Challenge

What is the greatest challenge in life ? 

To me it is the ability to get challenged or creating challenges to test yourself, the limits, the edges. Every time you are settled find a way to get unsettled and try again to settle. Then unsettle again...the cycle continues. It can be unnerving, disturbing, yet the best way of knowing yourself, judging or testing yourself.

                                    Picture Courtesy : https://www.pexels.com

It does not have to be specific professional reason or family reason or any friendly interaction which can be challenging. It can be a mix of everything which creates a challenge. Sometimes it can be repeating situation day in day out which can be strainous and presenting challenge. It can be some unwanted interaction which becomes a potential Challenge all the time. At times it the willingness to do so something, which is not happening, presents a challenge. It can be a hushed up expectations in the subconscious mind or the dose of happiness (read opium) which brings along the fear of possible failures and hence new challenges.

It is mostly situations which creates an air in the mind to treat them with utmost urgency and hence a Challenge gets re-created. More than the real challenge the victory over the mind becomes the bigger challenge. It is all about the Test of Time. 

Which is desirable to test yourself every time in a new way or sink in the comfort of complacency ? Actually there is no such challenge, it all in the mind which wants to conquer over circumstances or individuals...may to get some limelight or acceptability among others.

Kabir Singh...the experience

More than the film it was the experience which is worth remembering.

                   

                        Picture Courtesy : www.google.com

On SN Banerjee Road, Kolkata, stands a very shabby worn out cinema hall named Regal. To be precise the appearance is just diametrically opposite to the name. The hall which was famous for all the wrong movies, during my school-college days, have strangely hosted Kabir Singh. More strangely the tickets were available in BookMyShow. The process of getting the ticket was complex. On a white paper one has to write down the online ticket details. Someone collected that paper to give to the ticket man at the counter, who then gave the ticket print out.

Honestly I was not expecting AC services inside the hall (max. 80 rupees ticket) but there was AC and Ceiling Fans all working properly. The toilet was more of a "jugaad", one could barely fit in. The sits were just okay, hardly any leg space.

But it was the crowd all the way who entertained most. The first scene where hero opens the door with a cigar in his mouth & Kishore's "Mere umar ke naujawano" playing in the background...the hall just roared up. After a long time I had the experience of "siti-witi" single screen theatre. In any heroic scene or romantic scene there were comments flying all over. What an atmosphere!!! Tired of watching movies in multiplex with all decent people around you...it's boring. The film with such an intense character as the centre of the film needed the applause of the fans to heighten the moments.

Film wise Shahid Kapoor did a good job. Kiara Advani did a fair job too. But having seen Arjun Reddy some 2 years back I felt the Telegu film was better made, the obsessive impulsive character of the hero looked more natural

EMPOWERMENT

Definition-1 : Empowerment according to the Cambridge Dictionary means "the process of gaining freedom & power to do what you want or to control what happens to you".

Definition-2 : Wiki says "The term empowerment refers to measures designed to increase the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities in order to enable them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights. Empowerment as action refers both to the process of self-empowerment and to professional support of people, which enables them to overcome their sense of powerlessness and lack of influence, and to recognize and use their resources. To do work with power."

I prefer to stick to this definition as this gives a broader perspective.

                                

                                  Picture Courtesy : https://www.pexels.com

Questions throng my head as I recently started thinking about this...the new age happening term...empowerment. What is empowerment? Is it the reflection/acceptance of being acknowledged by others as achievers? Why is suddenly this rush of getting empowered, specially women empowerment? What is so special about today's empowerment?

Of late success stories of individuals are getting highlighted as examples of empowerment. Successful entrepreneurs, sports persons, actors are given such status and there seems to a gradual unconscious or sub-conscious drift of the meaning of empowerment from Definition-2 to 1. This has been more alarming in case of women.

In the current age corporate wisdom often overshadows individual minds and actions.

                                    

                                    Picture Courtesy : https://www.pexels.com                                   

Talking of women empowerment we tend to forget mentioning NATURE's selection process that has chosen Women (including female species in animals) as the one to bring Life to the planet. The greatest act of creativity human beings can afford. Do we need any other stamping of Women Empowerment?

Coming to India, while being part of any event or discussion about women empowerment across the society, media, corporate world, etc I have never heard of the contribution of some of the Men who have single handedly fought and gone to take the blows to fight for women liberty. Nor I have known any female film-maker who is willing film on such Men.

Let us rewind back some time and look back at somewhere in the 19th Century in Bengal. We come across 3 significant names

1) Raja Rammohan Roy

2) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

3) David Hare

                                    

                                   Picture Courtesy : https://www.pexels.com             

Sadly, the above 3 are rarely mentioned by any women in any forum, not even by those from Bengal. Perhaps these Men, specially the top two, have really turned the tide for Indian women. Yes, these were the MEN, the self motivated revolutionaries who stood the Test of Time, the scars inflicted by the society for the cause of women. We refer to Subhash Bose's tragic end but we forget Raja. The Man who fought for "Sati-daha" movement also did fight against polygamy, child marriage, property inheritance rights for women. Someone who took the fight to England could not return to his Motherland. The Man rests perhaps in peace in Bristol, yet he is not a martyr. Vidyasar's fight for widow re-marriage & several other social issues rarely gets mentioned on a Women's Day. David Hare, a watch mechanic from England, comes to India, understands problems, sets up schools & colleges specially for Women. I wonder (shudder would be more appropriate) where we would have been if these MEN were not there!!! We are forgetting History too fast!!!

Vivekananda, perhaps the greatest ever Indian Nationalist showed the way to Empower the youth which influenced Margaret Elizabeth Noble to come to India to become Sister Nivedita and serve a nation she had hardly known.

Mira Alfassa, popularly known as The Mother settled in Pondicherry under the influence of Aurobindo Ghosh. She created the Aurobindo Ashram & the Auroville.

Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa are such examples of Empowerment who have raised lives of others by their actions.

Individual achievements, no matter how great they are, cannot be examples of Empowerment. Empowerment is a self-less act, its derogatory to associate it with individual achievements.

                                     

Picture Courtesy : https://www.pexels.com

As the Time is changing, world is moving towards different zone. The world is moving towards a zone of sex-less society. The acceptance of people in daily life from LGBT community has improved quite a lot. In such progressive times, trying to associate Gender biasness with terms like Empowerment is no less than a SIN. In fact one of the most powerful minds of the current world Yuval Noah Harari, the author of "Sapiens" (a must read) & "Homo Deus" (a historian, a futurist, an atheist) is gay. But he has an astonishing mind. Since the time of inception he has put up his fight against the demerits of Artificial Intelligence in spite of life threats. His fight against animal farming, potential threats of AI on social fabric speaks volumes of his intellect, his thought process.

                                

                                        Picture Courtesy : https://www.pexels.com

Its knowledge which ensures Empowerment. Knowledge is the door to all liberalisation, not success stories. Empowerment is not about celebrity interviews, career achievements & winning debates or pep talks. In the age of selfies & increasing self obsession it is becoming more an event of self reflection/glorification rather than any cumulative up-liftment. To end I quote what the Poet once said...

                              

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

 Where knowledge is free;

 Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

 By narrow domestic walls;

 Where words come out from the depth of truth;

 Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

 Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way;

 Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

 Where the mind is led forward by thee;

 Into ever-widening thought and action;

 Into that heaven of freedom,

 My Father, let my country awake."

Ladakh Diary : Phir se udd chala

Day-1

The first scene of the undulating white sheet against the grey background from the limited range of flight window makes you spell bound. The Siachen Glacier, the Cold Desert whatever name I call it symbolizes the magnanimous presence, the untouchable existence, where common life struggles to exist. The victory of the failure to own it/possess it/access it increases the love/lust/longing to enjoy it. Sometimes the love of the failure has it's own pleasure/romanticism, it keeps pulling time and again. The romance can still exist even if it cannot be yours. That's a different way of living life, perhaps a Sufi way. "Saqi ne phir se pyaar se mera jaam bar diya"

Day-2 : Shaam Valley Tour

The view points are just to prolong the stay on the road. The longer the time more the number of frames...endless, timeless wonders...frames which were there before human beings and might be even after human beings. The background of the Hall Of Fame or the Sangam (confluence of Indus and Zanska) each of them shakes you up. The single frames near the Sheh Palace where one gets to see multiple colours in such abundance and enormous proportion...green meadow, blue sky, shining white snow, barren brown rock, the dark grey mountains hits the senses hard. I can only quote "maine dil khoke ishq kamaya". 

 

There was an add which used to come in TV..."there are some things which money can't buy.." true but without money such opportunity perhaps does not come unless you are son of the soil. It sounds sinnic, but true...we are all greedy individuals who cannot surrender the comforts of life to accept a less eventful life, hence all this confusion, all the chaos and every now and then plan for a retreat.

I do not know what lies ahead, what I shall see in future, but certainly I have not seen better frames... frames which are all "Kodak Moments" yet they can hardly be captured. 

We are possessive in our thoughts, ways of life, relationship. The need to own does not end. I am perhaps no exception to the rule. As I have been watching The Frames I wanted to watch more, I clicked many in spite of knowing all these really do not capture the moments for me. Am I blessed to view such scenes or a only Popper to this immense treasure that lies for me to explore in my mortal time...am I being too greedy!!! Wonder what drove men like Captain Cook to keep on exploring remoteness amidst uncertainties...greed ? Love ? Lust? Or submission?

Day-3 & Day-4 : Khardungla Pass-Nuvra Valley & Pangong Lake-Chhangla Pass

It's the journey which thrills me,  excites me more than the destinations. Wonder if Life could be looked upon in the same way..." kisi manzar par main rooka nahin, kabhi khud se main bhi meela nahin, yeh gila to hai par khafa nahi, sahar ek se gaon ek se, log ek se, naam ek se"

Day-3 : the word desert sends a signal to the brain which can be quite unnerving...but the white sand dunes of Hunder was the gift of the day. Miles of Miles of white sand with some rough greenery and walls of ranges all around, barren or snowy. A valley of cold desert protected/shielded by mountains all around. Aided by the wind, the sand dust and clouds mingle with each other to create a mystic veil..."khub parda hai ke chilman se lagaye baithe ho.....saaf aate bhi nahi, samne aate bhi nahi".

                                                    

Day-4 : the journey from Nubhra to Pangong is perhaps the best of the trip, if not the best of all road trips I have done so far. The changing scenes at every bent leaves one mesmerized. I really got frustrated, what to see and what to click ....every moment felt like stopping the car to absorb more. Our driver Mr. Padma had a good music collection, mainly Kishore. At one point when I was getting too frustrated to choose from the treasure flashing past every moment...the line came up..."kya hai bharosa aashiq dil ka aur kisi pe yeh aa jaye, aa gaya to bahut pachh tayegi tu"... perhaps it defined my feeling for the scene...every moment you see a new one, you forget the old one...if only human mind had slots to store every such moment perfectly and correctly along with the emotion. So much to see and so much to capture yet so little I can do.... "aye dil chal pee kar jhoomein, in galiyon mein ghumein".

Pangong Lake...how to describe ... If only I knew how to. "Is rang badalti duniya mein"....every moment the colours threw new challenges to collect...if only I could stay a little longer, don't know how long would have done justice. Only one song comes to my mind which might be able to honour aptly...."Maharaj oi ki saaje..". Forgive me for my ignorance, my failure to express the moment. I wish I could stay at least a month somewhere near Pangong and visit Thou every day. Pardon my in capabilities.

                                                

The bumpy ride through the last 10km of approach to Chhangla Pass is overshadowed by the cruise through the narrow lane amidst the white snow towers on either side..clean bowled...I was so much overburdened after 2 such successive experiences (Pangong & now Chhangla), I asked the driver "wapas jaana zaroori hai"...the chilling wind, the snow in the air hardly had any effect, I had lost it completely. After Day-4 ends I can say about myself..."bhogi hai jogi yeh chain kahan hoga"

Day-5 : leisure in Leh

It was a planned leisure day in Leh City, mostly taking stroll down the market area & clicking some pics, taking tea at cafeterias and using there wifi to upload photos. View of the ranges all around the market area is pleasing to the eyes, quite different from Mall area in other hill stations. The Leh Palace is visible just above the market. Plan was to try Momo at a special place, but had to try at a different place. However, the trial for the initial plan led to the discovery of a excellent view in front of "Glacier View Hotel".

                                                    

Day-6 : Tsomoriri Lake, journey to the nomadic area

The journey like the whole trip has been a great visual experience, may not be same as the one from Nubhra to Pangong, yet not something to be written off. The lake near Tsomoriri or the Tsomoriri Lake all are no less than the now famous Pangong. The expanse of green meadow after the 1st lake was quite a different experience. The pashmina goats of the nomads where roaming about in the sun. The nomadic tents didn't look much of a special entity from outside, appeared pretty normal. 

Tsomoriri offers beautiful views. With the hide and seek game of the sun & clouds the changing colour of  water is visible here also. I decided to take stroll along the length of the lake. Our tour guide Mr. Singe, a man from the Aryan village accompanied me. He has just completed his 12th and waiting for admission in Jammu in June. He shared about the Aryan living, showed some pics and videos.

After 7pm though light was there but weather was getting really chilling. (The barometer reading is generally negative here, only roars up above zero to 2-3 degrees between 11am-3pm.) We decided to return to the camps nearby the lakes. I must admit, even in this trying condition the facilities available for stay, food and sleep are much more than one can expect. The bit of uneasiness will be there at such climatic condition. But if you are not ready to adapt that you miss out the experience of staying in such beautiful place. The night sky, the star lit view are common in most places at such altitude, Tsomoriri offers the same too. I missed the sunrise, but got a good glimpse of stars & moon from my bed.

Day-7 : Back to Leh & preparing for departure

Nothing special as I made my way back to Leh. Roamed about in the market..tried Thupka & Kebab. Back in the hotel taking the last glimpse of the snow range from the room. A farewell glimpse....

But I do wish to travel to Ladakh again, travel to places less visited. Once more I feel like coming back. In a short time the memory has been overcrowded by so much fascinating gifts of nature, I am struggling to isolate them. There has not been many tours in which every travelling moment challenged the previous to stamp it's supremacy. On my return flight I was lucky to get the window seat and bid my farewell to the Cold Desert. Let's see if I meet Him again. Our plans rarely work the way we want them to!!!

Day-8 : on my way back to Kolkata I stayed back for a day in New Delhi. Met old friends, old and new 'adda', Metro ride, car drive, old memories.

Note : Visit the link below for selected photos & description (comments)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9fr1UoS2GKXmDVQSA