Footprints on the Mountainside

Flashback time.

A client just called, asking for rock climbing training. He wanted to learn, but he was alone and didn’t have anyone to share the price of sessions with. I was wondering what to do, as we also are really packed with work, when I remembered the date. It is December. The time of the glorious rock climbing camp tradition started by Girivihar way long ago, long before I took my first uncertain steps on a mountain even.

This is where I first learnt to climb. It was an annual routine. Every year, members of this club take time off from the 24th to the 29th of December (regardless of day of the week), and volunteer their efforts to teach the new generation of enthusiasts the fine art of climbing. This volunteering of effort and extremely basic facilities make the camp affordable to many young climbers (young climbers are always broke - they spend their money on heading out every weekend). When I did the camp, I paid Rs. 350/- as fees (or was it Rs. 550/- I don’t remember).
A lot has changed since then. Our old venue - Kanheri Caves is no longer available to us, where we could avail of really cheap accommodation (a government bunglow, which was basically two huge empty rooms). The camps now take place at CBD Belapur and 14 years later, cost Rs. 2,000/- and should be well worth every rupee paid.

I did the unthinkable. I forwarded a professional client to the place I learnt in. There is no way I can match the level of instruction, hard core climbing ambience, and the company of fellow enthusiasts for that kind of a price. I would love to attend it myself again, for the experience.
May this tradition of old mountaineers dedicating time each year to produce new ones live long!

Those who are interested in this years camps, may download the file here - Girivihar’s 35th Annual Rock Climbing Camp - Entry form

It is a confusing image that India has and on all fronts. On one side we have our rich cultural traditions and diversity, on the other, we have orthodox beliefs and discrimination. We are growing as an economy, yet we have too many poor people. We worship the goddesses and we kill the female children.

Quite a paradox, aren’t we?

I started this segment to see if I could share ideas that occur to me with other like minded people. Ideas that make the world a better place, ideas that mean that we quit whining, and move our own bottoms slightly out of our comfort zones to “walk our talk”. Ideas that mean, while we can expect things from our government and politicians, we far outnumber them in terms of capacity for individual effort. All this effort could be put to better use than airing opinions alone.

This first post is likely to be jumbled, since there are too many things I care deeply about, but I guess I need to make a start somewhere and take it from there.

I’d like to mention an interview I saw on Doordarshan, of a man called Prof. Subedar Surve - a writer, teacher and social reformer. This man stayed in my mind for a very long time. I didn’t have the time to see it in great detail, but the gist of it is that this is an old, retired person with highly educated children, well into their respective careers. This man noticed the children on the streets and their lack of education. He started a learning centre for them and applied for funding support from the government. He got a grant. Moving to a different area, he did the same and got a grant again.

Applying this method over and over, he ended up with about 40 of these small education centres that are free of cost for poor children to get a basic education! We are speaking of about 1,200 kids! He noticed that some people were using the school premises to stay in at night, and expanded his programme to include night classes for grown ups.

Definitely old in terms of age, this is one of the most vibrant and youthful personalities I saw in a long time. Chirpy and cheerful, he speaks of the support he got from the government, once he took the initiative. He praised his wife for the unfailing support over the years through some very difficult times. He spoke of some of his stories that got national awards. He spoke of his enthusiasm to take his work further. He spoke in very supportive terms of todays youth that the world sees as “reckless” and thinks that it is a generation growing in a different world from what they know, and they are really very good people at heart, and they are going to take the world to new heights. This is one man who can retire, but not stay out of action. Kudos to him!

Jovial, extremely willing to talk of anything the interviewer requested, he had all of us “youngsters” spell bound and disappointed that the interview got a little abrupt toward the end for want of time. I could have listened to this guy for the whole day.
For all those who sit and speak of what the government should do, what the society needs, and what is the problem with everything, this man is a inspiring example of what can be acheived if we care to put our ideas into action.

May we all WALK OUR TALK