c u on top - satyabrata dam

I love frozen water; soft or hard, not too soft though. I have been in love with frozen water almost all my life. The love affair started when I was ten and stepped on my first Himalayan glacier; love at first sight. As my tiny foot crunched ice beneath my boots, a thunderbolt passed through my body and brain, defining the path that I would follow for the rest of my life; which has now taken me around the world in search of ice and snow in its myriad forms. From the highest summits to the deepest oceans, to the poles and to the tropics, from volcano craters to ice caps I have pursued frozen water in all its shapes, sizes, forms, dimensions, colours wherever they may be. Charting my life through hundreds of far flung freezing glaciers, skipping across lofty summits piercing the azure, ice fields and Polar Regions I have realized that ice and snow is something that I just cannot have enough of, just like love. I have a restless explorer’s heart and a curious mind and the dynami...

There are many symbols of love in this picture and of course the way is Love When love is the way One day I will find my way To you No matter who you are No matter where you stay One day I will find my way To you No matter to you I am unknown No matter how much wind has blown One day I will find my way To you No matter where you hide No matter how far you ride One day I will find my way To you No matter how long it takes No matter my heart how much it breaks One day I will find my way To you No matter if I cry No matter if I die One day I will find my way To you No matter if I be the last No matter if you are my past One day I will find my way To you No matter what you are No matter how you are One day I will find my way To you No matter if I go blind No matter if you treat me unkind One day I will find my way To you No matter how long is the way No matter how much I sway When Love is my way I will never lose ...

Whatever I learnt in life the mountains taught me how; so is about love. The following lessons of love I learnt are invaluable and I have tried to apply them in matters of heart. How far have I succeeded can only be confirmed by the women I have had the privilege of being loved. I have used the word mountain as a synonym to love. Read on and apply, and let love happen.   Mountains are much farther than they appear to the eye. Be patient, keep going and you will reach A mountain can be viewed in totality only from far. Sometimes distance is necessary There is no pot of gold on the top of a mountain but the climb is full of priceless treasures, cherish and enjoy the climb A mountain no matter how big or small can only be climbed one step at a time. You must begin your climb from ground with one step, only then would you understand what your second step should be and the next one and the next thereafter. Each step will define and create your next step A cli...

Note – this is a true story, a short one, verbatim as it happened. Yet the central character of this story, if she is still alive, will never read it. Do tell her of it and that I remember her, if you chance upon her someday. Therefore I retain her real description; I will never look for her but you may. Here is the story: I was walking along the sunset kissed windswept boulevard of Punta Arenas balancing my camera trying to find a spot close to the sea where a magnificent sun in all its radiance was slowly inching towards the blue horizon of Magellan Strait. Finis Terra as it is often called, or end of the known world, Punta Arenas is the southernmost point of Chile after which only the ocean remains before striking the frozen Antarctica shores. I had been in this tiny picturesque town many times before and hence. On that day I was chasing the sun for a shot when I walked past a girl sitting on the grass, apparently gazing rapturously at the same sun that I wished to capt...

Marital Bliss I agree I am putting my hands deliberately inside a hornet’s nest but then someone has to, especially someone like me who is totally unbiased, have equal number of married and single friends and I don’t really see one as better than the other in anyway whatsoever. It all comes down to individual choices after all. Some of us learn the hard way that we might have made a wrong choice while some just never learn or realize so they either stay single for their entire lives or they keep getting married again and again. No wonder human are fundamentally masochistic. This is a fun post so take it as one since life itself is fun with all the intended pun. I am not a marriage counsellor and certainly not a ‘single’ advocate. But I can tell you a lot about both the statehoods, since I observe keenly. And yes, for those who do not know me, I am very much single and intend to stay that way for the rest of my life; yes I haven’t learnt anything and yes I am masochistic as we...

I do everything for love since I exist because of love and I will die one day for love My obituary should read: on the journey of love he kept on climbing There is no love without freedom and no freedom without love I am happy to live as I am happy to die since I love death as I love life No point in living if I do not live for love I cannot make someone love me nor how nor when nor why she chooses that love to be. I can only love fully with my mind body and soul and hope that she will recognise it even if she cannot reciprocate in equal measure or manner Love is the only action that need not have a reaction. Love is complete in itself. I'm grateful that I discovered love because she passed by and does it matter if she never noticed me bloom within that love! I can only make myself worthy of love and wait till someone recognises that It is possible to discover love in one but find it in another. Discovery of love is not always finding love It is not possible ...

This is just a sample love letter, not the one I refer in this post...  Thank God there is love, thank God there are women in love, thank God there are women who are in love with me, thank God there are women who are in love with me and are old fashioned, thank God there are women who are in love with me and are old fashioned enough to believe in old style love letters written on pieces of paper and thank God even more for making at least one such woman who is in love and with me and is old fashioned enough to believe in love and in expressing her love through old style love letter written on high grain solid bond stationary and that one day she indeed put her heart and thoughts upon such sheets of papers and sent it my way across a distance of a million mile; because if she wasn’t and hadn’t then I would not be here today writing this post.

Almost akin to the question that every lover dreads being asked ‘why do you love me?’ is the question, ‘why do you climb?’ Just like the lover who fumbles for the right answer, not wanting to hurt the feelings of the beloved and at the same time feeling totally inadequate to offer an answer that would match his / her joy of being in love; I too face the dilemma. When in love, you know how you feel, and you can describe that quite lucidly but why do you feel like that; why does the object of your affection create such amazing euphoria at their mere thoughts and images, and their physical proximity driving you to the insane brink of existence; why, the eternal WHY...?

I am a firm believer in the dictum that there are certain things in our lives that we all already have, from the day we are born and we don’t need to look for it to find it since it is already there, but what we need to do is to create the right condition within ourselves for it to reveal its magic. And Love is perhaps the first such thing that we all have. Yet it is for love that so many of us crave and search and often die in despair of not having found it. We just crossed the day when most part of the world celebrates Love; including those who are looking for it to arrive. It hasn’t gone anywhere so it will never arrive if that is what you are waiting for. So in today’s post I will write briefly about one of the main reasons why many of us are unable to create the right condition within ourselves and hence do not realize that love is staring right at our face each time we look into the mirror.

I am writing a poetry post after a long time. All of us love the sea and pine to walk on golden sands, holding hands with the one we love. This poem is dedicated to each one of you but especially to the one for whom it is written. She isn't here so don't ask who she is but she is everywhere, the universal symbol of care and companionship. Enjoy and do look for your girl / boy on the beach. She or he is certainly there and there indeed is a beach where you can walk for eternity and never come to the end, where sun sparkles and spreads joy into golden twilights, where you would find the voice of your soul and a place to lie and gaze up at the stars alongside the one who is your destiny. Who’s that girl upon the beach! Ambling quietly in her bikini peach She laughs and smiles into the sea To someone who’s there only for her to see She walks and watches the birds in flight Holding hands with her boy delight She runs away from the crowd and bustle To her boy who makes her...

This is a request post. I had no intentions of putting this up, since what follows was written to a friend in a mail about which I had literally forgotten. But today the friend requested that I should put this up as a post. And as you know, I cannot refuse a friend. So here it is, for this friend, and for my all other friends and to everyone who would pass by. Love it, live it, there's no other way of living the journey called 'Life'. No one procreates because the life created will die one day, yet it will No one begins a journey because it will end one day, yet it will No farmer sows his field because his crops will be cut one day, yet it will No gardener grows flower because it will wilt one day, yet it will No one adores the youth because it will age one day, yet it will No one loves because the love will be lost one day, yet it will No one plays a game because you will lose, yet sometimes you will The spring comes each year, knowing full well that wh...

I am not sure if I am turning into a poet in the last few months since I haven't been able to go to the mountains and it is often said that poetry flows out of a bereaved heart. My blog might now be looking less like an extreme adventure travel and climbing blog but let me assure all of you that more nail biting edge of the seat stories are coming up soon. Meanwhile another rendering of the heart. This one was provoked but not caused by a line that a friend of mine said to me just a day before while we were discussing the friends in our respective lives. It triggered these thoughts and I took out the words from the world around. I have written these thoughts but I am sure it belongs to each one of you, it tells your story too. Somewhere, some time, someone you really loved and cared for did go away. So here's to all of you and to all of us: Why do you hide When I wish to find Why do you run When I wish to bind Why do you stop When I wish to play Why do you cry When I want you g...

This is dedicated to all the women who are and were ever in my life, in whatever way, in whichever form... irrespective of where they are today and with whomsoever since there's no one with me... and all I want is you Do I have to be around When I want to be with you Do I have to hold you close When I am with you Do I have to say the words When I speak to you Do you have to go far When I wish to be with you Do I have to come close When I feel for you Do I have to lie awake To be cuddled to sleep by you Do I have to walk away When rejected by you Do I have to bleed myself For you to say I love you Do I have to buy you presents When all I need is you Do I have to send you flowers When I am sorry for you Do I need to touch your soul When I want to caress you Do I need to meet your eyes When I want to look at you Do I have to tell you lie When I wish to make love to you Do I have to gather you in my arms When I need to uplift you Do I have to love myself The way I love you Do I have to...

The following is dedicated to all women who stir such thoughts in our hearts through the silence of the night. I wonder how you look When you wear only your smile I wonder what you took When you went away for a while I wonder how you passed your day When you had so much on your mind I wonder if you thought of me When you drew the window blind I wonder what you think When you think of nothing at all I wonder what you scribe When in your dream you scrawl I wonder what your heart says When it speaks of me I wonder if then your soul’s restless As it ever can be I wonder if you think of me When the day is dragging along I wonder if you know as I do Together we really belong I wonder how you look at me If you look at me at all I wonder if you hide your pains The way I hide them all I wonder how far will you go Before you know I am not around As you walk will you come to know You trample me beneath the ground I wonder will you ever know How much you meant to me I wonder how long will it take...

Nearly fifty percent of all my life's conversation has revolved in and around 'snow' or its derivatives. I can't live without them. I simply love the soft flurry substance that falls so silently from the sky above. Most of my friends are snow lovers too. We just love it, no reasons, no justifications... simple fact of life. Innuits have more than 50 synonyms for snow and ice, I have more. But to put things simply has been the underlying principle of my life. Here's a short verse for all my friends who love snow and love what it does to them, and also for those of you who would want to befriend snow. Believe me, there's absolutely nothing like the snow. Enjoy the thoughts: Soft Snow Silent Snow What I want Do you know Soft Snow Silent Snow Cover the night And its starry glow Soft Snow Silent Snow I am tired Please fall slow Soft Snow Silent Snow Fall hard Let it blow Soft Snow Silent Snow Block the roads For she wants to go Soft Snow Silent Snow I love you Please...