questions asked but who is listening? swiss alps is on the horizon!

-
Sometimes its obvious; sometimes not! The question is whether I am a complete idiot or a partial one? I sometimes get confused myself. I commit myself to projects that are going to trouble me financially. I do expenditures that only increases my stress. I regret it; but never seem to learn from it. In the end of it all, simply blame it on my spirit of adventure! Thats easy.

It is true that I have always been inclined to dreaming; rather than calculating risk benefit ratio. I have been a dreamer, I still am and do not know where and how the end shall be.

But without my dreams where would I be today? I would be stuck in that same pharmaceutical sales job of course! But look at me, I have have travelled far corners of the planet, made friends, met many people, experienced culture , vast and varied and tasted the freedom of being in nature and the great outdoors. When I look at my climbing gears I find it amazing to believe that in past 7 years I have done 20 major Himalayan expeditions. It took my uncle Sujal Mukherjee 25 years to take part in some 30 montaineering expeditions. Some more summits in other continents and many unforgettable journeys.My travels have always enriched, inspired, fulfilled myself. And at the same my travels always increased my apetite for more. Wanderlust, I guess one could say!

But this passion costs me dearly and there comes a point when I ask myself if its rational? any more? No body sponsors an Indian individual mountaineer for his dream adventures. And why should anyone do that? In India we have got far more serious causes to spent money on! But can I stop this journey now? Or should I?I guess not!

Off to Swiss Alps...the Bernese Oberland in a few days. Here is a chance for me to climb some of the finest and famous peaks of Swiss Alps. Thanks to Alan Tees (President, Mountaineering Ireland), I can be part of their Summer Alpine meet. This will be in Innertkirchen (somewhere close to Luzern and Interlaken).http://www.mountaineering.ie/events/viewdetails.asp?ID=170

Thanks also to Hilde Wasserfall and Martin Muecke in Germany. Without their help I would be stuck in Munich and not see the alps! But you know..I do get by with a little help from my friends...don't we all?

"What would you think if I sang out of tune
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm going to try with a little help from my friends..."

Lennon/McCartney

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 ...
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

Straight from a Story Book: Part I

-
Image
It all started with a story book. In 1937, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay , one of the leading writers of modern Bengali literature penned ' Chander Pahar '. It is a story of a 22 year old young man from rural Bengal who sets out to Africa on an adventure of a lifetime in 1909. (If you have not read the book already you can read the plot summary here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chander_Pahar ) Like millions of Bengali readers I had read this adventure story when I was a kid and then as I grew up, as indicated by its publisher (juvenile literature); it became a thing of the past, a childhood fantasy for me.  It is only in recent years, after I climbed Kilimanjaro (2005), I picked up 'Chander Pahar' again. It is then, the book started opening new meanings and fresh directions for me. It is then I began to understand the meaning of the Swedish proverb- 'In a good book the best is between the lines' .  My repeated readings of 'Chander Pah...
Read more