen and then looked up and down the river and then across, and with a warm smile shouted back, ‘But son, you already are on the other side.’

The above story is my version of an old Zen story, which I had heard a long time ago from another master sitting astride the wooden stairs of a mystical monastery deep in Spiti, while overlooking the Pin River and the snow capped mountains beyond. Perhaps the sight of the Pin River had made the master to tell me this story.

I often used to say that each time I returned to civilization from the high Himalayan valleys or any mountains around the world I felt empty and disoriented since I could never understand the frivolities of a city life and all its happenings. I still say this at times, though rarely now. But I do realize that physical dimensions are not as important as the ones that are within my heart and soul and my eyes. 

No matter where my body is, I can always travel to my mountains in a blink, within the span of a single heartbeat and in less than the time I take to say it. Since if I shut my eyes to my inner world then even if I sit in the mountains I will still see the failings of the kind of life I do not lead in the same way that I have within me the capacity to see my beautiful mountains through shut eyes even when engulfed by the smog and dirt and noise of humanity.

I hate labeling my posts spatially but this one is intended this year for Valentine, wishing that each one of you may find within yourself where you want to be and with whom you wish to be.

Much love and joy forever… 

Summing Up 2012

I have to admit that the title is an unabashed copy of Somerset Maugham’s autobiography with the year as a suffix and hence my own in a way. Not that I should be ashamed of copying that great now-dead author Mr. Maugham. I absolutely adore him and his writing skills. As always I felt the need to sum up the year though I am sure no one gives a rat’s shit (kids please pardon my cussing) what that is since I don’t give myself. But then there are people who do slither across my blog looking for some banality and blemished banter and of course some intended pun along with bitter humor. So let’s begin at the very beginning (where else can one begin from?)…

As I pen these words, I can hear the rushing waves of the Pacific on the west coast of the US of A on the last day of 2012 / first day of 2013 through the darkness and to imagine that exactly at these hours and day precisely a year ago I was fighting ticks and other abominable wild life deep into the Agumbe Rainforest of Southern India, which is often called the Amazon of the East. From there to here (where I currently am) it is an approximate distance of 14,600 km (give or take 100) and a difference of 365 days; so sandwiched between these two times and space lay the bones of another year that would never be and was quite a one.

On my quest to find distant lands and my own true soul, I crossed the Atlantic several times and found myself many times above the clouds in the Himalaya. Chronologically, from the forests down the southern part of India I went to one of the coldest locations on Earth right up north in the Himalaya leading a small band of crazy people, walking on frozen rivers and climbing high through such blizzards that almost ripped off our noses and nerves in that order. From there a chance invitation got me to the Amazons and Brazil and then on to Uruguay (which became the 146^th nation I visited in my life). There I learned much about life, love and caipirinha and other finer caprices of life. And then another invitation landed me into the swirling and flame licking heat of Dubai, where I almost died each time I stepped out and remained out for more than four minutes in the sun.

After such great sacrifices Gods smiled down upon me and I was off for a heart rendering and nerve pulling expedition into the real high Himalaya with a bunch of insane friends and plenty of food where we wanted to scale a wall of rock and ice that hadn’t been scaled yet; somehow we believed we could do it, or at least could at least get off the ground. We did get off the ground and then stayed grounded plastered upon the dizzying walls, while being bruised by some of the most horrific weather I have ever experienced anywhere in my life yet. This was followed by several shorter sojourns into the mighty mountains of my life. And then I hopped into our national carrier and headed once again across the Atlantic and then across USA to the Pacific Coast.

Some may say I travel to work or I work to travel, while I would say that I have fun traveling and I travel for fun. You may name my ‘fun’ as work and so be it. The year 2013 is here and as you and I both know that we are still very much alive enough to be reading / writing this and the world is still on its orbit around the sun so let us now stop proceeding on this any further and go out to meet the day / night the way they should be, which is, with lots of wonder and impulses, with much joy and happiness and love for all and with a prayer that this year we would destroy the earth less, we would love more and we would smile even when there’s no reason or season to.

Let’s not plan much and see where this year takes us, you and I, to which distant mountain tops do we find ourselves breathing hard and taking in the world around with the same sense of wonder that we had began our climb.

As always I wish all of you to strive for the top since I will always see you on top. Amen!

Dead or Alive

Someone is certainly dead in this picture :) 

To many of my friends around the world, I am perhaps dead today; and they would either be mourning or smiling in glee (I hope the latter). Not that I mind, since death is always by my side (as with any mortal human) and it’s good to be dead while you are still alive since then you learn how others perceive you and how deeply are you loved or hated. But then some of you may ask why my friends would presume me dead on this particular day, on this particular date! The answer is simple.

When I was asked before the advent of the net, how one would know if I am still alive or dead, I simply had no definite answer. Spending most of life in places that are out of communication coverage (underwater or high above into the clouds or deep jungles) how on earth would anyone ever know, since I myself wouldn’t know. But then came the net and suddenly things changed and then I started my blog and things changed even more.

Ever since I started my blog and it went on to rise in popularity, stupidity and hilarity I figured out that no matter where I am, what I am up to (as long as I am still on this planet) I would be able to get online at least once in three months if not more and what better way to let people know that I am still alive than to put in a tiny post of memorabilia during that period. So my stock answer then became, ‘if you don’t see a post from me for three months, then for sure I am dead.’ And that’s what happened today. Since my last post was on 10^th August 2012 and it is now exactly one day more than three months that I am putting in this post.

Why the lapse, you may wonder! Pure laziness and some adrenalin pumping adventures along with mindless travels I must confess. But then what should be unveiled in my ‘resurrection’ post? If I am to be resurrected that is; much to the chagrin of some people I am sure. But then what can one do if Lord almighty is still keeping his doors shut for me; no matter how hard and loud and repeatedly I knock. So to better prepare all of you and me for that day when that door will be flung open on my face; here’s my obituary, as I would want it to be… and while you read it, even as your face splits into broad grin, please read it with equal seriousness with which it was penned, after all death is a serious business, especially when it is mine.

Satya Now Sees All of Us from the TOP (heading)

         An apology of an obituary for a boy who never found his brain

Wonder Wander Blunder

Mountains and thunder

Into clouds and ocean under

Pun and laughter

May his soul now rest in pieces  

For his soul always runs asunder

Lencois Maranhenses Brazil – Canvas of Emerald White

The endless white sand dunes

Out of the three best things that befell my fortune in Belem; two happened on the same evening, within a span of few minutes with the same person and I am myself shocked that this person hails from the male species and I really took an intense liking to him. How and what got me to Alexandre is a long tale not suitable for current consumption, but suffice to say that he picked me up one bland Belem evening to offer my hungry soul some delightful delicacies. We finally ended up in a roadside joint and had just dipped our fingers in a large cauldron (caldrao) of fish swimming unceremoniously in thick clear yellow soup when suddenly Alexandre froze, one twisted shrimp poised tantalizingly from his lips. He could as well be a fish about to take the bait but at the last moment arrested by his element of surprise. I wondered how could he take the delectable shrimp that close to his mouth and not put it in! Some display of self-control, if I had seen any.

Iguacu Falls Brazil

 When I made my escape from Uruguay, I needed some place that would not only wipe away all the dust and grime of that nation but also allow me to forget all my follies I committed therein. My intended escape route out of Uruguay was ‘over the land’ trip to Porto Alegre in Brazil but as nothing ever happens according to plan, on a whim I bought a ticket to Foz do Iguacu, gateway town to the famous Iguacu Falls, which many tout as the world’s eighth natural wonder – that kept me wondering what the other seven were! Never mind my wonder, but I was in so much rush to leave Uruguayan soil that I reached the petite airport 4 hours ahead of schedule despite losing my bus and way twice.

Climbers Old, not so old and not so young

This week I met, after several years, one of my best climbing buddies, the infamous Jim Lowther along with another friend Jim Fotheringham – the legendary British climber. While JF is a dentist by profession and all of 60 years specializing in curing snoring besides making first ascents around the globe, JL is of my age (47 – 48) and claims to be a poor farmer in the Lakes UK, never mind the fact that his peerage belongs to the Earls of Lonsdale that once upon a time were perhaps the largest landowners in UK, while as you all know I do nothing and claim to be doing nothing either and let someone prove that I do of anything worth mentioning! We had another member to this informal (over the beer glasses and huge plates of burgers) meeting all of 44 and a reborn alpinist from US, Eric, who was a champion mountain biker and took up climbing few years ago. I never thought of asking how he justifies his existence on planet earth otherwise, so his profession and occupation remains as of now a bit obscure and mysterious. Between us four we had more than 100 years of climbing and adventuring, covering all the continents and nearly every mountain ranges known to man.  

We met at a supposedly 4 star hotel in Delhi, when Delhi is reeling under heat stroke and these three had just landed back the same morning from a stupendous expedition in Zanskar. So they were super acclimatized (for whatever they felt like doing), super hungry and thirsty (for whatever lay within reach and pocket) while I was super dazed and fatigued and dehydrated and itching to get out and get back to the high Himalayan peaks.

Braving Brazil

A big bright smile, vigorous nod of the head and a pair of thumbs raised straight up towards heaven works wonderfully in Brazil. And that’s how I sashayed my way through the world’s largest catholic nation for two months. I learnt a lot except the tongue. In fact I returned with less Portuguese in my vocabulary than I had begun my journey with. As always wherever I travel, I met and befriended an incredible number of people, fell in love with the land and with its beautiful women, with the air, with the music, food  both solid and fluid, beaches, animals and above all with the buses.

This is an introductory post on Brazil hence I will highlight and touch upon certain aspects that I find memorable and briefly mention all the regions I caroused through; time and inclination permitting I shall elaborate upon these as well in future posts.