Sunday, October 19, 2003
Beatification of Mother Teresa
I cannot possibly write anything that wouldnt be too small in Mother Teresa's honor. She has been praised and applauded by countless people already and my prayers are just one in a crescendo of many.
Some people have questioned if she really performed miracles and whether then does she really deserve to be a saint. She likely did not perform any miracles but it does not matter. Performing routine, humdrum jobs that brings solace to countless suffering people is more important than performing miracles and curing only handful of people of their ailments. But perhaps the biggest service that she has done is to make people more humble about their achievements and realize the roots that they come from and how many people still are left behind and need a hand.
I hope that when I am in one of my down periods and hate all of humanity I will take inspiration from her work. This short, frail woman was a giant amongst all of humanity.
I cannot possibly write anything that wouldnt be too small in Mother Teresa's honor. She has been praised and applauded by countless people already and my prayers are just one in a crescendo of many.
Some people have questioned if she really performed miracles and whether then does she really deserve to be a saint. She likely did not perform any miracles but it does not matter. Performing routine, humdrum jobs that brings solace to countless suffering people is more important than performing miracles and curing only handful of people of their ailments. But perhaps the biggest service that she has done is to make people more humble about their achievements and realize the roots that they come from and how many people still are left behind and need a hand.
I hope that when I am in one of my down periods and hate all of humanity I will take inspiration from her work. This short, frail woman was a giant amongst all of humanity.
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Backpacking - Sep/6
The next day we got up as usual and SM and BD were already on their way out. They wanted to cover as much distance as they could before we caught up with them. The idea being that we would all finish at the same time.
I forgot to mention that by this time I had sores on all the ten toes and a Mother of All Sores (MOAS) on the left heel of my right foot. I had taped them all the previous night using SM's needle and thread method ie burst the sore and keep a small thread in it (so that the water flows out and remains out because of capillary action). Of course there is a possibility of infection so you always keep an anitbiotic handy.
As I would find out later, sores would bother me for the rest of my trip. However I have hiked with sores before and you get used to them soon. But for now we were just dreading the climb up to palisades lake. We would again reach a altitude of about 10500 feet from 8k+ feet. As was expected the group soon broke up into different sub-groups hiking at different paces. GL and JB were usually in a single group hiking at the same pace. while SC would hike in spurts, fall back and then climb really fast till you couldnt even see him. I kept on trudging along at the same old pace. I was the tortoise of the pack. And No ! tortoises dont always finish first.
The hike was uneventful, though I did see a bobcat and a marmot on the trail. The bob cat @ much lower elvation (around 8k+) and the marmot at around 10k+ elevation. We reached our destination at around 2:00 pm. Most of us were (including SM and BD who had left earlier in the day) within half an hour of each other. I of course was bringing up the rear to make sure there were not stragglers :)
As soon as we had watered and carbed up, we went into an analysis paralysis as to where to camp. GL wanted to continue climbing another 1500 feet. I wasnt interested in any more punishment. SM and GL couldn't agree whether to camp on the trail (near a stream) or descend about 100 feet down and camp near the lake. Finally to my surprise SM put her foot down and told everyone to camp at the lake. It was 100 feet extra climb for us the next day and most of us didnt agree with SM's decision but were happy to comply. A vacillating leader is more painful to watch than a decisive albeit wrong leader. Forcefulness of thought and focus in action immediately brings a following. Wait I am beginning to sound like chenney defending the Iraq war.
We had already setup camp by 2:00 pm in the day and we would pass the rest of the day just idling around. The sun was playing peekaboo with us and there was never a large stretch of time greater than 15 minutes when the sun wasnt hiding behind clouds (though clouds were dispersed and certainly not carrying any rain at all. In fact it was generally a sunny day). Multiple attempts by GL and SC to take a dip in the lake were thwarted by the diasppearing sun. Though SM did manage to wash her hair and I did take sponge bath later in the evening. But by this time, we werent really worrying about hygiene :)
While setting up the camp GL had created a fuss that there were ticks there. That was enough to get us concerned. I immediately perked up in my tent. But others did not see any. GL meanwhile changed his canopy from one tree to another tree next to it. It was unbelievable that ticks could inhabit one tree and not the one next to it. This and other mannerisms lead me to believe that GL was an overly excitable and hyper person. If there really ticks that GL had found, he would have packed up and gone some hundreds of feet away.
We cooked our dinner and sat around talking about stuff. I vaguely remember some massage exchange and getting a hug from SM. She had started mssing her BF back home and wanted hugs from the guys around.
By this time we could see the end of out trip. There were only two more nights remaining and we started planning for our big last night dinner, which would mean everybody pooling all the remaining food and having a feast. Though considering that we were running so low on food, it didnt look like much of a feast.
A interesting phenomenon had developed over the past few days. I used to make tea every night (i had brouhgt a limited number of orange pekoe tea bags - the cehapest ones in the store). People started asking me to shre my used tea bag. The tea bag would go for second and third and fourth. Of course by the time the tea bag had been used four times, there wasnt really any flavor left, but people still enjoyed it. That tea bag wouldnt even have garnered one tenth of the attention that it did on the bakpacking trip. And this happened everyday. Indeed goes to show how your needs shrink in the outdoors.
We were beginning to see the end of the trip. The next day would be another 1.5k climb up, but after that all the hike was either downhill or relatively flat or moderately uphill. That night I was a happy sleeper.
The next day we got up as usual and SM and BD were already on their way out. They wanted to cover as much distance as they could before we caught up with them. The idea being that we would all finish at the same time.
I forgot to mention that by this time I had sores on all the ten toes and a Mother of All Sores (MOAS) on the left heel of my right foot. I had taped them all the previous night using SM's needle and thread method ie burst the sore and keep a small thread in it (so that the water flows out and remains out because of capillary action). Of course there is a possibility of infection so you always keep an anitbiotic handy.
As I would find out later, sores would bother me for the rest of my trip. However I have hiked with sores before and you get used to them soon. But for now we were just dreading the climb up to palisades lake. We would again reach a altitude of about 10500 feet from 8k+ feet. As was expected the group soon broke up into different sub-groups hiking at different paces. GL and JB were usually in a single group hiking at the same pace. while SC would hike in spurts, fall back and then climb really fast till you couldnt even see him. I kept on trudging along at the same old pace. I was the tortoise of the pack. And No ! tortoises dont always finish first.
The hike was uneventful, though I did see a bobcat and a marmot on the trail. The bob cat @ much lower elvation (around 8k+) and the marmot at around 10k+ elevation. We reached our destination at around 2:00 pm. Most of us were (including SM and BD who had left earlier in the day) within half an hour of each other. I of course was bringing up the rear to make sure there were not stragglers :)
As soon as we had watered and carbed up, we went into an analysis paralysis as to where to camp. GL wanted to continue climbing another 1500 feet. I wasnt interested in any more punishment. SM and GL couldn't agree whether to camp on the trail (near a stream) or descend about 100 feet down and camp near the lake. Finally to my surprise SM put her foot down and told everyone to camp at the lake. It was 100 feet extra climb for us the next day and most of us didnt agree with SM's decision but were happy to comply. A vacillating leader is more painful to watch than a decisive albeit wrong leader. Forcefulness of thought and focus in action immediately brings a following. Wait I am beginning to sound like chenney defending the Iraq war.
We had already setup camp by 2:00 pm in the day and we would pass the rest of the day just idling around. The sun was playing peekaboo with us and there was never a large stretch of time greater than 15 minutes when the sun wasnt hiding behind clouds (though clouds were dispersed and certainly not carrying any rain at all. In fact it was generally a sunny day). Multiple attempts by GL and SC to take a dip in the lake were thwarted by the diasppearing sun. Though SM did manage to wash her hair and I did take sponge bath later in the evening. But by this time, we werent really worrying about hygiene :)
While setting up the camp GL had created a fuss that there were ticks there. That was enough to get us concerned. I immediately perked up in my tent. But others did not see any. GL meanwhile changed his canopy from one tree to another tree next to it. It was unbelievable that ticks could inhabit one tree and not the one next to it. This and other mannerisms lead me to believe that GL was an overly excitable and hyper person. If there really ticks that GL had found, he would have packed up and gone some hundreds of feet away.
We cooked our dinner and sat around talking about stuff. I vaguely remember some massage exchange and getting a hug from SM. She had started mssing her BF back home and wanted hugs from the guys around.
By this time we could see the end of out trip. There were only two more nights remaining and we started planning for our big last night dinner, which would mean everybody pooling all the remaining food and having a feast. Though considering that we were running so low on food, it didnt look like much of a feast.
A interesting phenomenon had developed over the past few days. I used to make tea every night (i had brouhgt a limited number of orange pekoe tea bags - the cehapest ones in the store). People started asking me to shre my used tea bag. The tea bag would go for second and third and fourth. Of course by the time the tea bag had been used four times, there wasnt really any flavor left, but people still enjoyed it. That tea bag wouldnt even have garnered one tenth of the attention that it did on the bakpacking trip. And this happened everyday. Indeed goes to show how your needs shrink in the outdoors.
We were beginning to see the end of the trip. The next day would be another 1.5k climb up, but after that all the hike was either downhill or relatively flat or moderately uphill. That night I was a happy sleeper.
