c u on top - satyabrata dam

I have now retired from the Defence Forces and that allows me the liberty to take potshots at my previous service, though I always viewed life through the utmost magnifying glass called ‘humor’. Recently I came across the following lines, summing up the motto of the Indian Armed Forces (with all pun and fun intended) and I realized that we could apply it to almost any profession that pays. For that reason mountaineers don’t qualify. With all due respect to the Armed Forces of this world, India in particular and to all other professions that pay, here are the lines in Hindi followed by transliteration in English for my international readers. Read on and enjoy: - Fauj Ka Usool bane raho paglay, kam karenge agle, bane raho lull, tankhwa paao full, kam se daro nahin, kam ko karo nahin, kam mat karo, kam ki fiqr karo and fiqr ka zikr karo, kam karoge to kam milega, kam nahin karoge to sirf tankhwa milegi, kam tum nahin karoge to koi aur karega, aur trust me tumse acha karega English version...

In climbing, especially the extreme kind where we dangle from non-existent holds and bullet-proof vertical ice slabs, words and languages are mostly superfluous. We often don't say anything, in order to save our breaths and energy for that one impossible move, and when and if we do, it is often an expletive to which we don’t expect an answer. For our last prayers, when the need arise for such devotion to God, we generally mutter silently inside the deepest and unknown recesses of our souls asking forgiveness for our stupidity. In none of the situations, as you can evince, are words or languages (that can be understood by your climbing co-conspirators) necessary. Climbing is an activity that transcends borders of demography, religion, sex, language and visions. Where we perhaps differ, fundamentally, is our individual ethics and reason to climb. Put any two climbers together on a hard route, who may have never met before, or don't understand each other's tongue, and they wou...

A wise man had once told me 'in today's world it's not always important what you do, but what you can prove for others to see.' While mountaineering is an ethical sport where much is believed from the climbers and summiteers without the need of any proof whatsoever and I personally don't necessarily subscribe in the wisdom of the aforementioned wise man, it has now become more necessary than ever before to understand how to prove your ascent conclusively to an independent body that you had indeed climbed a peak and it is not a false claim; either intentionally or non-intentionally. These days when we are more concerned about media and publicity and setting of records than the pure pleasure of climbing for your own sake, the mountaineering world at large has become more competitive and fierce in claiming and proving ascents. Record books are more important than anything personal or spiritual that a climber and adventurer should ideally gain. Therefore it is more impo...

When we think of Switzerland we normally think of the snowcapped mountains with endless ski slopes, sparkling blue lakes and some of you, perhaps, of the Swiss Banks. Rarely would we associate plain land with Swiss topography though there are vast tracts of Switzerland devoid of anything vertical. With my enchantment with anything natural that rises up into the azure, my obvious destinations in Switzerland had always been the Zermatt Valley and Grindelwald, the two take off points for some of the nicest and steepest mountain architectures anywhere in the world. In one of my trips to Switzerland, after I had climbed few peaks in the Zermatt Valley, including the infamous Weisshorn by its north face, and had strained my ligaments to a degree not utterly suitable for such activities, one of my well-meaning friends suggested that it was perhaps time for me to give the Swiss Alps a break from my antics and I would be well advised to see the prettiest village in all of Switzerland. And it i...

Recently a friend of mine sent me the picture of a mystic mountain trail, showing a solitary human figure walking towards the viewer with a thin trail behind him, disappearing into the distant snow covered mountains. Now I know of such trails in abundance, and I am often found at such places, often alone, like the figure in the picture. Along with it, my friend asked me for some lyrical explosions to go. I am not sure what exactly she wanted me to write but on the spur of a moment I came up with few lines, in general, not necessarily meant for her, but for anyone who has ever taken on a trail where the destination was either not known or not thought of. So for this post I expanded the lines a bit more and here it is for all of you: - There's your way, there's my way and then there's the HIGH way There's that way, there's this way and then there's the HIGH way There's pathway, there's midway and then there's the HIGH way There's low way, there...