Sunday, November 30, 2014

My vista from the base and top of the mountain ….My take on trekking!

‘Life is calling… where are you!!! This is one of my favorite quote which I borrowed from my dearest friend. When he said this some time back… it just left me thinking. I pep myself saying this when I am lost, when I am low, when I am thinking too deep into something, when I want to come back to the track from anywhere telling myself… Live your calling, what on earth Am I here for!
Something else also strikes me when I think of this line… the feeling I get is:
Mountains are calling … where are you.
Mountains are calling… I must go.

Hike, trek, climb, trudge…. I got introduced to it around twelve springs back, from then on none could stop me from getting hooked to it. Trek is reflection and a thoughtful journey for me. It is a mental drive with physical support. It is a passage metaphorical for life which I want to travel with my dear ones.  A small hike is just an action and sometimes beyond thousand words to elucidate.  

Here is an attempt to explore:

A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step: This is one of a famous adage from Lao Tzu, a philosopher and a poet from ancient China. I used this quote as a first page when I submitted my project report during my last semester of Engineering.   It carries a profound meaning at every stage of life.
When it comes to trek, the first step matters a lot. Mentally you are prepared for an expedition.  You want to try something new.  For first timers it is a new venture. For experienced it is another detour of sagacity. In all these years, my experience with nature when I walk with it is been - I receive more than what I seek.


Life begins at the end of the comfort zone:  In daily mechanical routine life, we just strive to be inside a nutshell, act with pre-decided plan, run behind aspirations, everyday is a step towards that ambition. But at the end, we are all in comfort zones. We go in the same route, work at the same place, interact with same faces, survive in the same dynamics, get tired for the same reason and grumble for trade-offs.
Amidst of all this humdrum and mundane matters, getting on to a hike is coming out of comfort zone for me. This was my first life skill which I learnt when I started hiking.

There is no Wi-Fi in the forest, but trust me you will find better connection:  Not all would join you for what you think you want to discover. In the technology powered life sphere, Wi-Fi might keep you in conversation.  But two in conversation does not mean you are in connection.  This is one march where you get connected lot more in different domains and circles. You know who would want to uncover unknown with you, they stick along together to motivate, to help and assist you reach the peak.  It sounds so symbolic to life.

Believe you can, and you are half way through:  Hope is a little voice which keeps whispering inside me to say ‘just one step more’ when the world is shouting ‘No, give up’. When everything feels uphill struggle, I just think of the view from the peak. When you are at the top of the world you feel nothing is really tough to reach. The path trodden seems miniscule. The natural flights of human mind is not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope. It keeps you moving, it gives you confidence and a different perspective for every puzzle of life.   

The earth has music for those who listen: The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. I keep asking myself, what drags me back to tall trees, forest and mountains. Probably, I love to go back to nature in pursuit of my purpose. I love to listen to those little voices which I don’t listen in my daily habitual life. Voice from nature, voice of birds, and voice of my fellow beings.  Along with the persistence to move on, we practice to listen to own self.  


Not all those who wander are lost: Somewhere between the start of the trial and end of the mystery, is this passage to realize and choose to walk everyday towards it.  It feels good to be lost in the right direction when you are on mountains. I climb mountains not because world can see me, but because I can see the world. The endurance, the tolerance, the prudence it teaches me every time I go is immense.  It is an illustration of life itself.



“It’s your path, and yours alone, others may walk it with you. But no one can walk it for you.”
I look back on this and smile because it was LIFE and I decided to live it. 


Saturday, June 7, 2014

Few realizations in life!!!!

I choose –

To live by choice, and not by chance
To be motivated, not manipulated
To be useful, not being used
To make changes for good, not excuses
To excel, not to compete
Choose to live with self- esteem,
Choose to listen to my inner voice, not to the random opinion of others.
Choose to live for my personal values & principles, so that others don’t make my decisions
Choose to be trusted and honest, so that I can be true to myself

Few realizations that I have experienced in life for the choices I have made are…


You are bound to experience difficulties
You are bound to be stronger else people will be waiting to see you weak
People intimidate you and push you to corners
They doubt you so that you feel as a failure
They feel insecured because of your confidence, they will have to daunt you so that they survive
People feel envious and try all dirty tricks on you
They feel bitter about you, waiting to take grudge
They will ensure to play foul games, because your fiasco is their target.
So….. WHO ARE THESE who wait to create catastrophe in your life.
There are many around you. At personal, professional and social levels too. The higher you grow, more are numbers. They are this group who are INSECURED          
Insecured about themselves    
Apprehensive about their own lives
Uncertain about their future
Anxious about others success
Self-doubting about their decisions
Incompetent to prove their might 


In reality, a personality which displays timidity, sadistic attitude, cynical, influencing pessimistically, injects suspicion, being pompous & snobbish, being domineering, plays nepotism, obsessive about attention, control freak, power monger, is skeptical and infuses ambiguity….. so on and so forth.
You can be ensured that there are plentiful who are insecured around you if you are a person who chooses to live your life by your choice, your value systems and being good.
Same old anecdote… ‘Difficulty of being good’!!!!

Be ensured to stand strong because you will be propelled from altitudes
Promise to be yourself, because your honesty, sincerity and integrity will be questioned
Pledge to be good, because you will be dragged to eccentric loftiness
Engage to focus on right things, because you will be driven to give up easily
Swear to be a mettle, because you will be tested with heat


All great virtues, ethics, morals, ideals, principles, answerable to one’s own conscience are awfully expensive – you cannot expect it from substandard people.  That’s the rule of nature.
Being a leader by demand, inducing transparency, impelling openness, persuading uprightness, inspiring, leaving an affirmative imprints…. demands to be tested. The path is strenuous & grueling.  That’s again the rule of nature.

Rule of survival says – Be it anyway, human as after all an animal.
Rule if living says – Choose to be human. If you are still an animal, then why being called as civilized & educated!!!
Rule of enlightenment says – Choose to be soul of glory, live your life so that you leave an imprint that even the sands of history can’t erase your name.

Choice is yours!!!!   .. CHOOSE and BE ALERT.