Behorial aspects - Change

I have seen it in many people around me; how they change after they actually get what they want or are in the process of getting what they have wanted. I have seen the change even in me. It’s not that bad a thing to change. But the irritating part is this change changes the inner core of the person; in each and every aspect. This fact is truly not what I wanted. I never wanted to change my inner self. It was supposed to be a controlled change but the change has taken over now and the change is the master of me.

I have always wanted to be the master of myself and the change. It’s like the spider man movie where Dr.Octovius wanted to bring a change to himself and had setup the control mechanism in place so that he will always be in control on the change but shit happens and the change took over the steering wheel and hell broke loose. So as I always tell people Expect the Unexpected.

But what I liked is the change is still controllable because it was you that brought about the change. The change is not completely uncontrollable. You need to know the knack to do it. That's all

The Leh road trip

Last week (Sept 9-19 2011) I had the wonderful experience of driving down from Bangalore to Leh. The drive from Bangalore to Manali was spectacular but it was the drive from Manali to Leh (a total of 470 kms) that was mind blowing and I never want to forget this drive and am blogging about it for my own memory. The drive varied from an altitude of 6,500 feet to 17,500 feet and goes through 4 high altitude passes and the terrain is so barren that there is no habitation. So here starts the roller-coaster drive that you will be in control of that includes high-altitude passes, bad roads, landslides, glacial melts, broken bridges etc etc...



2 days before: We started from Manali at 6 30 AM and headed to Rohtang Pass with Nirmal in the pilot seat. The drive was through some scenic valley and we drove between a coniferous forest on a well laid road. Rohtang pass was 50 kms away and we were very eager to cross the 25 km stretch as soon as possible having heard so much of the unpredictability of this stretch. It took us close to 3 hrs to complete this stretch with a traffic jam and a land slide. But the road was not that bad that came as our savior. Stopping at Koksar for a regular police check drivers changed and I took the pilot seat. We passed through Keylong which was the biggest town en route and stopped for our lunch at around 2 PM. The ride to Sarchu was supposed to be 4 hrs with Darcha being the last village before Sarchu. From Darcha it was just a distance of 120 kms and this stretch was just a pure bliss of combination of the worst roads and the best landscapes. We passed through the Baralacha-La pass at 16,500 feet and many streams that did give us a small experience of off-roading and also the first sight of our snow capped mountains.

We had selected Sarchu (16,500 feet) for the halt as we wanted to start into J & K on a fresh day and enjoy ladakh to its fullest. Sarchu was the border of HP and J & K. We found ourselves a couple of cozy tents and settled for the night. It was windy and really cold and we had to sleep with out thermals and our jackets on. It was a sleepless night with lots of tossing around in the bed.

1 day before: The morning started as always with me waking up the guys only to find both Sridhar and Nirmal were bitten by altitude sickness and were suffering from headache accompanied with nausea, dizziness and vomiting. Their bodyhad not acclimatised yet to the high altitude weather. They were keen to find out why I didnot suffer their plight (may be because I am a tough person both from inside and outside ;)) but were thankful never the less that there are at least one person to drive. So having already driven more than half the stretch the previous day I was delighted to be driving the entire day to Leh. We started from Sarchu at 7 AM and entered into J & K. We were headed to Pang. Immediately after the entry into Jammu one faces the Gata Loops - a succession of 21 hair pin bends lifting you 1,500 feet higher. After passing through two high altitude passes, Lachlung-La and Naki-La we were finally at Pang.

After Pang came the More Plains. at 15,000 feet no one would expect a desert like plain for a stretch of 42 kms. The BRO was laying roads and we were let to off road to reach the other end of the plains. It was a wonderful experience when you decide your own route and are not directed by just one path. After More Plains the climb for Tanglang-La, the second highest motorable pass at 17,582 feet started.


After climbing down from Tanglang-La we were greeted by small, beautiful villages (Man what a place to live). The villages would have been inhabited by not more than 250 friendly people. At places where we stopped for lunch and chai the locals were friendly and talking to us on the climate and the tourist season and were curious to know where we were from and how the trip has been so far.We finally reached Leh by around 4 PM

1 day after: The return journey from Leh was not very different. The guys were feeling ok and were up to take the steering wheel. We decided to stop either at Jispa or keylong for the night after having a bad wake up call after our night in Sarchu. We reached Sarchu at around 4 30 PM and thought we could make it to Jispa before night fall. But as luck would have it the bad stretch of roads put a pause to our plans and we had to drive slowly towards Jispa with very little natural light. And as if we had no luck when we reach Baralacha-La we were in for a heavy snow fall that made visibility less than 5 feet. With no place to halt and no other options we decided to drive at a snails pace with all lights on and our hands on the horn (It was Nirmal who was steering the car at a steady pace with so much care). We made it to Jispa at around 8 PM. Exhausted from the drive and our hearts beating at regular pace after the thumping race it had had we fell on the beds content of our achievement.

2 days later: Having crossed all the difficult parts it was only the Rohtang Pass that was left for this day. With me at the reigns again and the previous day snow fall and rains Rohtang pass roads were washed away and there was only slush on the roads. It took a lot of maneuvering to traverse the 25 km stretch. There were 2 instances when the car was stuck in the slush and many other instances when we were almost off the road and at a 45 degree slope on the cliff wall to let another car pass. Overall a terrific experience.

We finally reached Manali at around 1 30 PM.

Cross country Trip

With all the time to spare I have started planning my cross country trip. As of now one of my friends has confirmed on his joining me.

The trip will be spread across 2 weeks (15 days) and 10,000 kms. The accommodation will not be planned and we will be lodging wherever we want to. Covering most of the coast, the Deccan plateau, the Himalayas and the Rajasthan Desert. A trip that covers the whole nation and an experience that will last a life time. We will be travelling from the lowest part of the nation to the highest part of the nation from the hottest part to the coldest part.

More time will be spent driving, enjoying the environment and catching up with India. The big cities have been blocked only because of the options for our accommodation. If we have to we will even spend the night in the vehicle at the road side of a rural part of the country.

The plan is to escape from the crowd that we usually mingle in and get lost in the vast country of ours and get to know new people, places and do stuff we will usually not do.

Hope this plan materializes....

Realizations

Who am I...

1. Truly independent...Do what I wanna do without caring if it is right or wrong...But I have my own principles that I strictly follow...
2. Ambitious....Always shooting for the sky with my ideas. But when it comes to practicality, never...
3. Like to be appreciated...Even Subtly ask for it. Enjoy a fan following more than anything
4. Very friendly and social...I may not be a conversation starter but start one with me and you will never see the end of it
5. Loyal friend and lift up one's spirits and provide encouragement when times are rough
6. Very forgiving and don't like living in the past.
7. A knowledge bank...I like to know just about everything. Don't ever wanna be in the dark

8. I am a simple guy who doesn't like jazzy stuff

9. A foodie...I like trying out new cuisines, though the quantity I eat may not be much

10. A person who cares about other fellow beings and the environment but doesn't express it explicitly.
11. Short tempered...
12. Overbearing & Opinionated...Very stubborn when I have decided on something
13. Sensitive and Intolerant but hide it so very well that no one can see it...This quality can also be seen in the lies I tell. No one can see the difference.
14. Cannot accept failures that easily.
15. Need to feel like I have accomplished something at the end of the day.
16. Do not sit back and think; which does not make me impulsive, because I look at the future and do consider consequences of the actions
17. Have a big pride...Which sometimes can be felt...But rarely...
18. Like being the centre of attraction and fight hard for it. And when I deserve it ask for it. Can be termed Conceited...

Self Realizations

I have been good in analyzing people around me (at least that's what I think. I have been correct more than 70% of the times).

Busy with analyzing others I had completely forgotten about me. This is the case of many people. We fail to read ourselves and spend all our time reading others. I now realize I really need to do this now. Only when you know yourself will you know what you need and what you want. When you can differentiate you will know where you are shooting into the sky and where you are realistic.

So the next few blogs are being dedicated to my self realizations. It is what I feel I know about myself. Let's see how close I am to knowing myself completely.

Resistance to Change…

All my life I have had numerous changes be it location, jobs or anything for that face, but how many of them have I welcomed happily. Very few I would say. But the fact that I enjoy the fruits after the change is inevitable. It is the change that matters and not the effects of the change.

This I have felt with many of my friends. The feelings were well captured in HIMYM and Friends. We all know that change will always make our life interesting but still fear the change.

This topic struck me this weekend when my friend Collins who is expecting a change is getting anxious day after day. He is excited about the change and anxious the same time. He knows it, he feels it but the resistance is always there...

That’s human nature…

The truth awakening

After a long hibernation, I am back. You can call this the awakening. But I have got better...
All my life I have always got everything I had wanted, thanks to my parents. And there have been times when my parents were not present and even then things did come my way. Then came the awakenings
The first year at IIM Kozhikode finance interested me, but then (in the 3rd term to be exact) came a change of interest to marketing after the Financial Management course. Deeming finance to be the area for all the studious people I stayed away from it, but for a few courses that I felt would help me in trading for personal benefits and my passion. I had no clue on why I took SAPM for the second time in my life to only make a D grade again. History repeated itself. This was the first awakening. Finance is not my cup of tea and for a matter of fact it was not my cup of anything. I decided to stay away from it as much as I could and ignored it completely though I had a major in it.
Then came the final placements. Very keen on getting a marketing profile I kept myself away from finance and IT. The first week was really tough, with, me not getting any shortlists and Pepsi too had revoked their PPI (Pre Placement Interview). Now in a desperate situation I created a resume for IT companies and started to apply to some of them. And my day came when my 3 years of IT Retail experience was put to good use and Wipro took me for just this experience. Having put IT in the dark it was where I found the final light.

Morale: Don’t force yourself into what you think you are interested in but in something that has an equal proportion of both interest and capability.