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.
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
19<br />
Birth of a Dream<br />
Tashi & Nungshi Malik<br />
behind, needing to be egged on or helped with their weights. As<br />
girls, we were far ahead of the other girls and amongst the strongest<br />
of the group overall. Those who had seemed skeptical about us,<br />
based on our lean frames, were in for a surprise. Very soon we<br />
earned the grudging respect of all boys and special admiration of<br />
our trainers who had found in us the best tool to motivate the boys<br />
by frequently taunting them comments like “look at you fellows,<br />
aren’t you ashamed that these twins are beating you guys in every<br />
activity?”<br />
Time just flew by. At the end, we easily earned the highest ‘A’ grade<br />
(Recommended for the Advanced course). About 30 percent of the<br />
participants were found fit to come back for the Advanced course.<br />
We were right on top of the list! During the course, dad never made<br />
any call. He had told us ‘on the training, no news is good news’.<br />
Finally, the course over, we returned home like champions. When<br />
we saw dad, even before we put down our backpacks or he could<br />
ask us how it went, Tashi almost shouted with excitement ‘hey dad!<br />
We have found our passion!’<br />
First steps on a journey: a summit and a dream<br />
Mom was a most worried soul when we told her, “Mom, we’ve<br />
fallen in love with the mountains.” Girls falling in love with a sport<br />
associated in India as a pursuit of rustic people or the military, was<br />
not part of her plans for our future. She had far better dreams for<br />
her convent-school educated daughters. Dad of course backed us to<br />
the hilt and some months later we were off again this time for the<br />
Advanced Course. Of similar duration, this 3 week course pitted us<br />
against the ‘select’ few, all of whom had earned recommendations<br />
from the basic course based on their high performance and potential<br />
to progress further. The competition was tough. The ratio of boys<br />
to girls had gone further in favor of boys. But once again we were<br />
right on top. More intense than the basic course, here we were<br />
absolutely stretched to our limit of endurance both academically<br />
and physically. There was no sympathy, no concession and no<br />
mercy on the part of the trainers! If we were to move closer to<br />
qualifying as mountaineering instructors like them, we had to earn<br />
every bit of it.
Change language