Episode 2 – TrailSL video effort

While we trek, we decided to create awareness for something that we all believed as individuals. We wanted to support TrailSL through creating awareness. So a video was expected from the group describing the same and why we do this.

Trust me, after so many efforts, we got one poster out which talks about it but then we were asked to provide a video for TrailSL. This is when the tough work came to play. Given we had two photographers (did they call themselves so? well not really. They had a good eye), one critic and three beautiful ladies J, the task became more difficult than it should be. From picking a place to record to what need to be said to the lighting was a new decision to make. It wasn’t easy with 6 individuals who had their own opinions.

 

 

So our first spot was Viharamahadevi park. Guess what? We ended up doing a fancy mannequin video instead of the trail video. Then decided to go do shopping. And check out

Unsuccessful attempt 1!

We had lists created for our shopping and we were just ticking off one by one by now. Mine and my shopping partner’s list went up to 4 pages for each one of us J (Guess who was the creator of the list)

Usual dinners and hanging out follows this routine which usually ran up to 2-3 am. Who says life is not good when you don’t get things done?

Result is next day – a leave!

We try again on the next day at “The Paddington”. So our “cameramen” bring their sophisticated cameras and fix them and lighting is set and we repeat our lines just to find after few attempts, the mic has not been working or the lighting has diminished. Well, we didn’t fail at ordering good food and consuming it though.

 

Unsuccessful attempt 2!

Next day we go for our last attempt. Record videos of our own self (selfies) and send it for compilation. As you thought right, it was a messy affair. We finally couldn’t get out a video for this before we left.

Unsuccessful attempt 3!

Good news – We got our visas sorted today J

What else happens? Another day was wasted on shopping trying out everything possible that might stop us from freezing to death.

Next episode – We get famous: interviews in papers!

 

Episode 1 – We stormed, normed and was ready to "rock n roll"

 

It was all about getting the team together. We were six strangers who had equal fire in them to climb the beast. It didn’t take us more than couple of weeks to storm, norm and to be ready to perform. If I say that we didn’t have ego clashes, misunderstanding, and anger management issues (and even jealousy at times – may be my observations were off in this case), it would be wrong. We had all this to deal with but each day we passed by really made us a little family who started looking out for each other (and we still do).

 

The days were all about training ourselves harder. Each weekend was an early morning meeting in Mount Lavinia beach to drain ourselves for 4-5 hours just jogging in the sand. At points, we questioned what we were doing. Those push ups in sand makes your wrists just break! Well I guess beyond our questioning point, we knew that we all wanted one thing. We were all so tough headed in that way to achieve our goal. So the weeks went through hiking , cardio, more cardio and more knowledge sharing on the weather, gear, etc.

Our sleep spots were train stations or inside trains when we had to save money for our trip without spending them in hotels. Life was getting interesting by the day.

 

Finally we had our gear list together. We shopped. Late night shopping. Some of us seemed so good at picking up, fitting them, take pics and “social media” them. But poor souls like me had real trouble getting distracted every minute and ending up buying unnecessary outfits. Thanks to the favorite human beings around, they made sure I get what is needed in tact.

In fact my first shopping date was this! The longest ever. We shopped for almost 10 hours. Dinner and then home J

 

 

 

 

She loves you undone!

Undone , she is!

Scars of past wounds;

Sharp edges from a broken heart;

Once you'd wonder, it was broken many times apart:

Dried tears and bleeding wounds not healed;

Makes her who she is..

Her love comes from deep within and not on outer face;

She loves the most uncomforting things;

You never seem to explain;

She tries to see you past your imperfections;

Yet love fiercely for who you are;

She is undone in so many ways; so are you in your world afar:

She is fierce in her emotions:

Let it be love or care

Let it be commitment or loyalty

Let it be being ambitious or work hard

creature of extremes - is she!

She will see you through the dark times

Caz she has been there herself:

She will see you through the good times

Caz she has so much to share in herself:

She will cheer you when you need that pat

Caz she knows that she could raise you up:

She will be the biggest support and be that sport you dream of

Caz she knows that she could be the wind beneath your wings:

She will be that cheerleader you need

When you lose your chill pills apart.

So, favorite human being of hers,

You get to decide where you stand in front of an undone woman:

who is all in to accept you undone;

Will you stay to see her be complete

Or

Leave her incomplete?

Stronger than yesterday

Tears fall down her cheeks;

caz you hit a sensitive place in her heart;

she is fragile in many ways; she never says no if you may ask:

she loves big and she hurt herself big; It's her in many ways you see;

She cares for you so much and she dreams of you big;

She appreciates you and she is fascinated by you;

She feels right when she is with you..

Weak is not the word to call those tears that run through her cheeks;

She has lived and survived those tears since she was a kid;

That is how she let go of her pain;

That is how she stands tall and strong today;

They soak her cheeks, they mess her make up;

They swell her eyes and makes her look weak (in your eyes);

I wish you knew the strong woman in her;

and how she lets go of everything that hurts her;

she will cry rivers of tears when you hurt her;

she will cry herself to sleep when she is hurt;

that is all she knows of letting go; caz no one has stood by her to wipe them away;

So may be you should stop; stop judging her - for the tears that fall down her cheeks;

She ain't weak- that is all she knows;

May be its you who can show her- that the world can be without tears any more:

May be its you who gives her that confidence - being strong no longer requires tears;

May be its you she is looking up to - to draw that strength she sees in you:

May be she is stronger in herself when you hold her tight and show her the world..

May be you are her "stronger than yesterday" flame!

Passion, it is !

Puddles of Joy !

Roads of trial and moments of pain..
Leading to one big dream; that I must say;
Trees and birds and waterfalls;
Was candy to my eyes; wherever I stay.
　
Among all ordinary, fairy tales they say;
Heaven fell on earth is upon I gazed;
Strange faces and hellos amaze;
Lighting up a fire within ablaze.
　
Believe in luck or chance or fate;
A smile is what you brought to my face;
Common but uncommon and full of grace;
Through me - saw that amazing gaze.
　
Trees and birds seemed so tiny - you were around;
Even Sambas seem so dear - you were around;
Puddles of joy wet my feet - you were around;
Tickle in my heart and mind so on -you were around.
　
So;
　
Shy eyes - stare at me while am here;
Good vibes - spread them upon me dear;
Coincidence - keep happening forever near;
Magical - keep doing what you do so dear!

What is worth is the journey and not the destination - Summiting Lakegala

If someone asks you the best way to conquer your fears, different people might have different methods from not wanting to face it to face it straight up. Lakegala climb was my ultimate way to face my fear of heights. Having being in to hiking for months, this was at a point where it was a part of my life that I came across the hike to Lakegala.

 Lakegala is considered the toughest mountain in Sri Lanka to summit for many reasons. Situated near the border of Kandy and Matale districts, this mountain is known in the history as the place where Kind Rawana met his queen Sita and as the place where he lifted his famous air plane “ Dhandumonara “. After the death of the recent mountaineer in 2014 in a summit attempt, this was banned for any mountaineers due to the severe risk involved in climbing.

The summit includes an approximate 4 hour steep hike and then a 150m rock climbing of about 80 degrees steep followed by a 0.25 km hike among bushes with thorns. The portion of rock climbing has to be done very carefully with the high amounts of wind gushing as well. One slip of your foot could mean the end of your life. Why take that risk?

 For me, personally, the only way I get over my fears is by facing them and I decided that I will be taking up this challenge. Out of a group of about 30, only about 12 summited and the journey to the top and way back down was the most adventurous 28 hours I have spent in my life.

 Journey began around 8.30 AM from the village home we stayed overnight and by the time we reached the last place where we could get water it was around noon. We did not expect a difficult climb until the start of the rock climb from that point but we definitely underestimated. It was such a steep climb of about 2 hours and by the time we reached the bottom of the rock, our water exhausted. It was around 3 PM. Few people already have given up climbing the rest after looking at the same. My heart pounded but I knew I had to do this and I knew I would not go back without summiting the same. Baby steps side-ways and upwards to a point where I can without a rope and with the help of awesome human beings who were complete strangers.

 Then comes the harness and the climbing device and here I slowly start the climb. Wind gushes through, I slip on and off, but I made progress. After a tiring half an hour which was relatively slow than most others, I made it to the top of the rock around 6 PM. Little did I realize that it will be dark soon and we will be stranded. All I knew was that I had to make it to the top. Bare feet ( because I removed my shoes for the climb and the person who had them tied was nowhere to be found ), I scroll the forest with bushes and thorns. I feel the pain of bare feet cutting but all I knew was that it was getting closer.

Voila! I made it.

 Apparently the first time ladies have summited the mountain ( wish I can add that to my CV but it might not count as client value J )

 On the way down, I had to look for my shoes because I wouldn’t have survived in a mountain at that time without it. It was dark and getting darker. And it didn’t take myself ten minutes to realize that I was lost right on top of the most dangerous mountain without shoes and with no light. Dehydrated from not having water for the last 4 hours, I didn’t know what I was doing. Myself and the other guy who came with me to find my shoes decided to keep hooting to get others to find us. Finally, one person found us!

 It was a nerve wrecking journey from that point to the top of the rock because we literally couldn’t see anything in a rock that was closed for climbers because of a death. I should say that I felt nothing but secure with a bunch of guys (mind you! I mean male species who are always misunderstood ) who were strangers. One with his hand tied to my t shirt so I won’t fall off and others giving their shoulders and knees for me to support, they were nothing but guardians when I was in need. So for anyone who’d think you are not safe among unknown men, please make a note that there are men who would protect you more than their life when a need arises.

We finally made it to the top of the rock! Next challenge was the wind. It was 10 PM and here we are ten people right on the edge of a steep rock fall, hugging each other to not keep ourselves frozen. We were out of food and water for almost 9 hours by this time. We knew we had to make it down – at least a few to make room for another three more who were right on top still facing heavy winds.

We decided to get one guy to back me up and for me to go down. It was 11 PM. Darkness doesn’t have a definition neither did the wind. We couldn’t see where we were stepping. I was told to give my weight to the person who was backing me up to go down. My swollen, wounded bare feet were trying hard to have the best grip possible. We slipped and was blown by the wind few times. Knocked ourselves on the very rock where another man died by slipping. All I knew at that moment was that I was facing my worst fear in the worst possible way!

But there was so much calmness around. It was as if I was ready for anything at that point. I did not scream or utter a word every time the wind swept us away. Instead I was ensuring my back up that it was OK. Our descend took more than 40 minutes but we made room for the rest of them to stay safely on the top. We reached the bottom after struggling with a rope that was tangled on the way, wind that swept us, feet that were torn but we made it. Spent the night covering our heads and arms in our own t shirts.

Never did I dream that I would spend an uncalled night on top of the most dangerous mountain in this little island but we survived. After 18 hours of dehydration and a body that didn’t know what balance was, we descended in the morning which took us way longer than it should have. For everyone who summited, this definitely would have been the most adventurous without any doubt.

And for me – I don’t know if I should say that I am scared of heights anymore because what I conquered was definitely more than one fear

I look back today and I realize that all of us have that one big dream. All of us plan to get there – time it, find resources, revise it. But somewhere down the line, we all have times that we have got it all wrong. We have torn feet, we have slipped feet, we have winds blowing us away from the main path. We meet strangers who help us and friends who ditch us. You have the choice to be the one who gives it up half way or you can be the one who makes it all the way.

You will have days where you literally would have no hope, days where you feel peaceful and calm. You will be tired , dehydrated and unbalanced. But remember as long as you keep moving, you will get there. When you reach there and when you look back, it’s not the destination that will resonate in your mind but the journey you took !

Never make the journey a shortcut because it’s the journey that teaches you the best lessons in life !

So that is me summiting Lakegala ! Beautiful , Inspiring, adventurous and Achieved !