2008: Year of the Magic Panda

-
A tranquil January morning.I was trying to meditate on top of a hill near Tonglu. Tonglu is on the Singalila Ridge and over 3000m above sea level. Considering January, it was quite nice and warm that morning and I could see the sun rise over the ridges of Tiger Hill. I dont remember how long I sat there..but soon I heard something close by. As I leaned forward to locate the source of the noise; I saw a red panda! For the very first time I saw a red panda in the wild, and from so close proximity! When I came down to Tumling and shared the incident, every one exclaimed on how lucky I was! Alice had said," may be that was a magic panda!"

Well, magic panda or not, this year so far has been harsh, hectic and humbling for me. I have led 2 treks on the Singalila Ridge, led a climb on Mt kalanag in West Garwal, led an exploration climbing in Panpatia glacier, took a group over Rupin Pass in Himachal Pradesh. I have started building a guest house in a remote North Sikkim village and also hope to keep my Porter Shelter and Medical Post in Bhujbas to move forward!

Lot of hard work, lot of commitment, and no short supply of dreams!

More than half of 2008 now behind, and dreams, at least some of them are now a bit challenged! I am not confident to say ' that one should follow his/her heart' anymore. I am hurt, injured. But not crippled! A fire in the North Sikkim village destroyed all the logs and bamboo I bought for the construction of the huts! And some one who brought a lot of colour and music in my life is not there for me anymore!

But here I am, still standing! :-)

Right now I am getting prepared for a trip to Germany and then on to Russia. I am participating in a speed climbing competition on Mt Elbrus. Interesting and very challenging proposition indeed!

But I neither have the experience, nor I am able to train myself properly for that competition. Still am hoping to find some sponsorship, so that I dont have blow away all my savings...again!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Across The Sahara on a Bicycle

-
Image
Across The Sahara on a Bicycle Between the things we get And the things we celebrate Flows a desert                            Lest we forget. #SaharaQuartet Background: My Africa My first exposure to the real Africa in 2005 after climbing Kilimanjaro. Scanned from slide. On top of Kilimanjaro in 2005 with a copy of Tathyakendra magazine. Scanned from slide I first visited Africa (Tanzania to be specific) in 2005. I hiked Kilimanjaro and came back home. It was just a tourist thing I did. But in spite of being wrapped up in an itinerary and a travel package of all things touristy; something very curious happened. I got even more inquisitive about Africa. I wanted to go back to Africa. Not as a tourist, but as a drifting wanderer, living an ever curious life. But for that I had to wait a good seven years. In 2011, while I was exploring the barriers of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in the Indian Himalaya; I realised that one of my Himalayan heroes H.W.T
Read more

Trans Africa on a bicycle: solo: a tribute to H.W.Tilman

-
Image
[A solo bicycle journey from the Equator to Tropic of Capricorn and from East Coast (Indian Ocean) to West Coast (Atlantic Ocean) through the African continent]  H.W.Tilman’s journey across Africa along the equator on a bicycle back in 1932-33; inspired me to get out there and begin my very own Trans African  bicycle adventure. Instead of retracing or repeating Tilman’s route I however preferred a route of my own. I would start from the Equator in Kenya and finish near the Tropic of Capricorn. Instead of heading down south in a straight line (as the road network would permit of course); I decided to touch the east coast of the African continent in Dar Es Salam. By doing so my route got an added value of East Coast to West Coast traverse along with the primary goal of Equator to Capricorn journey. My route would take me through the Kenyan Highlands, Great Rift Valley, the Masaai Steppe, Foothills of Mt Kenya, Mt Meru and Mt Kilimanjaro, The Usambara Mountains, Coas
Read more

To the Mountains of the Moon: A Journey from Fiction to Facts

-
Image
In 1937, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay chronicled the adventures of a Bengali boy named Shankar. This novel was named 'Chander Pahar' (English: 'Mountains of the Moon', as the fiction refers to a range of mountains and not a single standing mountain). 'Chander Pahar' went on to become one of the most loved adventure stories in the Bengali literature. In his lifetime, Bibhutibhushan wrote 16 novels and over 200 short stories. Interestingly, even though most of Bibhutibhushan's works were largely set in rural Bengal; in this particular novel the writer chose the setting of 1909 Africa. Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (1894-1950) In the story 'Chander Pahar', our protagonist Shankar gets a lucky break to go out from his little riverside village in Bengal to work for the Uganda Railway. Thus begun his sudden and long journey from the mundane to the extraordinary. A roller coaster ride through adventures involving the infamous man eating lions of Tsav
Read more