c u on top - satyabrata dam

After six hours of severe battering the much abused Russian Jeep finally spluttered and stuttered and after a series of hiccups and jolts came to a dead halt at a place amongst least known and explored by man. Though my driver cum guide looked severely worried; which was his usual expression even when surrounded by vodka and pretty girls, I heaved a sigh of utmost relief. As I fell out of the jeep onto the dry and parched ground amidst one of the finest and grandest landscapes imaginable I struggled hard to get my bruised and shaken body under some control. If the jeep did not recuperate then we had serious problem; facing dehydration, hypothermia and death (due bandits). Agha and I were stuck right in the heart of the dreaded wastelands of western Turkistan at the Southern edge of the great Alay Mountain Range in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Our destination, the tiny settlement of Alteenmazar lay an hour further to the South. While Agha cursed and deliberated, I stared hypnotized at the mount...

I am a fellow at TED this year and a well meaning friend suggested that I must talk about it. In a lark I wrote the following address of mine at the TED which would happen only in November 2009. I have no idea if I would be speaking there at all or if I do what I would be saying, but the following piece pretty much sums up my thoughts and here it is. Hence this is a speech that has not happened yet and may never happen. Enjoy... Good morning friends! I am 45 and for the last 34 years I have been climbing and traveling around the globe seeking new challenges and methods to kill myself. It’s a wonder that I am still here while more than 70% of my friends are not. During my global gallivanting I managed to climb Mt Everest and some of the highest peaks in the world along with the highest summits of all the seven continents and countless others. Horizontally I skied to the North and the South Pole and across the world’s longest and biggest glaciers and ice caps. I have been mostly traversi...