Thin places

I read recently that in parts of Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England (i.e. the UK), there are places called "thin places", where it is said that the distance between earth and heaven has shrunk, and hence these are "holy" places. So, people build churches, put stones - mark the place for worship. To find them, you yourself have to be both reflective and receptive. Marguerite Theophil's article called "The Joy of Discovering Those Special Places" which has appeared in the Times of India makes for interesting reading. She says, "Take some time off to think about and remember the thin places in your own life."

Recently I went for a trekking expedition where I got to both ponder and discover these thin places. They say that Uttaranchal is the abode of the Gods. One has to agree.

Coming to other matters, recently there has been a lot of debate on identity - what with the racist attacks in Australia and the issue of statues in India. Eric Hobsbawm wrote once "Identity is all very well but what after identity?".

Philosophers like Osho ponder another dimension: "The truth is, I am, therefore I think. We exist first adn then express ourselves as bodies in physical dimension."

What does one do though? Is someone unpatriotic because they may be a country's passport holder and yet supports another's cricket team? Because they maintain their own culture and they don't want to assimilate? I recently read a very disturbing article on this which basically said that we are ourselves to blame because we don't assimilate. We are different. We like Bollywood music and we dress our way.

Egad. Have you read Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh - where he discusses what borders are and how they've created boundaries - many of which don't really exist?

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

I can't remember if I've mentioned this book earlier in a blog. But because I just returned from Uttarkashi - all I remember is that it was a little before I left that I'd finished the whole book.

I like her writing style. Though I must say, the way she makes life sound in the US - it sounds like there's a lot of sadness and discontentment - which I don't really think is the case. How can everyone be so forlorn I wonder?

Surely there must be some happiness? Materialism she brings across quite well - in some of her stories there is a thread of poetry almost. But I sometimes wish she'd bring up a happy ending once in a while. Not everything is about duty, honour and sacrifice.

Adventures at Both Poles by Noel Barber

So we're at 12300 feet in the Himalayas and .... it starts to rain. We're in the tents. Apart from a friend's Tiger Balm - there really isn't much else protecting you from the smelly socks and shoes and unemptied stomachs. You can't really do much about the ears though - eyes you can still keep shut but ears... I'll never forget an excessively chatty bunch of cousins who just went on and on and on...

We have to spend at least five days there because that camp is near the glacier where we'll be doing our training. Thanks to global warming, it takes us a good 1 1/2 hours every day trekking to the glacier. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be buying a chip packet ever again.

You can only talk to so many people. With this philosophy in mind, NIM has set up a small library at the camp where you can go and check out a book if you like. So me and a friend went there and sorted through the collection.

I picked up this book called "Adventures at Both Poles" by Noel Barber. It was a non-fiction book - based on the trips Noel Barber, a journalist, made to the Arctic and Antarctic, where he stayed at various Military camps. There was an interesting piece about an underground city made by the Americans in Greenland; also another about how there are no animals in the Antarctic - they're all in the Arctic.... He also puts up a Union Jack at the South Pole --- all quite interesting.

I came across the concept of "white out" for the first time in this book - even before NIM told us about it. I read a little about him on the Internet and found out that he reported for the Daily Mail and has even written a few fiction books. He even reported on the Hungarian Revolution - I didn't even know there was one!!

I liked his writing style - it was clear, lucid and very honest.

A Tiger for Malgudi by R K Narayan

Undoubtedly one of the finest writers India has produced, R K Narayan will always get an award from me for his simple yet eloquent writing style. He's one of India's best authors.

A Tiger for Malgudi I started after coming back from Jim Corbett Park in Uttaranchal. I finished it yesterday. The story takes place from the point of view of the tiger; a fierce creature of the forest who gets captured and is tamed into performing at a circus. An elderly sage finds him and teaches him about kindness, compassion, life - things he did not know about.

It's an interesting book - it gives you food for thought and is philosophical, yet is a simple story woven around a simple plot.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse is a German writer who received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946. He was greatly influenced by the Orient and visited India. After one such visit, he penned Siddhartha, the story of a young man looking for the true meaning of life.

I always thought the book (or novella, to be more exact) was about Gautam Buddha's life - his name too was Siddhartha; before he left home and renounced the world. But it's actually about a young man growing up in the same time as Gautam Buddha, who is a Brahmin by birth but chooses to renounce the practices he's been raised with and seek out what existence is.

He encounters the Buddha in one chapter and asks him about life and in particular, the enlightenment. But he's not satisfied with the answer and decides not to join him. Instead, Siddhartha follows a different path.

Apart from being a rejection of the world and materialism; of greed; the book is a deeper introspection into what constitutes life; in one paragraph, it states - if the world is maya, then we too are maya - an illusion. What really matters is love - and it is this that binds us together in this meaningless world.

I did a bit of research on the book and found out that it was written in 1922 - and it followed a personal crisis that the author had faced while working as a Red Cross worker in World War I.

I would recommend this book as a good read to anyone who is interested. It gives good food for thought.

16000 ft and its all cold

Last month I went to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering for the Basic Mountaineering Course at Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand.

It was one of the best experiences I've ever had.

I must thank my job for allowing me the time off to go and experience the Himalayas. I now know so many things that I didn't earlier. What a bowline knot is, what ropes are meant for, what a foot hold is, how much fun rock climbing can be, how to walk with 20 kgs on your back.... one of the most memorable moments was reaching the height gain in those snow shoes and crampons - it was amazing.

The Himalayas - sanskrit for "Abode of Snow" - are one of the youngest and the highest mountain peaks in the world. We all know about Mount Everest in Nepal, but you probably didn't know that there are many peaks in India and China that have yet to the climbed due to their difficulty levels. The mountains are dangerous... with the crevasses and the avalances... but it's amazing how beautiful they are. We truly are fortunate to have them within our country. And it's not easy to reach, so not easy to pollute as well.

I learnt about George Mallory and Irvine, Reinhold Messner, that Mont Blanc (4810 m) is the highest mountain in Western Europe (Everest is 8850 m), about the glaciers receding in the world, about water towers and mountains, Bhachindri Pal, Santosh Yadav, Wanda Rutkiewicz, The Himalayan Club, HAPO, HACO, acclimatization....

In one word - AWESOME.

I sure am glad I got a chance to do this.