THE BIG YEAR

THE BIG YEAR

That is the name of the movie that I saw during my Air India flight to Kozhikode (formerly Calicut) from Delhi. It is truly a hopping flight: two stops over at Mumbai and Coimbatore (the Tamils still have not changed its name, or if they have, I am not aware) and in the process takes 6 hours to reach from Delhi to Kozhikode; in the same time you may reach at least a few destinations in Europe, and all in the destinations in Gulf area as well as all over Asia. Normally I avoid seeing movies on plane; one, that the screen is too small and too close for my comfort, secondly, most of the times, these are highly abridged, and third, not less important, the hearing phone plugs do not fit my ears. I am seriously thinking of buying good quality external earphones, which you don’t have to insert inside your ears. However, I keep the screen alive to see what is happening, or sometimes I steal a glance over other passengers’ screens to know what are their choices. For example, when we were flying to Zurich very recently, the young boy sitting diagonally opposite, was watching some kind of a horror movie, the story of which seemed to have been lifted straight from ancient Indian and Arabian stories. The demon in some far flung area has an extra head on his shoulder, can penetrate wall of any thickness, and is at ease whether running, flying or swimming deep under the ocean. And he is indestructible by any weapon. Only fire could annihilate him in the end set up by the young hero. And what was hero’s reward? No prize in guessing; of course, the young beautiful princess.

Well, on my flight to Kozhikode, I resumed reading ‘Paths to Glory’ by Jeffery Archer, the book I started on my flight to Zurich. If you do not know about this book, I will tell you some other day.

When breakfast came, I switched on my inflight entertainment programme, just to watch visuals, without the bother of listening to dialogues. I stopped at one channel when I saw Steve Martin shooting birds, what else, but with a camera. I had thought I would just enjoy his comical acting while having my breakfast, but then, the birds caught my attention, and I decided to watch the movie with all audio and visuals. The movie was about 3 people, who are birdies: the passionate bird watchers. Steve is a successful business tycoon who started from his garage, but now controls an empire, and is fiercely competitive; Harris is a young man who at 36 is divorced, and does not have a steady job; Baustik is another young and successful guy who is happily married to a beautiful and devoted wife, and the couple is keen to have a child, for which wife is under treatment at an Infertility clinic. They are unknown to one another, and had decide to take a year off, the ‘big year’ from their respective work. During this year, they and many other bird watchers would travel all over the US to spot, sight, and photograph as many birds as possible, and to achieve satisfaction of being a winner.  Each wants to be a winner, because winning would bring them some glory and recognition. Doing ‘Big Year’ is not just following a hobby for them any more. What was just a passion becomes another nerve wrecking competition.

Steve and Baustik have no problem with funds, but when Harris goes to his parents for a loan of $ 5000/-, his retired father retorts about him not doing any worthwhile job, and wanting to erode their old age savings to pursue his useless hobby of bird watching, and giving a fancy name ‘The Big Year’ to his vacation. His mother comes to rescue at the last minute, and drives recklessly to the JFK for him to catch his flight to a bird sanctuary about to receive migratory birds. These three meet in the sanctuary, but would not tell one another that they all have taken this as their ‘Big Year’, though all suspect each other, and a fierce, but un-spelt competition sets among them. The story is about how they try to stay ahead of the other, how they handle their own demons and relationships, and how they learn some important lessons of life.

In between the year, Steve’s office begs him to come to office from his vacation to clinch a deal with a tough client; he resists initially but returns to NY just for 4 hrs. But then, misses his chartered flight to Alaska, and there is none for another week. So he lags behind in his number game, and feeling very frustrated, decides to give up on completing his Big Year. Then his wife reminds him that bird watching was his hobby, why he is taking it as another business deal or rivalry. He should complete his ‘big year’ enjoying watching and photographing birds, not just counting them. Harris comes close second, but he ends up getting a girl friend, and more importantly he learns the importance of relationship in life, when he abandons a field trip to return to look upon his ailing father in the hospital. His father understands his son’s passion, and gifts him funds to complete his year. Baustik comes up as the winner, but in the process loses his wife; she finally decides to leave him because he misses all the important dates at the clinic, and she realizes that she is only at a second place in his life, and how much he himself abhors the idea of coming to second place in the ‘Big Year’. After losing his wife, the value of relationship dawns on him when sitting alone in a park he sees a young couple walking with a child.

Sudhir

Kozhikode, 20/07/2013

Pocket pinching in Switzerland

I never imagined it would happen to me in Switzerland. It is called a country of milk, cheese, chocolates, watches, and banks, and extremely tourist-friendly nation (all true) – all good things a tourist wishes in life. It is a dream destination for anyone going overseas. Honestly, we too enjoyed our vacation in Switzerland and may like to go there once more, but then had some different experience also.

I am usually careful regarding my wallet, passport and other documents whenever I am on my trip overseas. Not that I am a frequent flyer, but in last 3 decades of my travel to different places, I have visited notorious places known for their skilled pickpockets. For example, New York or Washington, where pickpockets have to prove their skills to their own community, before they are admitted into their ‘prestigious club’. Larry Collins and Dominique Pierre described it in the novel ‘The Fifth Horseman.’ The novice has to pick the inner pocket of a jacket, which is lined with jingle bells. The pickpockets of Barcelona, Rome, and Prague are described in all travel guides; at the main train stations and bus stops, the advisory to the travellers are prominently displayed to be careful about your  belongings and pockets. I survived all these places. But it would happen to me in Switzerland, I could never imagine.

Last week we were at the Zurich main train station to travel from Zurich to Interlaken. As usual, the train station was crowded, and the platform where the train to Interlaken was to leave, was especially so. Switzerland has been unusually bright and sunny for the month of July with no rains so far during our stay. There were a large number of tourists, particularly Indian tourists. Chitra and I were carrying our backpacks, and one bag each. After Chitra had boarded, when I started boarding the train, one white man extended a helping hand to lift my bag. Even in those few seconds, I realized that though he helped me to lift it, he resisted my attempt to put the bag on to the rack in train compartment. This man went away to the next compartment, and we took our seats near the windows to enjoy the famous panoramic view of the route, which this train was to take. After some time, when I cursorily checked my belongings and pockets, I realized my wallet from the side pocket of my cargo trousers was missing. Not willing to admit that I had become a victim of pickpocketing in Zurich, I checked my other pockets, and then backpack also to be doubly sure, but all in vain. My wallet was gone with my credit and debit cards, driving license and nothing more. Luckily, in the morning, I had transferred all my cash to the watch pocket of my trousers before leaving our service apartment in Zurich. Next one hour, I was busy talking to my Bank in Delhi to block these cards. Fortunately, only previous day, I had bought the locally available sim card for international calls. It came very handy, and the calls to India were not expensive either. I could block the cards in time. I escaped cheaply. But that was the end of my wish to enjoy the scenic and panoramic journey to Interlaken, which was truly breathtaking with its landscape, littered with lakes and beautiful houses scattered all over. I realized that I had to be careful in Switzerland too.

However, this was not the end of my bad luck or my incompetence for 

Our next leg of travel was from Interlaken to Lucerne. As usual, the platform was littered with tourists. When we were to board the train, again a white man, almost with gentlemanly look and in his forties, allowed Chitra to board the train first. That meant he effectively came in between us. Again the same ploy was enacted of diverting my attention by trying to give me a helping hand to lift a heavy bag, and almost directing me to where to put my bag. Til then I did not realize what was happening. Then this man got down to join his colleague on the platform. After I had secured my bag, the second man on the platform extended his hand towards me with some money. He was holding some euro notes, gesturing that he found it on the floor of my compartment. I was cautious, refusing to accept, and thinking that it could be another ploy. But he insisted, and then I checked my back pocket, and found the 50 euros (5 notes of 10 each) missing. These were the same crumpled notes I had in my pocket. From the safety of my compartment, and with all our bags secured, I accepted the money, and that man went away.

I painfully became aware that my pocket was pinched twice within a few days. But why did that man return the money? I am still to fathom. Though, the usual currency in Switzerland is Swiss Frank, but euros are also accepted everywhere, and the duo had made some quick buck, though not a large one. I am still struggling to find the answer. Chitra says he returned the money thinking that that was all the money you had with you, and the loss would put you in deep trouble without it, so he took a pity on you. But I am still confused.

It is said, if your pocket is pinched once, it is an accident, if it happens twice, it is your misfortune, but third time indicates a pattern. Now it is up to me.

Sudhir K Khandelwal

Lucern, 08 July 2013 

(Written at Lucern, 08 July 2013)

The Great Himalayas unleashes fury

I am returning to the blog writing after a long time, and had thought that I would restart blogging with my most recent visit to the Uttarakhand, the state where I love to return again and again. However, I am writing this mail on a somber note after all the devastation and destruction, and the resulting disaster that the state is experiencing following the nature’s fury. Let me correct myself, it is not all the nature’s fury alone. We, the mankind, have contributed immensely to the havoc that we are witnessing from the comfort of our drawing rooms and the safety of our television screens. Traditionally, disaster experts have divided the causes of disasters as being natural or man-made. After whatever I have read about disasters in India or elsewhere, I am of the strong opinion that practically all the disasters are man-made. I have voiced so in many of the scientific meetings where I spoke on disaster and mental health. We have made our houses or buildings too close to seashores to become easy victims of tsunami; our urban planning is totally unscientific making us sitting ducks during earthquakes. We have not looked after our rivers, which cannot absorb any extra water coming to them, and floods are a common feature every year all over the country without fail even with normal monsoon. This year, I had first thought of going for a trek to Rupin pass, but dropped the idea realizing that I may not be fit enough to undertake this trek; then I thought of Kuari pass as a doable trek, but had to drop it too for some reasons. Then I thought of making a dash to Gangotri to get away from Delhi, and to see mountains and the river Ganga once again. After reaching Rishikesh, the scene at the bus stand was chaotic, too many people waiting to go to one of the ‘dhams’, or even ‘char dhams’, and there were not enough buses. Though I had reached the bus stand as early as 6 am, but could get on to the bus going only till Uttarkashi at around noon time. Most of the buses on various routes were ferrying passengers, who had come from far and wide, to Char Dham. Entry to Uttarkashi was choked with buses, SUVs, and cars. Most of the hotels had no vacancy, even for a night. I was coming to Uttarkashi after a gap of more than 15 years, and it took me by surprise. It looked a different town; there were too many vehicles on the road, there were houses and hotels everywhere. From the centre of the town, you could see neither greenery, nor the hills, but concrete all over. I left Uttarkashi early next morning at 7 am by a roadways bus. As it exited from the centre of the town, the town never seemed to end. There were building on the entire stretch of the road, which had become narrow and narrower due to encroachment by the guesthouses and hotels. Many of these hotels, guest houses, or resorts were half protruding on to the river, with a portion of their foundation going into the river bed. It was obvious that no planning had gone into conceiving these properties, and all safety norms were violated.

We were just 3 km short of Gangotri, when we got stuck in traffic jam. There were so many vehicles waiting to go in the town, and equal number of vehicles trying to get out, that there was complete chaos. The vehicles were so jam packed that none on either side could move. Besides the frustration of being stuck, when I was just waiting to leave the cramped bus with rickety seats, I was also experiencing hunger cramps, having had just two cups of tea since morning. It was getting to be 2 pm, with no letting up in jam being in sight. I had no choice but to walk the next stretch of my journey carrying my own backpack. Once I got near Gangotri town, the signals appeared on the mobile, and I informed Pandit Manoj Jib of my arrival, who immediately came to receive me and escort me to my guest house. The Gangotri town looked so different from what I had seen 18 years ago. So many guest houses, shops, and eating joints had sprung everywhere. Most of the guest houses were packed to capacity. There were serpentine queues to have darshan at the temple. Previously one could go to Gaumukh and Tapovan freely without requiring any permit. But with Gaumukh glacier receding at an alarming rate, the number of visitors and trekkers has been restricted to 150 only. The number of ponies has also been limited to 15. It is said that earlier the entire stretch of 4 km between Bhojwasa and Gaumukh was littered with tea and food stalls, with trash reaching the mouth of the glacier. During our earlier visit, we had trekked from Gangotri to Tapovan with a night halt at Bhojwasa. Hence this time I was not very keen for any kind of trek. I had planned to leave Gangotri on the morning of 14 June, but with public transport being limited, and too many visitors and pilgrims, I decided to leave on early morning of 13th itself giving myself enough margin to spend one night at Uttarkashi, if needed. It had rained quite a bit on the night of 12th. Though it had stopped, the driver of the Commander jeep forewarned us rain and traffic jam on our way to Uttarkashi. He did not halt even for us to have some tea or snacks. We made good progress, but just 20 km short of Uttarkashi, we stopped due to massive landslide because of rains of previous night. People were there for as much as 8 hours. We also had to wait for 4 hours before road was cleared. After that I got connections to Delhi in quick succession to reach here on the morning of 14 July. I think I made to Delhi just on the nick of time, because from next day onwards, news started trickling in of the rains causing wide spread landslides and roadblocks. I am not writing anything about the death, destruction, and fury of massive water flow, since the media seem to have put its act together, by attracting attention of citizens and governments. Government scrambled to save lives of stranded people, but the real heroes have the defense personnel who have been relentlessly trying to save people’s lives, stranded in remote corners and recesses of mighty Himalayas. I shall like to end the post by quoting following lines from my post on Roop Kund: Going to mountains has always been a humbling experience for me. We are always talking about the fragile eco-system and environment, but when you see nature at close quarters, you realize the might of nature too. One feels so small and insignificant before the hurtling and gurgling rivers and huge waterfalls, and mighty and grand mountains. I always believe in and owe our existence to the benevolence of nature; and would dread its fury. Going to mountains is to express my reverence to the omnipotent nature.

An Indian veteran recalls his Antarctic experiences

THE HINDU 15 DECEMBER 2011
An Indian veteran recalls his Antarctic experiences
R. PRASAD
Dr. Ravindra can never forget his experience of surviving a seven-day blizzard with only a tent as shelter.

The first Indian expedition to the South Pole successfully reached the Pole last year, almost a century (99 years to be precise) after the Norwegian Roald Amundsen became the first human to reach the southernmost point of the Earth.
The eight-member team left the Indian base station Maitri situated in an ice-free area known as the Schirmacher Oasis on November 13, 2010 and reached the South Pole in nine days on November 22, 2010.
No comparison
“We travelled the entire distance of nearly 2,500 km in special vehicles got from Iceland,” said Dr. Rasik Ravindra, who was the Leader of the team. “We can't compare our journey with Roald Amundsen's and Robert Scott's. Theirs was a heroic effort. They did a hundred years ago something that we can't even dream of.”
Dr. Ravindra is the Director of the Goa-based National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR).
Coming from a veteran like Dr. Ravindra, these words have greater significance and meaning. He has almost lost count of the number of trips made to the icy continent. “I think it is 7 or 8 times,” he said to this Correspondent over phone. There have been 30 Indian expeditions to Antarctica since the first one in 1981.
The journey
Even in the comfort of the special vehicle, the 2,500-long journey was not a joy ride. “The terrain makes it difficult to travel,” he said. After all, the base station is almost at sea level and the South Pole is at an elevation of nearly 2,500 metres. And on the way, one has to cross a plateau that is 3,600 metres above MSL.
But it is not the terrain alone that makes the journey or staying in the continent difficult. Temperatures can dip to a minimum of -55 degree C in summer and to -89 degree C in winter. Add to this the wind factor. If normal wind speed is 22-30 km per hour, it can go beyond 200 kmph as well.
And the result is a blizzard or snow storm, just like sand storms in deserts. “It's due to surface drift,” he stated. A combination of both high wind speed and increase in temperature (warmer temperature) is needed for blizzards.”
Blizzards
Extra-tropical low-pressure systems always move from west to east in the coastal region. The warm and moist air from lower latitudes mixes with dry, cold wind in the higher latitudes. When this happens the temperature increases gradually. When the wind speed goes beyond 40 kmph loose snow gets lifted. The end result is a blizzard.
Blizzards are restricted to coastal regions in the lower latitudes (60 to 70 degree South) and are not seen in higher latitudes (near the Pole).
“It's dangerous and people can get lost in the blizzard,” he said. “We are either in the camp or inside the vehicle [during blizzards], or else… Sometimes yes, we do get trapped… we can't always predict.”
When the temperature increases they know a storm is building up, but are not always lucky to have a good shelter. Being geologists, they are out in the field conducting experiments, collecting data and samples. Mountains are where they work and since these places are 80 km away from the base camps, they are air dropped by helicopters.
Dr. Ravindra can never forget his experience in January 1987. The 5-member team had camped on Humboldt Mountain for field work. And then suddenly the blizzard set in and sustained for seven long days. The four-layered tent was their only shelter.
But three layers of the tent soon got ripped off. And they were left with a single-layered tent! Though the sleeping bags came to their rescue to keep them warm, they could not sleep for 3 to 4 days. “There was so much noise,” he recalled.
“We kept Campa Cola bottles inside our sleeping bags to prevent them from freezing. The Cola and biscuits were our only food,” he said. “But we survived.” The helicopter returned when the blizzard stopped, and to everyone's surprise found them in good health.
Things have changed. “We can now predict blizzards with high levels of certainty,” said E. Kulandaivelu, Director of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai. “We use satellite images, satellite wind data, real-time observation from different observatories located in Antarctica to predict blizzards.” Mr. Kulandaivelu has been to the Antarctic twice (December 1989 to March 1991, and December 1999 to March 2001).
But not every trip ends on a happy note, though. The November 1989-April 1991 expedition was very different. The Indian team lost a couple of lives due to carbon monoxide poisoning in the shelter tent.
Other challenges
But you don't need blizzards to make your trip to Antarctica unique and unforgettable. When temperatures drop below -50 degree C a facemask is used. It has an opening for the eyes and two small holes for the nose. While goggles protect the eyes, there is no such protection for the nostrils.
The air they breathe out is warmer and moisture tends to come out of the nose. “Must wipe the moisture constantly,” he warned. “Else you would have ice crystals hanging from the nose!”
When it is not so cold, and when the facemask is not worn, snow and ice can settle on the nose and even eyelids!
If conducting experiments and collecting data are part of a daily routine, can taking notes be far behind? Unfortunately, taking notes or drawing some features is not possible with a gloved hand. “You have to remove the gloves for a few minutes…and your fingers get numb. You soon wear the gloves and keep your palm under the armpit to warm them,” said Dr. Ravindra.
How does it feel when there is just white all around? “It's like seeing blue all around when you in open sea,” he says. But his memory quickly rewinds and he says, “you can't see any bird, tree or building... you see nothing. There is vastness and emptiness all time around you. The vastness makes you realise how small you are… a speck of dust on Earth.”
The feeling of emptiness is particularly heightened during winter when it is dark 24 hours a day for six months at a stretch. Little wonder that it is mandatory for all participants staying back for the winter session to undergo psychological tests which check for ability to withstand isolation.