S02 E03 — The Ascender
Overcoming obstacles to build dreams and scale new heights!
Making the impossible, possible is what makes a person rise above the ordinary and become the extraordinary.
One severe asthma attack changed his perspective towards how he looks at things. The feeling of dejection about his dependency on an inhaler, made him retrospect. A body which was so accustomed to using an inhaler eventually got rid of it and made the impossible happen.
A software engineer by profession and a mountaineer by passion, scaled seven highest peaks in the world, and is always seeking adventure in life.
Though this seed of adventure was sowed since childhood, it started to grow only after a friend showed pictures from a trek in 2005.
“When I did my first trek in Tamil nadu, it was something beyond satisfaction. It was liberating, I didn’t get an asthma attack. All these years I thought it’s still inside me, I realized that I got rid of it, only after reaching the top, and it will not come between me and the mountains. That sense of freedom is something I will always treasure. ”
After that there was no looking back, from trekking to water sports to paragliding, he did everything that satisfied his heart.
“When I saw Mt. Everest for the first time, I was hypnotized. I promised Everest that I’ll come back.”
We get stuck in the incapability of the reality and forget to dream. But we often forget that we can only achieve the things we dream of.
“It is important to dream, and we shouldn’t put restrictions on our dream because we don’t allow ourselves to dream big, thinking that it is going to be impossible but if it’s not impossible why is it a dream? A dream is only a dream for a short time, later it either becomes a wish or a target.”
It can be the most difficult choice to let it be a wish or to make it a target, but only that makes all the difference.
“Destiny favors those who take bold decisions; I never gave a second thought about giving up my job. It is about how badly you want it. Can you stick to it on your worst days? It is easy to say I’m following my dream on good days, but do you have the stubbornness to stick to your dream on a bad one?”
The 7 summits :
1. Mt Kilimanjaro (Tanzania,Africa): June 29, 2012 and June 14, 2018
2. Mt Elbrus (Russia,Europe) : June 27, 2013
3. Mt Aconcagua (Argentina ,South America): January 13, 2014
4. Mt Denali/McKinley (Alaska, North America): June 23, 2014
5. Mt Mont Blanc (France, Europe): September 23, 2014
6. Mt Kosciuszko (Australia): June 12, 2015
7. Mt Everest (Nepal, Asia): May 21, 2016
8. Mt Carstensz Pyramid (Papua New Guinea, Oceania): June 13, 2017
9. Mt Vinson Massif (Antarctica): December 15, 2017
Please note, there are 9 mountains in 7 summits. There are different views in which is the highest mountain for Australia: According to Messner’s list it is Carstensz Pyramid (Papua New Guinea, Oceania), According to bass List it is Kosciuszko (Australia) Europe: Technically highest mountain of Europe is Mt Elbrus in Russia. But Many people consider Mont Blanc (France) of Alps as the highest of Europe.
To prevent disputes, Satya climbed all the 9.
7 Volcanic Summits:
1. Mt Kilimanjaro (Tanzania, Africa):** June 29, 2012 and June 14, 2018
2. Mt Elbrus (Russia,Europe): June 27, 2013
3. Mt Ojos Del Salado (Chile,South America): January 15, 2018
4. Mt Damavand (Iran, Asia): Scheduled for 6 September
5. Mt Giluwe (Papua new Guinea, South America): Scheduled for September End
Mt Pico De Orizaba (Mexico, North America): Scheduled for November End
Mt Sidley (Antarctica): Scheduled for Jan 6 Expedition
Episode layout:
00:00 - 2:10 - Podcast and Satyarup’s introduction
2:10 - 6:08 - A rugged childhood that led to the greatest adventures and all the golden memories.
6:09 - 11:55 - The journey of asthma and winning over it to empowering the mind.
11:56- 17:59- How it all began, the moment of self realization and following the passion resulting in the first trek in Tamil Nadu and never ending adventures .
18:00 - 23:45 - First high altitude trek Mt. Everest base camp and the promise to the Everest that he’ll come back, and starting to prepare for it. All about the preparation, skill development and learning to scale the summits.
23:46–30: 41 - How dreams come true if you work for them. Making some of the most importance decisions in life, which turned out to be the best. More about achieving the dreams which seemed impossible.
30:42- 40:06 - Family’s role in the entire journey and the sequence of the 7 summits and volcano summits. And so many heart touching and thrilling stories from the mountains.
40:07- 49:08 - The importance of dreaming big and understanding the significance of the finite amount of time we have.
This article was contributed by our brilliant intern, Rucha Bhide
Get in touch here :-
Satyarup Siddhanta
email —satyarup.siddhanta@gmail.com
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/satyarup.siddhanta
Podcast Curator — Naga Subramanya
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/naaga
e-Mail — naagasubramanya@gmail.com
Podcast Information:-
Interview by: Naga Subramanya B B
Recorded on: Rode SmartLav+
Recorded using: ASR Recorder for Android
Jingle Credits: Shankar from Writer and Geek, Edited by Naga Subramanya
Recorded at: Bengaluru, India
Photo Edited on: Canva
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