Tag Archives: Health

Road to London #2 – A Unique Attempt

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I am writing to request your thoughts, comments, blessings, cooperation and support in an extraordinary adventure that I plan to undertake…

…that of self-driving a distance of 20,000 kms from Mumbai to London, over 68 days through 16 countries and 100+ cities!

…that of chaperoning my 9-year old grand daughter along with my 63-year old wife through a long, once-in-a-lifetime journey covering off-beaten tracks, rugged mountains, deserts and sand dunes, dense forests and snow, high altitudes, heritage sites, highways and cities!

Before you say more about risk and raise concerns (and thank you for that!), please rest assured that this is not my first endeavour into adventure (my close family will attest to that!). I have been an adventure-thrill seeker through my life, especially after the age of 45

  • At the age of 70, in 2015, I self-drove 8+ days through Iceland’s rough and risky terrains, with my wife and then 7-year old granddaughter. This included some glacier walking as well as snow mobil-ing.
  • At 65, I organised a group of 90 pilgrims to Kailash-Mansarovar for a charitable purpose. It is a journey many dream to accomplish at least once in their lifetime. It is also considered extremely difficult and life threatening.
  • In 2009, my wife and I were the first Indians to land at 90° North and float on a sheet of ice. There is nothing to it’s north and that spot on earth has no longitude, no time-zone.  It was all to experience the place where the Sun and the Moon rise and set, only once a year!  We were on the only nuclear powered vessel capable of navigating to this place.
  • We also challenged ourselves to participate in the ritualistic “polar plunge”. Not stating the obvious, but this act is considered (silly and) fatal if one stays in for more than a few seconds.
  • In 2008, at 63, Mr. Peter Hillary, Edmund Hillary’s son personally inspired me to take the Mt. Everest Base Camp trek, considered demanding and deathly. I trekked with only one sherpa for company (i.e. it was not an organized group tour).
  • In 2005-06, my wife and I also travelled and trekked through all of South America (including staying in the dense Amazon forests) and set foot on Antarctica, where the most common inhabitants are penguins and the temperature of -30°
  • In 2004, my wife and I climbed to an altitude of over 19,000 feet to perform the Mt. Kailash parikrama (at ages 60 and 51). This was without any guided help!
  • 25+ years ago, in 1988, I drove my family from Mumbai to the top of Badrinath temple (now in Uttarakhand) in a Honda Civic. This was 5,500+ kms of heart-throbbingly bad roads – especially for a stick shift, sedan! (If you are aware of the Indian road conditions today, just imagine what they were almost all those years ago!)
  • A little before that, in 1987, my wife and I drove from Oslo through the broken roads of Nordkap to experience Norway’s Midnight Sun.

This is a glimpse of the many thrilling, exciting and hair-raising adventures I have been lucky to be a part of, but I would refrain myself from getting nostalgic here! After all, over the years I have travelled to 55+ countries whilst my wife has visited 43.

Academically, I am a qualified Chartered Accountant as well as a Cost Accountant.  However, I have been a first generation entrepreneur for most of my life. In 1986, I quit my (then) 18-year old professional career in the Middle East to come back to India and start on my own.

My learnings in life – personal and professional as well as my travel experiences and expeditions are (slowly, but steadily) being documented on my blog (please write to me if you want to get updates on e-mail).

In fact, I plan to capture my upcoming “driving expedition” on a day-to-day basis, perhaps even on a real time basis (using a GoPro camera).  Our expedition will cut across India, West to East, crossing about 10 states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.  Once we cross India, we will pass through Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and finally the UK.    It will be the rarest of rare travels – not to mention the various challenges we will face driving through such varied landscape.  This event is expected to create a record in Limca Book of Records and possibly be a Guinness World Record too (I am in conversation with them on this front.)

However, more importantly, this road adventure is personally very dear to me because I intend to spread a personal message that “age is no bar if your mind is determined and your body taken care of”; That, if one keeps themselves fit, age cannot hold you from extra-ordinary feats – be it a child of 9 years, a grandmother at 63 or a grandfather at 72.

Over the past few years, I have seen and read about kids and adults living their life more as an obligation, coupled with neglect of their health. People have almost forgotten to “live” their life…not realising that in the end, it is not the years in your life that matter, but the life in the years!

It goes without saying that such an adventure involves a lot of planning and budgeting, and as such, we are looking for “like-minded” individuals or organisations who believe in our belief and are keen to participate and partner with us; or if you know someone who would be interested. If you are, please do write to me at the below details and I would be happy to sit down and share additional details. Your assistance and cooperation will help create awareness as well as generate interest, curiosity and perhaps inspire others!

I am hoping that with your support we will be able to spread the message to an even wider audience! The flag off is currently scheduled from Mumbai at 1000 hours on 24 March 2017, when we embark on this journey, hopefully able to create an extra-ordinary story and memory! You are most welcome to come and join the celebration and wish me luck!!

 

Badri Baldawa

Cell: +91 987 000 1177

Email: badribaldawa@gmail.com

A Fateful Night at High Altitude 

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Freezing cold made worse by biting wind.  Continuous rains.  15000+ feet above sea level. Resultant low oxygen levels and difficulty in.  Pitch dark at midnight. A full moon night with the moon no where in sight because of the clouds.

After a tiring drive through the mountains and making sleeping and food arrangements for 90 people who were traveling with me, I had just stretched out in a tent I shared with a few others, readying myself for a few hours of sleep.

I was half asleep. Suddenly there were loud noises of someone crying from the tent in the neighbourhood and murmurs in my own tent.

“Mundraji is no more” informed someone as they woke me up.   I rushed to his tent to assess what actually had happened.  Within the next 10 minutes I was told, “Naru is breathless and appears to be in a serious condition”.  Naru is Nirmala Gilda, my niece.  Her husband, was obviously in a state of panic. “Someone save her!”.

Leaving Mr. Mundra’s tent, I rushed to Naru’s tent.   I was told that someone had rushed to get an oxygen cylinder for her.  Within 5 minutes, another news came in, “Shobhaji fell and has fractured her hand.”   She had rushed to fetch the oxygen cylinder and got herself tangled with the rope that keeps a tent erect.

All three events happened in a span of 20 minutes. I was shaken up. I was confused at what was happening and scared of what was in store for the rest of that fateful night.  I prayed to Lord Shiva  for a few moments.  We were right next to Him, after all. We were camping at the bank of Mansarovar Lake, at the foot of Mt. Kailash, his mythical abode.

Lake Mansarovar – a place where no facilities were available, no shops, no habitants let alone medical facilities.   This was a trip I had initiated. I had taken a group of 90 people to Kailash Mansarovar Yatra along with Guruji, for a charitable cause.

We had nine qualified, helpful doctors in our group including Dr. Meena from Nashik who had spent more or less all of past ten days serving the members of the group.

Naru’s breathlessness was due to high altitude.  We were at a height of 15,060 ft, which does not suit everyone.  Immediately, a landcruiser was arranged to take her to a lower altitude.  Mrs. Shobha also was sent in landcruiser to a lower level for treatment at a place where provisional medical facilities were available.  Actions were prompt and brisk.

Right at the beginning, in the briefing sessions, all members were told that they ought to report even if they have minute symptoms of sickness.   Those few who reported slightest sickness were promptly treated.  One person who had acute altitude sickness had to be sent back to the base.  Another person who had mild symptoms of sickness was held back at the same place for another day for further acclimation and was then escorted to join the group the next day.  Arrangements for such emergencies were well taken care of.

Mundraji had been unwell for 3-4 days.  But neither he nor any body else reported the problem, probably presuming it was of no major consequence.   On that fatal day, he suddenly collapsed.  It is assumed that it was a massive heart stroke.

Mansarovar is in Tibet.  As it is a sacred place, his family, who was accompanying him on the trip,  agreed to have the funeral there itself instead of getting him back to India.  It took a full day to complete all the formalities.  Guruji was present all the time.  We could see the smoke from his pyre blowing towards the sacred Mount Kailash.

We found consolation in the fact that Mundraji was lucky to have survived till he reached Mansarovar and his last rites could be performed at such an auspicious place.

Though Mundhraji’s demise was something none of us could have helped, I still feel guilty and often wonder if there was anything I could have done for his survival.  The burden of that event I still bear on my heart and soul .

I guess this event is an eye opener to anyone travelling to high altitudes, “do not ignore, even mild symptoms, of any illness and report to the organisers immediately”.

 

Written & Experienced : Badri Baldawa

Editor  : Meeta Kabra