Seema and me did the Andharban forest trek (6.5 hours of climbing down a valley) last weekend and me being me still fired up from that trek, have declared to go even bigger in the coming years.

Our friend Sumana was already nudging me to do the Everest Base Camp (EBC) trek with her in May 2022 and as usual I was in two minds. And look at how the Universe gives you hints. I was speaking to my client Dhanush from London sometime back and he told me he did the EBC trek 5 years back! The photo he sent me (in the pic below) is so awesome, I have no doubt now I’m doing the EBC trek for sure.

Dhanush also recommended I do a short, 5 odd hours add-on that ascends Kala Pathar, a hill that provides the best viewing point of Mount Everest and the surrounding peaks.

My journey to Everest Base Camp has begun. It began half an hour back the moment I declared that I’m going. I have 16 months to get my body and bank balance into shape.

I am clear on one thing. I am going to do EBC not just to discover Everest but more importantly to discover myself. Of course I can discover myself sipping green tea on the balcony of my 11th floor flat also, but I’m assuming what I will discover of what I am capable of at 5643m altitude at -17 degrees Celcius will be slightly different!
(5643m = Pune + Lonavla + Thekaddy + Mahabaleshwar + Shimla stacked on top of each other)

Whether I will succeed or fail I don’t know – I cannot predict the future. But I can CREATE a successful future in my head and I can allow that future to shape me in my present.

And that’s the journey I’m embarking on. It’s one more story I want to have to tell my daughter’s grandchildren!

P.S. Dhanush tells me the dark black mountain is Everest. I want to go to the Kala Pathar hill and watch the peak myself and delete the word “impossible” from my vocabulary – forever.

UPDATE: I read the details on the trek organizer’s website. It’s a 97km trek spread over 12 days. There are so many other details which are so scary, now toh pakka I want to do the trek!