Prologue to Africa Part VI
A break from ‘my’ known and ‘my’ obvious
“ ...does your enthusiasm hold good only for mountaineering?’
‘By and large I do everything with enthusiasm, as long as it doesn’t concern bureaucracy, which I hate like the plague.’
Is there another climb to come?’
‘I would like to travel to Tibet, to South America, I would like to experience so many countries, get to know so many areas..."
The above conversation takes place somewhere in Cologne, Germany in 1979. Questions asked by anonymous public, answers given by none other than Reinhold Messner. (Source: Crystal Horizon, Reinhold Messner, p.60)
Today mountaineering is the only activity I can put to practice and use it to earn bread for my family. But it is not just livelihood. It was never just about work. I am passionate about it. That is why I had left a job in the Pharmaceutical Industry in the first place.
8 hectic years in pharmaceutical marketing was enough to suffocate and slow poison me. I had quit without even thinking or planning. I wanted out.
Mountains gave me the true sense of freedom, of a life so different and distant from the smog covered skyline of Belur, a suburb of West Bengal, where I was born and brought up.
Over the past decade or so I have participated in more than 30 mountaineering ventures in the Indian Himalaya. I was never a mere participant in those expeditions. I was the brain, one of the foot soldiers; and most of the time a responsible leader.
That brings the statistics to an average of 3 expeditions a year. May be for a few of my friends this average is poor; but for me it has been an exhausting journey. Rewarding, but exhausting at the same time.
Rewarding, because with each expedition, irrespective of getting my members to the summit and getting them down safe; I grew up a little, learnt something new and above all made new friends. And to add to that, I must mention my biggest reward has been working with the Sherpa community of Darjeeling. The roles of one of my comrade in Adventure Mania- Thendup Sherpa have been enormously significant. He is more than family, and without him Adventure Mania seems incomplete to me. With Thendup I share many of my favourite adventures in the Indian Himalaya and I am sure will have many more.
Exhausting, because, every repetitive action must bring monotony to the actor. It is only a matter of time and eventuality. For me the question was when and how?
This business of offering mountaineering services was quickly becoming a mundane affair. Surely there was no ‘zen’ to be found on top of a mountain and especially on a day when a tailor-make fashion seems to work just fine. From Mt Blanc to Mount Everest, this is the trend and it seems like it is here to thrive. I am talking about commercially guided expeditions of course.
I have no problem with this trend. After all, this is also my livelihood. I just need a break. Break from the known and the obvious. A break from ‘my’ known and ‘my’ obvious. My soul is in constant search for the new and is dreaming to venture out in the unknown.
And if you are slaves of your own dreams what do you do? You follow your dreams no matter what height, depth or distance it takes you.
For me, this time, it is beckoning me to Africa. The first spark of inspiration came from none other than my Guru in Himalayan exploration, H.W.Tilman.
In 2011, I had travelled and explored in the Indian Himalaya following his footprints; once while achieving the first ascent of Zemu Gap from south and the other while charting a new passage on the Nanda Devi Sanctuary wall. Now I see Tilman’s signature across Equator in Africa.
I have already talked about my Nanda Devi and Zemu Gap trips in my past blog ( Blanks on the Map) : http://himalaya-raja.blogspot.in/2012/05/prologue-to-africa-part-iv.html
After twenty years of mountain exploration, Tilman bought the first of three wooden pilot cutters he was to own, and set about teaching himself to sail. He then voyaged nearly every year for more than a quarter century to the frigid waters of the Antarctic and Arctic in search of new mountains to climb and places blank on the map.
As a young gunner officer he had served in France in the First War and won the Military Cross and a bar, being twice wounded; and in the Second War gained the Distinguished Service Order for his outstanding work in Italy and Albania with the partisans. Between the wars he had run a coffee plantation in Kenya, and with Eric Shipton from a neighbouring farm he had done some pioneer climbing on Mount Kenya. His time in Africa terminated characteristically with a bicycle ride across the continent and an ascent of Kilimanjaro en route. This was recorded in his book Snow on the Equator.
With a bicycle across the equator, enough to fire up any adventurer’s imagination and I am no exception.
I too want to travel across Africa on a bicycle, except, my path will be slightly different. I will start from the Equator at Nanyuki, Kenya and finish my journey at Walvis Bay, near the tropic of Capricorn, Namibia. I have to travel nearly 5000km and across 6 countries. Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. I will take my bike along and yes I will be on my own. Now isn’t that something to look forward to? What could be a better way to touch one’s Guru’s soul than taking the path shown by him?
End of part VI
End of Prologue to Africa
8 hectic years in pharmaceutical marketing was enough to suffocate and slow poison me. I had quit without even thinking or planning. I wanted out.
Mountains gave me the true sense of freedom, of a life so different and distant from the smog covered skyline of Belur, a suburb of West Bengal, where I was born and brought up.
Over the past decade or so I have participated in more than 30 mountaineering ventures in the Indian Himalaya. I was never a mere participant in those expeditions. I was the brain, one of the foot soldiers; and most of the time a responsible leader.
That brings the statistics to an average of 3 expeditions a year. May be for a few of my friends this average is poor; but for me it has been an exhausting journey. Rewarding, but exhausting at the same time.
Rewarding, because with each expedition, irrespective of getting my members to the summit and getting them down safe; I grew up a little, learnt something new and above all made new friends. And to add to that, I must mention my biggest reward has been working with the Sherpa community of Darjeeling. The roles of one of my comrade in Adventure Mania- Thendup Sherpa have been enormously significant. He is more than family, and without him Adventure Mania seems incomplete to me. With Thendup I share many of my favourite adventures in the Indian Himalaya and I am sure will have many more.
Exhausting, because, every repetitive action must bring monotony to the actor. It is only a matter of time and eventuality. For me the question was when and how?
This business of offering mountaineering services was quickly becoming a mundane affair. Surely there was no ‘zen’ to be found on top of a mountain and especially on a day when a tailor-make fashion seems to work just fine. From Mt Blanc to Mount Everest, this is the trend and it seems like it is here to thrive. I am talking about commercially guided expeditions of course.
I have no problem with this trend. After all, this is also my livelihood. I just need a break. Break from the known and the obvious. A break from ‘my’ known and ‘my’ obvious. My soul is in constant search for the new and is dreaming to venture out in the unknown.
And if you are slaves of your own dreams what do you do? You follow your dreams no matter what height, depth or distance it takes you.
For me, this time, it is beckoning me to Africa. The first spark of inspiration came from none other than my Guru in Himalayan exploration, H.W.Tilman.
I have already talked about my Nanda Devi and Zemu Gap trips in my past blog ( Blanks on the Map) : http://himalaya-raja.blogspot.in/2012/05/prologue-to-africa-part-iv.html
After twenty years of mountain exploration, Tilman bought the first of three wooden pilot cutters he was to own, and set about teaching himself to sail. He then voyaged nearly every year for more than a quarter century to the frigid waters of the Antarctic and Arctic in search of new mountains to climb and places blank on the map.
As a young gunner officer he had served in France in the First War and won the Military Cross and a bar, being twice wounded; and in the Second War gained the Distinguished Service Order for his outstanding work in Italy and Albania with the partisans. Between the wars he had run a coffee plantation in Kenya, and with Eric Shipton from a neighbouring farm he had done some pioneer climbing on Mount Kenya. His time in Africa terminated characteristically with a bicycle ride across the continent and an ascent of Kilimanjaro en route. This was recorded in his book Snow on the Equator.
I too want to travel across Africa on a bicycle, except, my path will be slightly different. I will start from the Equator at Nanyuki, Kenya and finish my journey at Walvis Bay, near the tropic of Capricorn, Namibia. I have to travel nearly 5000km and across 6 countries. Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. I will take my bike along and yes I will be on my own. Now isn’t that something to look forward to? What could be a better way to touch one’s Guru’s soul than taking the path shown by him?
End of part VI
End of Prologue to Africa
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