c u on top - satyabrata dam

UN lists 193 countries as official member states. Of these I have been to 191, the two exceptions being Pakistan (where they won’t let me go) and North Korea (where I don’t want to go). Then there is Vatican City and State of Palestine, which are not UN members but have the status of a country nevertheless in the form of non-member observer state. I have been to both. That leaves Kosovo, which has a funny fluid state in terms of a sovereign state. Around 100 countries recognize it as an independent country, but others don’t. Geographically it is still a part of Serbia but has its own international borders that are recognized by most EU states. I have been to Kosovo too, twice, since it is a beautiful place, whether it’s a country or not.   Now as you all know, one of the primary reasons for me to visit any new country is to get to the top of it and in most of the cases I have succeeded in this endeavor. As far as memory serves there might be around two dozen countries whose sum...

  Human settlements including cities, towns, villages and even countries have acquired names that are funny, quirky, at times downright offending, weird and even unpronounceable. Why these names were picked up by the city planners or the town council is a subject worthy of contemplation. The most common being that they wanted an uncommon name for their resident locality and with hope that merely an odd name would attract tourists. Alas, most such places are also among the least visited. As I traveled around the world in search of mountains to climb, I did visit many such places with uncommon names.   Here for the sake of this list and my English speaking readers I have only mentioned English sounding names, which has an English meaning (barring one exception that I couldn’t resist with good reason as you would discover). Therefore many weird names in local vernacular language got left out, for example Kala Kutta in India, which in English transliterates to Black Dog. Or...

If you are looking for your ideal lover, look no further than the nearest high mountain or sheer rock face or an impeccable ice line. Upon such crazy landscapes will you find the one that can make you dizzy, whether you climb with them, upon them or within them. Climbers climb; what more can you ask for! So climb on and see you on top! The following has no order of priority and have been strictly used in generic sense related to climbing; what kind; depends upon your mental disposition. For me it is all about climbing, from one summit to another. They really like to climb They have good endurance They like to see you on top They have good grip and balance They are not afraid to fall They like new routes to the summit They need bare minimum They know how to survive extreme situations They have all the necessary equipment They like being high They climb one step at a time They seldom give up They can go for long without slee...

Marital Bliss I agree I am putting my hands deliberately inside a hornet’s nest but then someone has to, especially someone like me who is totally unbiased, have equal number of married and single friends and I don’t really see one as better than the other in anyway whatsoever. It all comes down to individual choices after all. Some of us learn the hard way that we might have made a wrong choice while some just never learn or realize so they either stay single for their entire lives or they keep getting married again and again. No wonder human are fundamentally masochistic. This is a fun post so take it as one since life itself is fun with all the intended pun. I am not a marriage counsellor and certainly not a ‘single’ advocate. But I can tell you a lot about both the statehoods, since I observe keenly. And yes, for those who do not know me, I am very much single and intend to stay that way for the rest of my life; yes I haven’t learnt anything and yes I am masochistic as we...

Lago Torre, Patagonia Argentina This time around while summing up the year 2014 that just whizzed by I am completely determined to avoid intricate statistics lest it leads to three mainstream reactions among my readers (like it usually does) – one of admiration (I like this one, especially when I get those delicious mails from delicious women); one of envy; and one of utter disbelief (many believe all these travels and climbs of mine are pure fiction and products of my over productive imagination). Suffice it to say that I did not travel much in 2014, barely 10 countries in four continents and crossed the Atlantic only four times and kissed the Pacific shores twice. Climbed very moderately and only till around 7000m. Visited only two places that are rarely visited by human. Air miles covered must be in the region of 100,000 if not more but then this is merely an average human being I suppose. Despite all precautions taken, the year ended with a black tipped nose due to ca...

Crossing crevasse on Everest I often have discussions with friends and well-wishers about the element of risk involved in my ordinary day to day life and I always insist that my life has far less risk than a regular city dweller; where she crosses the roads, drives, drinks tap water, etc each such so-called mundane activity that is actually very high on risk element. We simply do not realize this that your life is at a much higher risk than mine, especially when I climb those stupendously steep walls of ice or step into the death zone. So to give you a point by point comparison, I have picked up two supposedly diametrically opposite activity that can be grasped by all. Let’s say I am climbing Everest and you are just boarding a flight to a vacation or work; here are the ten reasons why you are taking a much higher risk than I: -

When I was still in my teens (I am still there mentally though), I had read a short story about a man of leisure; it was a great story of a Scotsman who simply lived a life of leisure, doing or not doing anything that he did or didn’t want to do. He wasn’t tied down by any other conditions of life; everything depended upon his wish. That to me had seemed a charming way of living; live the way you wish, do what you want and do not do what you do not want to – very simple. Over the years in search of true freedom I never realized that I too had become a sort of man of leisure. And just few days ago a distant friend (distant in distance) pointed out to me that I was a man of leisure; which, she promptly added, was the pipe dream of most men and women anyway. Due to my faltering and blistering grasp of the language, I first checked the online Oxford Dictionary (don’t tell me you still own and consult a paper real dictionary) for the definition and it proclaimed – a person who does ...