Hail, the Weary Traveller

Life has a funny way of going around in circles. You head out looking at the horizon, travel a few miles and then one day you turn around, look around, and lo and behold, you are back where you started out from. With some memories added on from your journey. One given of most travel is that ultimately you reach home, however long your journey. The friendly pillow, the familiar colours and smells of home, the sights and sounds outside the bedroom window, are a welcome change to living out of a rucksack. For a while. And then you start getting itchy feet and head out again.

Most journeys are enjoyable and you come back rejuvenated, refreshed, cleansed, ready to take on the world. You have met new people, experienced new things, digested local food, and explored new cultures. Then back to the familiar, with renewed vigour and enthusiasm.

Life is also pretty much like a journey. It is not a destination by itself … which I suspect is the ultimate moving on into the nether world … but a journey made up of a million little destinations along the way, every day. You like some, you hate some. You learn from some and some learn from you. It is a symbiotic relationship between you and everyone and everything around you. Oh yes, life is a journey like none other. And if you do not enjoy it, it can be a very painful experience indeed. Much like regular travel. Away from the comforts of the known, the future is always unique. It is unknown and unless we can take it in our stride, we will live a miserable life … in life itself or on the road.

Unfortunately, often times, in the journey called life, it is not always easy going. Particularly for the mavericks. Those who want to chart a future for themselves, swim against the tide, want to leave their footprints on the sands of passing time, life can be difficult. There is so much to do and constantly they seem to be beating their heads against a brick wall. Why are so many people walking the tried and tested? Why are people afraid to peel off from the mundane and chart their course in history? Of course, it is risky. But what is life without a little risk, a little adventure. History has shown that the path breaker has always been the one to change the world. It is that one person who liked to stand apart from the crowd. Sure, there are many many more who fall by the wayside in their quest for excellence. That is the name of the game. Life is like a boxing bout. You don’t fail when you fall down. You fail when you refuse to get up again. The crucial seconds of the countdown decide your future. Do not be afraid to fail. Keep trying. You may not quite succeed but you will not look yourself in the mirror and call yourself a loser. Success is about getting up one more time than you fall.

So much for advice. It is extremely difficult to live by them. There are so many logical reasons and justifications for us to stop taking that next step forward. Friends, family, money at the end of the month, food on the table, weather, health, finances, the pet at home, whatever. Excuses are there. Some call them justifications. When you swim against the tide, you better have very strong muscles. When thrown into white water, you need to know how to hold your breath. When you are going where no one has ever gone before you need to know how to tell your bearings.

Fatigue does set in though. And increasingly so when the hair line is receding, there are shiny patches in the back of your head, the breath cannot match up to the physical demands made by the mind. When age starts catching up, and you sit back and notch up your accomplishments, you suddenly realise that life has been a constant endeavour at chasing rainbows. The elusive pot of gold always lay some distance away and like the proverbial mirage in the desert, turned out to be an illusion after all. That is a scary realisation and from there on it is extremely easy to just sit back and give it all up. The mind keeps reassuring you that all the effort was worth it and that it was not wasted, despite what everyone keeps telling you and what results you have to show. After a while you end up believing it yourself and start looking at that loser staring back at you in the mirror.

Life is a wonderful journey when the going is good. But when the going gets tough, it tests the mettle of the strongest heart. And when the rough road ahead stretches on till eternity, it can be a very frustrating journey.

I seem to be at the crossroads of life. The mirror keeps calling me, beckoning me to take a long hard look at the person staring back. Is it a trier or a give-upper? Is it a person who is down on the mat or one who is trying to get up once again? Is it a winner or a loser? I have not looked in the mirror for a while now, scared at who will look back at me. I am not yet ready to let the referee complete the countdown. But the scores are getting louder and louder, and getting ever so close to my ear, drowning out everything else that tells me to get up.

Get up I will, I know that. But how many more times, I ask myself. The psychological and physical demands are getting a bit much. The straws on the back are reaching a threshold. The balloon has almost been blown to its full. Now I need to sit back and take a long hard look. Jot down the future as clearly and as lucidly as I possibly can. And then get up one last time, take a look at the mirror, doff my hat at it and move on again on the journey called life.

But, it is a tough demanding world for the weary traveller. I hope I reach my final destination soon. It cannot come soon enough.

Julay, Ladakh

 

As you cross over from Rohtang and descend into Keylong, “Julay” is the term you will be greeted with pretty much by everyone and everywhere you go. The moment you hear this term you realise that you are now entering a new culture, will end up meeting new people, get exposed to new customs, experience the raw face of Nature at its best and face a whole new landscape in the highest and coldest desert in the world. Ladakh is truly an experience that everyone needs to well … experience … at least once in their lives. And the best way to experience this gorgeous land is by driving in from Manali to Leh.

The Manali-Leh route is tough and according to some, is one of the toughest motorcycle journeys in the entire world. That may have been true in the olden days, but now with the roads having fresh tarmac on them, and having been widened over the last few years, the real danger of riding off the cliff into the valley below has been largely negated. Not so for the foolhardy who can manage to fall of the cliff even when they are riding on the edge of the ocean. There is no point being reckless, particularly on the Manali-Leh road. Enjoy the scenery, marvel at the barren browns and greens and purples and blues, the many colours that the mountains and the sky throw up at every turn of the wheel. Enjoy the sightings of a few birds, look around for the marmots and the wild ass and the ibex and the quail and seldom, the vultures and the eagles. Enjoy dusting the grime from your gear, feel the warm tea as its soaks in through the cold and dampness of your throat, as you sit under a parachute tent, away from the biting chill of the wind. Watch the sun go behind the high mountain painting the sky in all kinds of colours.

My theory is that God never went to painting school. He would have failed miserably. No school would ever teach their pupils to mix the colours in the way God does. Look at the sky during sunset. Greens go with purples. Yellow plays footsie with blue. Orange and turquoise look as if they are long lost brothers. And when all of them get together, they paint a canvas of immense beauty, while you marvel at the magic. Either God did not go to painting school or the syllabus has changed immensely over the years since He was there.

Despite the beauty and exotica of the road trip, it can be very dangerous. It is a high altitude ride and if you are not careful, you could be in for a lot of trouble. Help is almost non-existent except for the few Army establishment en route, and they could be at the other end of the Universe if you need them NOW, can see them in the distance, yet cannot move because of your condition. High altitude can kill, and kill very quickly.

Often people make a mad dash to reach Leh, because that is where they want to be. I find that a little hard to understand. Why people cannot take it easy and stop to smell the roses, I fail to fathom. Not that there are many roses on the way to Leh, but you know what I mean. After crossing the madhouse that is Rohtang, you descend into Koksar and then Keylong. I like to stay the first night in Keylong. It is relatively high (around 10,000 feet) thus helping acclimatisation, it is a city and therefore one does not feel isolated like one would further down the road, there is electricity and the phones work. Moreover, a little short of Keylong is Tandi, the last gas station before Leh, 365km away. And there is a detour I like to do from Keylong … to Udaipur and Triloknath. The drive is spectacular and the temples are gorgeous. Triloknath is one temple I have seen that alternates between a Buddhist monk and a Hindu priest.

As you leave Keylong you feel the terrain changing all around. Vegetation becomes sparse as you climb, people disappear, trees become a distant memory, and civilisation as we know it fades into the dust behind the vehicle. Darcha, Patseo, Sarchu, Pang, are all humbling places. And these are the few places where you can possibly get a cup of tea, maybe some Maggi, parathas, eggs, soup, etc. These are also places where you can bunk in, communally, probably ten to fifteen people, shoulder to shoulder, in the comfort of thick blankets. It is a great experience actually.

As you climb higher and higher you reach the Morey Plains which is a awesome drive of forty odd kilometres and then you reach the highest point on this road – Tanglang La, which at 17, 582 feet is the second highest motorable road in the world. It is high and it can be very cold, particularly if the wind is blowing. But the sheer joy of being at Tanglang La means that you spend more time here than you had probably planned. A walk up to the temple, taking pictures for posterity near the signposts, just walking up and down soaking in the memories, that is what Tanglang La is all about. There are no tea stalls here or else you would have spent a lot more time.

Time to head down. Over the next couple of hours, you descend from 17,582 feet to around 11,000 feet, in Leh. The landscape starts turning green as you climb down from Tanglang La, habitation starts sprouting up and you can almost feel civilisation before you actually come across it. The barrenness of high altitude is left behind and city life beckons. You hit Upshi and Karu and Choglamsar, the lights of Leh are visible in the distance at the end of a long road and soon enough you hit town … and people and traffic. You check into the hotel and slowly soak in the end of a wonderful road trip. You look at the pictures you have taken on the way up, you remember the adventures you have had, you wonder how you have become a better rider or driver in the three or four days you have spent between Manali and Leh. And then you get up to explore the city. And as you walk through the streets, soaking in the whole new culture, you are greeted with the now familiar “Julay”.

Democracy or Autocracy?

India is the world’s largest democracy and arguably the strongest. It is a very good political system, distributing the powers into multiple hands, ensuring that demagogues are not created. It has been said … and proven … that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Take a look at what absolute power has done to people over the centuries … Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Castro, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussain, the list is endless and history is full of stories of people who took absolute power into their own hands and ended up reviled by the entire world.

But let us for a moment turn the argument on its head. Apart from a form of governance, and a good one at that, because of dissolution of power among the many, where does democracy really exist? Let us take industry first. There is a definite hierarchy, with the CEO or the Managing Director as the boss. It is his or her writ that governs the working of the organisation. Sure, there are other members in the management, the shareholders, who have a say, and a host of other checks and balances. But it is ONE person who takes the call … and the blame. Take Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or Richard Branson or in our own backyard Vijay Mallya or Narayana Murthy or the Ambanis, Tatas, Birlas and Goenkas.

Despite the organisation structure, despite the shareholders, despite everything, it is the man sitting at the top of the totem pole who has to take the call on the way forward. Democracy is one sure way of stifling progress in an organisation. The man at the top has the vision. He can see way into the future and has a definite road map in mind. He knows where the company is or should be headed and how to get there. And he is the one steering the ship through troubled waters. Others in the organisation have to lend a helping hand in ensuring that the goal is achieved.

Maybe the near future will prove the point I am trying to make. Steve Jobs is dead and gone. There is talk that the Macintosh will be phased out and that the new management wants to focus on the iPhones and the iPads. That is a call that the new management has to take, stand by it and see it through. They have charted out a course for Apple and it is their necks that are on the line. But I wonder, had Steve Jobs still been there steering the rudder, would the thought of phasing out the Macintosh even be considered?

There was a saying in Apple that Apple had only one customer – Steve Jobs. If Steve did not like the product, it never saw the light of day. He has postponed and cancelled launches because the final product did not meet up to the demands he made. This style of functioning had nothing to do with the democratic process and probably that is why Apple reached the peaks that it has.

Let us take the Armed Forces. Democracy is a sure way to ensure that you not only lose the battle but end up with horrendously large number of casualties. Imagine a situation where a Company or Platoon or Battalion is readying to attack an enemy position. The Commanding Officer, the Second-in-Command, the Adjutant, the Company Commanders, the Subedar Major, all sit around a table and put various possible strategies forward for discussion. One says hold on to current position, the other says attack on two fronts, the third wants to delay the attack by a couple of days, the fourth wants a night assault, the discussion veers to what should be the composition of the assault team, etc. Then, keeping the democratic process alive, a compromise is reached. The result is obvious. While these deliberations were going on, the enemy ended up attacking their position, took over the post, the officers and men were taken prisoners and in the process, a few lives were lost.

What about adventure sports? Let us say a team is preparing to make the final attempt on Mt Everest. The summit team is getting ready at Camp V. Then everyone sits down to discuss the attempt and arrive at the best possible way to the summit. One wants to start at midnight because that is what most successful teams have done. The other wants to break the rules and become the first person to summit in the evening by starting the climb at noon. Another climber wishes to do it without oxygen. There is an option put forth of making the attempt without any fixed ropes.

Can you imagine the disaster this group is facing? Truly, a camel is a horse designed by a committee. One cannot start out wanting to design a horse, constitute a committee and still hope to come out with a pure bred stallion at the end of the deliberations. Democracy is about taking everyone’s views into consideration. It is largely about appeasement. It is about carrying the team together. Where everyone is the first among equals. And what you end up with is a camel (or worse) instead of a horse. And everyone goes home happy. Except that the purpose of the exercise is entirely defeated.

And examples such as these can be taken from almost any field. Movies. Performing arts. Sports. Anything. Except possibly Government, where it seems to work because decisions delayed are not necessarily lethal. It might delay progress or it might mean that in the race for supremacy you get left behind on the track, but people do not lose lives. In a democratic process, you may not lose lives, but you might lose the seat of power because of the autocracy displayed. The checks and balances work for Government. It keeps corruption in check. And in mature and maturing democracies, life goes on despite the dalliances of the Government.

So what do you think? Is democracy a good thing when you have a future ahead of you? Let us assume you are the leader of the pack in an organisation. Would you rather be democratic than take the decisions that need to be taken?

Of course, there is a caveat to the point I am trying to make. In my opinion, the head honcho has to be an autocrat, taking the decisions that need to be taken. The caveat is that the person at the top needs to have the knowledge, the experience, the wherewithal to take the right decision and to stick by it. Given these basic, democracy is a waste of time and resources. What say you?

Modesty, Thy Name is Bear Grylls

I just finished reading a book. An autobiography of a person I admire and who has inspired me over the past few years. Bear Grylls. The man behind Man vs Wild. The man who was part of the elite SAS Corps. The man who has spawned a whole new genre of television programming. And why just television programming? The Man vs Wild series has spawned a whole new lifestyle among people all over the world. Adventure and survival has come into our living rooms and more and more people are venturing out into the wilderness with the knowledge that has been inspired by Bear Grylls.

The book makes fascinating reading. It is an extremely easy read and written from the heart. Having seen the Man vs Wild series multiple times and through that having started to understand the essence of the Bear Grylls psyche and character, I very much doubt whether the book was dictated to an editor and published under Bear’s name. No, I do not think that at all. Like Bear says in his Epilogue, the book has been written by him and much of it on flights that he takes around the world, whether filming or on the lecture circuit. It is written from the heart and the inner soul of Bear Grylls the person is exposed, naked to the world, to see him as he really is. A person like any other person we come across on the street. The only difference being his dogged determination and the acceptance of the fact that nothing comes easy. All goals worth fighting for come with inherent obstacles. The harder the task, the more glorious the goal, the more difficult the pitfalls that come on the road to achieving that purpose.

For a person to have had a near fatal accident from a skydive, to have come back and scaled Mt Everest, to doing the kind of things he does on television, is indeed something worth appreciating and getting inspired by. But more than his exploits what hit me on every page of the book was his modesty. He need not have been as modest as he has been in the book. His growing up years, his relationship with his family, the modest beginnings, his love for Shara his wife and their three sons, the way he acknowledges the help he received from friends, all come through wafting through the pages like a rose. He has not failed to recognise those who helped him get up when he believed that he could not rise again. He knows he is not the best soldier or the finest adventurer or the most knowledgeable survivor in the whole wide world. He believes that luck had a whole lot to play in his success and him becoming a household name around the world. He realises that and accepts that with all humility. Modesty and humility are something that I have taken away from this book.

Bear Grylls has grown in my esteem and I feel proud to have his name as one of my inspirations. Truly, if I can imbibe a little bit of the modesty and humility that Bear portrays and obviously lives by, I would become a better person. Success tends to result in swollen brains and an increase in height to ensure that the head is continuously above the clouds. Far from it as far as Bear is concerned. Hats off to him. And I concede, modesty, thy name is Bear Grylls.