Me and this world - a tête-à-tête

Last week, I was wasting my time with a jerk arguing about a selfie that looked terribly risky. This person asked me so you must be against #AlexHonnold too. I counter question: what do you know about Alex? Are you as good as him? Do you lead a life like him? Do you follow diet like him? Do you have equivalent experience? Right, he didn't reach there in a night. Alex has spent years working on his rock craft to reach where he is today. Day in day out he thinks only about climbing and not about likes and followers on Facebook. And, he hasn't lost his conscience on the way. He is still humble and open. He started climbing when he was 11 years old. Between climbs, he runs or hikes to maintain fitness. Honnold lives out of his van, spending less than a thousand dollars per month, enabling him to follow the weather and climb all the time. Honnold is an avid reader, with interests in classic literature, environmentalism, and economics. Alex states he is not fearless, he has an ac...

आज २०१५ संपणार! नवीन वर्ष सुरु होण्यापूर्वी एकदा सिंहावलोकन करणे गरजेचे म्हणून हा खटाटोप! जानेवारी राजगड वारी बालेकिल्ल्यावर तंबू ठोकून राहण्याचे स्वप्नपूर्ती! मग एक छोटी roadtrip ज्यात आम्ही गेलो सुधागड, सुरगड, अवचित आणि घोसाळा… फेब्रुवारी मध्ये खूप फेऱ्या मुंबईला… ट्रेक म्हणावे तसे काही नाही: सिंहगड आणि तोरणा, परत एकदा राजगड आणि यांना जोडणारा राजगड तोरणा… मार्च मध्ये खूप वेळा सिंहगड… आणि एक लांब वरची roadtrip बदामी, पट्टदक्कल आणि ऐहोळे. एप्रिल मध्ये खूप उनाडक्या आणि परत खूप वेळा सिंहगड… एवेरेस्ट बेस कॅम्प वर झालेल्या भूकंपाने झेनिथ ओडिसिस पण हादरले! मे मध्ये एक मूर्खपणा (जो मला आयुष्यभर भोवणार आहे अशी) औरंगाबाद ची roadtrip! मग एक हिमालयन ट्रेक. हिमालयातून परतल्यावर २४ तासात सह्याद्रीच्या भेटीला कोकणदिवा ट्रेक. जुन मध्ये विश्रामगड (कुर्डूगड) आणि अजून एक मूर्खपणा आणि दिल्लीवारी… मग रायरेश्वर वर धुक्यात हरवण्याचा अनुभव… जुलै मध्ये संतोषगड आणि वारुगड, अंधारबन, आणि चावंड कुकडेश्वर ऑगस्ट मध्येनाशिक ची roadtrip आणि जुन्या मित्रांची झालेली नवीन ओळख मग एक  eye opener! आणि ...

Recently I again went through a bad patch. It left me broken and depressed like never before. I again went through a similar experience of uncontrolled anger and severe emotional turbulence. A bunch of friends helped a lot to pull me up, however I had a long way to travel back to inner peace. As it is said "ask and you shall receive", I found answers at most unexpected place: Facebook. Here is the conversation: The Objectivitist Observer Blog Posted: What is the most important thing on your mind right now. Me : Getting rid of my anger. Angel :  Make a list of your resentments (the people you resent). Then by each one write briefly why, then next to it write how it made you feel. Usually we play a bigger part in our resentments towards others than we think we do. Look at your part. That's the only part you can control. Me : Thanks so much. I will definitely do this. <3 God Bless You Angel : It's revealing to look at the word itself. "Resentment" i...

Dear Riki, I hope you arrived happy at Heaven. Since you are gone, I have been enjoying too much of freedom. Now I can sleep late in the mornings and dont have to think about walks in the morning. I eat my pavbhaji, Patra and Khandavi, eggs and all the sweets all myself and with no annoying eyes staring at it and no one drooling over it. Now I am more free to travel and trek as much as I like and dont have to return to anyone waiting and excited with wagging tail. I dont have to worry about spending my money as it is only for me now. I ride my bike as fast as I can and dont have to worry about a tail that may get scratched. The house is now really tidy and well maintained and doesn't stink of anything. I now sleep on a soft bed in my room and dont have to roll a mattress every night in the drawing room anymore. Things have changed, my life has changed and to a non-dog person, my life definitely looks great,,, But the changes which are now great are t...

Are You Married? This one must have been the most asked question in the history of mankind. Every woman of age is asked this question. And I am sure every learned and wise woman fails to understand the context of this question and the story does not end with a simple answer of this question. It goes much beyond. A few people will march off my life with this post & a few will tell me that I should not write such stuff and go with the flow. And I am ready and will be happy with the consequences. People with either innate or cheap interest in my life will read this. You may feel I am complaining. Perhaps, Yes I am. But then what is the origin of complaints? And why shouldn't one complain once in a while? Scenario One: Stranger: Are you Married? Woman: Yes Stranger: Ok. (I have never figured out what this means) So, what does your husband do? (Why does he/she want to know? Sometimes it was to figure out social status / financial status) Woman:...

Roomies at Room No 8, Left to Right, Neha, Mariko, Bijoli, Me, Amri, Ela and Jeny The year would have begun on a sad note when I was still fuming from last month’s arguments and my behavior. But God had something better in mind! On the very first day, I went for a drive to Mahabaleshwar. And travelling on very first day marked this year as Year of travelling for me. Team Wanderers at Mengjai Hill Then came first weekend and after a long time Team Wanderers had the first re-union at Mengjai hill. And then came second weekend and I lived through another dream of climbing Harishachandragad via Nalichi wat. This route to get atop Harishachandragad mountain is said to be one of the toughest  routes. Highlight of this trek was also that I was only lady with a crowd of some 30 gentlemen. Then I put stay as a metro was awaiting my arrival. On February 1, 2014, I left for Kolkata for my rakhi-brother- Samrat’s wedding. Here I stayed with a typical Bengali family. Unders...

When I was booking my tickets for travelling back home post BMC, I had realized I would be having fourteen hours in Kolkata between two trains. Right then I had decided to make best use of this time, but I hadn’t made any concrete plans. Having been in Kolkata twice before this occasion, almost all the listed tourist spots were done for.  During the Basic Mountaineering Course, I had quick chats with some of the people who were citizens of Kolkata, but nothing fruitful had come up. During the October stay in Kolkata before course, I and Vivek had visited Indian Museum and I hadn’t carried my camera inside for reasons unknown to me. So, I had another visit to the museum on my mind. But this definitely was not a full day activity.  Also, I wanted to spend some time alone, so I actually avoided rescheduling my tickets. On the morning of November 10, 2014, the batch of BMC 304 graduated from Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.The photo session lasted for an hour o...