c u on top - satyabrata dam

In my previous GW posts I have briefly explained the greenhouse gases and how they affect our atmosphere. In this post we will take a wider look at these gases, sources, their effects and what can we do to reduce their generation. Greenhouse Gases are primarily those gases in our atmosphere that does not allow some of the sun’s heat reflected back from earth’s surfaces to go out into the outer space. They trap the heat and in turn heat up the earth’s surface. However greenhouse effect is otherwise a natural process and we will not have life on Earth but for these gases. What makes them alarming now is the rate of increase of these gases in our atmosphere that is solely due to man-made actions. Therefore overall the earth is heating up at an accelerated rate that will outpace the natural cooling processes. There are many visible and latent effects of GW on our planet and the point to be noted is that it is more like a chain reaction where one thing leads to another so each factor of GW ...

Am I scared, I ask myself. The answer is a silent ‘no’ followed by ‘perhaps’ followed by ‘certainly’. I and fear doesn’t seem sound somehow when spoken in the same sentence, even if it is my mind that is doing all the rambling. I am unnerved for sure, without an iota of doubt. My limbs, especially the lower ones are trembling under their own accord propelled by some mysterious forces that is way out of my conscious control. So are my teeth, only figuratively though, and thank god for that. Since according to my guide our survival depends on our silence and moreover the sunbathing beauties eyeing us through slit red eyes within handshaking distance don’t mean any harm unless they are hungry (which they certainly look) or we disturb their siesta with some wild gestures. That was a day when I cussed and cussed my inborn guts and curiosity, both of which were on that day trying their best to detach from my body. Was I or am I completely irrevocably insanely insidiously masochistically figu...

What? Simply put it is the phenomenon that proves through observations (satellites, weather balloons, meteorological stations, etc) that earth as a whole is warming up. Over the last 100 or so years, the average temperature of Earth’s surface has gone up by around 1 deg C. Though this doesn’t seem much and most certainly will not cause the Himalayan glaciers to disappear over the next 25 – 30 years as it had been erroneously mentioned by certain authorities, neither will this rise in temperature cause such massive ice cap melts so as to inundate the oceans and low lying lands, yet it is an indication of our future, our near future and the catastrophes that it has in store for us. Though humanity as a species will continue to flourish; large chunks of us would perish due to calamities that arise out of direct action of GW. Very briefly (and I will cover the effects of GW in a separate post), this slight increase in earth’s surface temperature has caused increased storms and flash floods...

I get innumerable requests to feature global warming (GW) issues in my blog. While it is heartening to know that so many of my readers and friends are aware of GW it is also a difficult task to write about this complex phenomenon along with its vast and highly debatable data for normal readers. Any GW expert is more likely to use jargons and scientific formulas, historical data, pie-charts, etc to drive his point home, to the complete befuddlement of his audience at large notwithstanding. My idea here is to break it down into digestible and delectable morsels for all of you, any of you in a manner that even a child who is not a prodigy can grasp and understand and act upon in any manner possible. GW issues are vast and involve each of us, including the mute animals, insects, fishes, all our geological features, landscapes… anything and everything that resides within the geo-magnetic influence of the Earth and in the cryosphere in particular. Which could tantamount to say that even you ...

Those of you who do not climb mountains or even those who do only sparsely might wonder what is ‘Second Seven Summits’ or ‘Seven Second Summits’ or simply SSS as it is known in my world! And if there are second seven summits then there must be a first or original Seven Summits, and yes it is there. The Seven Summits are the highest peaks of all the seven continents and one who has climbed all of them is called as a Seven summiteer, which till this year numbers around 200. Compare this to the number of Everest summiteers till date at around 3000. So the Seven-Summits club is quite exclusive and only two Indians have done it so far. The SSS on the other hand signifies the second highest summits of all the seven continents. The SSS club is perhaps the most exclusive adventure club in the world today since till date (and to my knowledge) it doesn’t have a member yet. No one has completed the SSS so far. Astonishing isn’t it! Unbelievable I would say, imagine when we are achieving absolutel...

If there is even one amongst you who is not looking for ‘happiness’ then straightaway head for the Himalaya and ascend the stairway to heaven; for you deserve it. I know where the stairway starts and sooner than later I would be heading that way. We all look for happiness, we all want to be happy, we all want to be where happiness is and remains. Point is; how, where and most importantly can we reach there! Ask any Godmen or men of Gods then the obvious answer to this would be that happiness resides deep within the very heart of your soul, just dig deep enough and you will find. Once a South African miner who had worked in the Savuka Mines (at around 3700 m depth, currently the second deepest mine in the world), upon whom I had tumbled by the bays of Cape Town, had told me that despite reaching the deepest human dig in the world he could not fathom happiness and presently preferred to dive into bottles of excellent Western Cape wines. If he found happiness there I did not dare to eluci...

January: Andaman Islands, India February: UK (Scotland and Lakes), Ireland March: Major Himalayan Winter Expedition to Kamen Galmo, Spiti April: Few short climbs in outer Himalaya May – June: Iceland, Norway, Greenland, Germany July: Few short climbs in outer Himalaya August: Kashmir, India September: Major Himalayan Expedition to Zanskar Oct – December: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in pursuit of education and such other nonsense

What’s a ‘moment’ to you? I am sure you have been asked many times: what was your moment, what was or is the most memorable moment of your life? Etc. etc. Someone had once remarked, and which is now widely quoted: Measure not life by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away. But this description is only suggestive; while it could mean a really long life for an unfit individual who lives on the fifth floor of a building that doesn’t have a lift; and to another it could mean the life-lifting or elated moments of one’s life. Such moments are supposedly rare and are thrust upon us when we expect them least. But then if we are so oft advised to live every moment then shouldn’t each moment of our lives be that ‘moment’! But then what is a ‘moment’? Should we define it by a temporal tape of perhaps a minute, seconds or a millisecond perhaps! If you are inordinately excitable then to you may be the moment can last beyond a minute. But the peak or t...