A MID-TERM REVIEW OF MY ADULTHOOD

A MID-TERM REVIEW OF MY ADULTHOOD

By Ajit Chaudhuri, written in August 2007

I will shortly turn 44 years old. Assuming that I reach the ripe old age of 66, the booze, meaty rich food, stress, bad lifestyle, et al notwithstanding, this is the two-thirds point of my life. I look back at the day that I turned 22, on August 16th 1985, the one-thirds point. I had an honours degree in Economics and little else – no money, a job with no prospects (teaching at a school in Rajasthan, far away from my friends and family), no girlfriend, and no future. I was happy enough in that there was food on the table and I was playing a little football and anyway there was little that I could do about my situation. I celebrated my birthday alone, and wrote ten things that I had to do in my life – not professional, not connected with achievements or money, just things that I should do. I list these out especially for the benefit of my nephew Eshaan, who had just been born at the time and who turned 22 a few days back. At this point, midway between making the list and my expected demise, I also explore the extent to which these ambitions have been achieved.

1. See a Tiger in the wild: Yes, done, twice so far – once in the Corbett National Park and once in the Panna Wildlife Sanctuary, both times in the early 2000s. The sight of a Tiger in the wild is much more magnificent than the ability of the English language to describe magnificence, and so I will not even try. Suffice to say that it is a much, much better experience than I could possibly have imagined back in 1985. And I envy my kids, who were there on both occasions and who have thus achieved this before age 10. But then, given the rate at which India’s Tiger population is diminishing, this experience may not be available to them later in their lives.
2. Travel overland from Murmansk to Vladivostok: Nope, not done, and I see the prospects of doing this journey across Russia diminishing by the day.
3. Take a journey in a helicopter: Yes, done thanks to my tsunami relief and rehabilitation duties in the Nicobar Islands. I travelled from Port Blair to Komorta once, in January 2005, and Port Blair to Car Nicobar, Campbell Bay and back in August 2007. This too is difficult to describe – the take off, the noise, the way the Nicobar Islands appear from the air, as little round green bits of land with concentric rings of golden beach and then light blue to aquamarine to deep blue sea all the way around them. My expectations of 1985 have been met in every way.
4. See the Northern Lights: Nope, despite my best efforts. I went to Tromso (Norway) in winter, which at 70 degrees latitude is well inside the Arctic Circle, in 2001 but the damned lights refused to oblige. This was a fascinating experience in every other sense, from the violence of the snowstorms to the absence of daylight to the glimpse of life in the far north. Another time – but I would have to rob a bank.
5. Trek at over 18,000 feet altitude: Yes, done, once in 1995 on a trek from Leh in Ladakh to Kaza in Spiti while crossing the Parang La pass. Why the number 18,000? Because the highest road in the world, across the Khardung La Pass, is at 17 thousand something. The trek, like most treks, was rough, tough and a test of endurance – but I am glad that I did it and survived to tell the tale. And no, I would not attempt it again!
6. Have an affair with an older woman: Nope, sadly not achieved, and I must admit to this one having moved off the ambition list over the years – even younger women have been too old for me for some time now.
7. Travel to the corners of the country – Mizoram, Kutch, Indira Point in the A&N Islands and across the Indus in the north: Yes, mostly achieved! I went to Mizoram three times in 1996 and 1997, crossed the Indus many times in Leh and Kargil districts of J&K in 1997 and 1998 including walking across it when it was a solid block of ice in –30 temperature, and visited Kutch many times from 1988 onwards. Indira Point does not exist courtesy the tsunami, but I have visited the southernmost Great Nicobar Island. All are must visits to those of us born under a wandering star.
8. Watch a World Cup Football match live in a stadium: Again, not done despite my best efforts. I visited Germany in 2006, during the World Cup, but was unable to gain entry into a stadium for a match. South Africa 2010 – here I come!
9. Take a long journey on an Enfield Bullet: Yes, many times on my beloved DBW 1768! The longest was a six-day journey from Baroda to Bangalore back in 1990, alone, slowly and peacefully, with a detour through Saputara and Nashik (and thereby an avoidance of Bombay) and a day’s break in Pune. Definitely worth it!
10. Save someone’s life: Nope, not yet that I know of!