Ripcord Adventure Journal 2.2
Our sixth issue of Ripcord Adventure Journal is a very different beast to its five earlier siblings, whose articles and images were, in the main, submitted by adventurous travel writers and photographers; in this issue however, we have brought together 11 accomplished explorers and adventurers who write about their unique experience of life, lived to the maximum and danced to a different beat.
Our sixth issue of Ripcord Adventure Journal is a very different beast to its five earlier siblings, whose articles and images were, in the main, submitted by adventurous travel writers and photographers; in this issue however, we have brought together 11 accomplished explorers and adventurers who write about their unique experience of life, lived to the maximum and danced to a different beat.
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15<br />
Birth of a Dream<br />
Tashi & Nungshi Malik<br />
Freedom to be<br />
Those growing up years shaped our own worldview which we now<br />
realize was so uncommon. We never had pressure to perform. Even<br />
as our mom was frequently worried about where ‘such philosophy’<br />
would land us, dad wouldn’t even ask us the result of our academic<br />
exams! He would simply remark, “You are your best judge, you<br />
know best what you like most, you set your goals, you plan your<br />
work, and whatever you achieve, you only are the ones to decide if<br />
you are happy with that or not. If the answer is ‘yes’, it’s great. If<br />
not, only you can decide what to do about it. If you want to seek my<br />
opinion, most welcome but I will never say what’s best for you. That<br />
is your privilege!” Dad put us in driver’s seat at a very young age.<br />
Needless to say, such a privileged existence only helped us become<br />
more responsible for ourselves and more self-aware<br />
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<br />
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA<br />
We excelled in all aspects of school life including sports, games,<br />
extra-curricular activities and academia, passing out first and third<br />
in the girls’ section during our school leaving exams. We were not<br />
affected by the biggest preoccupation of our peers at that stage:<br />
which college to get into and what line of career to pursue! Most<br />
parents were more stressed than their wards over how best to ‘settle<br />
them’ in life. It was only when we graduated from high school that,<br />
on the drive back afterwards, dad asked “So what’s next? What do<br />
you girls want to do?” implying our choice of career.<br />
Unlike most young people of that age who are surprisingly clear<br />
and focused on what career they will prepare for, we had so far only<br />
focused on ‘living for the moment’, putting everything into what we<br />
liked doing. And the range of such activities was only growing! We<br />
looked at each other and after brief silence, trying to sound very<br />
thoughtful Tashi replied “Well, actually we want to do everything”.<br />
Mom gave her usual sarcastic and disappointed looks at us and<br />
before she could interject, dad said softly with a smile “Wow,<br />
welcome on board! You know what, even I want to do everything.<br />
That’s precisely why I quit my very promising military career. We<br />
are team! If this is what it is, why don’t you do as many things as<br />
you want to? Don’t worry, one day you will find one that you like<br />
the most, follow that seriously and a career will automatically
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