QUEST FOR EVEREST WILL NEVER REST

How many times have you been gracefully acknowledging the standing ovation, people cheering and going crazy and all that fanfare and fame … and talks of how you made the Guinness Record of being the youngest person to scale the Everest? Amid all this, you start taking you first steps towards the mike to speak those precious few words and then BOOM! You wake up from sleep …

Many times .. is the answer in my case. Anyway .. that’s one dream that’s not going to come true as I dreamt it .. cos am much older now and the new Guinness Record for the youngest person is a 13yr old boy from the US. Good for him. But what makes my heart swell with pride is the fact that a fellow Indian dreamed and he accomplished the feat that’s been closest to my heart .. growing up. Arjun Vajpai, a 16-yr old from Delhi has climbed the mighty Mount Everest and staked his claim on her. When I read the news…. I almost lived the excitement, the anticipation, the thrill, the joy of actually having scaled the Everest.

What makes the whole thing so fascinating and so alluring …. I guess it must be the fact that a human heart loves to be at the center of attention.… it can never grow tired of applause, encouragement and .. and .. FAME.

My other post talks about just this – FAME. People know what’s fame, how to achieve fame and what comes with fame. But have we thought about ‘why FAME for me?’ Better still ‘why the recognition and all the brouhaha over fame and name?’ I think the complex and simple answer is that people want to leave their legacy behind. They want a witness to their lives… something that makes people take note of them and acknowledge them even if for a brief moment. On a broad view – this could mean both positive and negative fame (that’s where the infamous lot come from). ‘At any cost I want to be known in the world’ kind of lunatics too spring from this very well. Its upto man to channelize his energy and use only the ‘positive blue core’ and not the ‘negative red core’ (like in the movie ASTRO BOY!)

So, still talking about the mighty morphin Mount EVEREST, I’m sure it’s the dream of every mountaineer and non-mountaineer like me to climb it and to secure your place in the history. People, keep at it.

So, this has been a post I’ve been wanting to write since May, 22nd 2010, the day the news broke, But Its one of those posts that simply got delayed …but here it is now. It’s almost like my tribute to the Mt. Everest. I know I won’t ever climb it, but atleast.. here is my humble post instead!