One of my fears..

Reddit was an awesome discovery. Every now and then I come across a post that makes great sense and helps me focus on what I want to do with my life. Here is one that addresses one of my most persistent fears, the fear that I would end up doing everything right and even then be dissatisfied with my life. Read on for another Reddit gem.

This was put up by a Redditor:

Anyone else here feel like they're never fully rested, like there's dead space in your brain? I have lost most of my emotions and the connections between the physical world and my mental state. I have a girlfriend, good friends, a decent job, and my own place. What's wrong with me?

Another Redditor answered:

You could be suffering from early 21st century syndrome. Don't bother googling it, I just made it up. But the symptoms you describe are typical of the new malaise.

You should be happy. You have fulfilled the requirements of a media driven life. You have your own place. You have a 'decent' job. You have a woman. And yet, underneath it all there is this dissatisfaction. You can't quite place it but it is there nonetheless, gnawing at your brain.

You flick randomly through internet pages for hours after dark. The TV chatters in the background. Every world developement is known to you a few minutes after it happens. You are the master of an external world that appears and presents itself through text and pics and vids.

You go about the business of living as it has been described to you and you can check all the boxes for relative success. And yet it doesn't feel like success. Not the way it does in the movies or on TV. No orchestral music chimes in when you do something good, no ominous montage depicts things negatively when your performance is not up to par. Life itself is removed from you because consciousness itself does not match up to the way 'we' are used to receiving information; that of third person observer through a cam. The P.O.V. first person view is somehow limiting, it limits us to this space and time which is not in keeping with how consciousness can effortlessly cross time when 'connected' to the internet.

Life today in a modern industrial society has an air of rigidness about it. Everywhere you go, you run up against barriers and rules. Speed limits, parking restrictions, decorum, social rules (unwritten but bearing on the mind), myriad exacting laws. All of them supposedly designed for the collective benefit of everyone. But no individual feels like everyone, each individual feels like you. So you end up being oppressed by the collective rules designed to protect you. This is called the "system".

There is nothing "wrong" with you brother.

You are merely suffering from the collective malaise of having all that we are supposed to want. Supposedly, human existence today is the best it has ever been. The 'facts' bear this out. Life expectancy today for the average person is higher than it's ever been, right?

And yet you long for the hunt. The risk. The hunter gatherer life, buried deep somewhere in your hypothalamus, longs for that time when your own ingenuity resulted in food for your group. When you could exploit your human genius for real and direct gain...feeding yourself and your tribe. Going to the office/cubicle today gains you money to obtain these things. But it does not offer the thrill of the hunt. The risk. The adrenaline rush of the successful raid on the enemy camp, the high of the perfect kill.

Homo sapiens sapiens is not a very old species in relative terms. But it is a cunning one and the greatest force this planet has ever seen. But, the amount of time we successfully gathered as hunters (2 million years) is far longer and evolutionary significant in comparison to the existence of human civilisation (8 thousand years). Yet, all cogent information tells you you are better off today than anyone in human history.

And yet, on a quiet walk outside the city, you stare at the moon through leafy glade and can almost touch the truth of a different life. A life you were designed for but no longer is.

There is nothing wrong with you brother, that is not wrong with all of us.

Disregard those corporate entities who tell you your problem is solvable through the use of their 'drug'.

If you need to alter your consciousness self medicate with whiskey or weed. Do not touch the shit the "experts" have formulated to suppress the spirit.

I had realized much earlier this longing for the hunt that I had in me. Unlike this guy, I go ahead and indulge myself in such activities from time to time. Life gets monotonous without that occasional adrenaline rush.

Rappelling at Malshej

Last weekend, I went for a two day rappelling event at the Malshej waterfall organized by Campfire India. Here are some photos of the awesome experience.


A sharp whistle wakes us up at 5 am. I brush my teeth, answer nature's call under the open sky, collect the gear and walk for about half an hour to the waterfall.



The first patch of the waterfall which was about 350 ft in height.



After about 15-20 ft, there was an overhang till the very end of this patch. It was kind of scary hanging by a rope 300 ft above the point where the water violently hit the rocks below. The instructors words, "you have to completely trust your equipment", kept ringing in my ears as I slowly descended on this patch.



This schoolgirl was the youngest in the camp. I asked her if I should recommend this trip to my school going cousins and she replied "unme jigar hona chahiye".



After, doing another patch we reached a ledge where we were to put up for the night. This, in the foreground, was my bed for the night.



The spot was surrounded by tall rocky walls on three sides and was open on one side. This stream flowed right by my bed and was a continuation of the huge waterfall.



I had a quick shower in the freezing water, and then teamed up with Vishal, Amol and Manpreet for this huge lunch.



I had a quick nap in the sun after lunch. There are nothing much to do during the evening. The organizers were preparing dinner and a few camp members sat by the bonfire and were singing songs. I tried my hand at some night photography.




Vishal took these two shots of me at the third patch. This had a lot of overhang and I must have done about 30 complete rotations by the time I reached the ground.


The third patch.




Here you see the first and the third patch.


The fourth patch was awesome. It was the only one that had no overhang. We had to land on a very narrow patch at the bottom. Somehow I managed to slip just when I was about 2 feet above the ground and ended up doing a water landing.




Posed for a few photos after the fourth patch.







They saved my bag but forced me to do another water landing after the fifth patch.






This is the view from the bottom of the fifth patch. Seen here are the third, fourth and fifth patches.


After the fifth and final patch, we started our trek towards a village where lunch was waiting for us.










Some snaps taken during the trek.


We didn't realise the enormity of the waterfall until we were a few kilometers away.


Reached this village by mid afternoon, submitted our gear and had a huge lunch. After that we headed towards Pune.

And finally, here are a few photos of the flora and fauna we encountered.










Interesting creature! Was beautifully camouflaged with the dry leaves on the ground.

The Saddest Puppy Ever

There were these three puppies at this roadside dhaba that we stopped at. This one was the weakest amongst them and was clearly having a tough time competing for our attention and the biscuits that we offered.

Sunset @ Aurangabad

While on our way back from the Ajanta caves we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy this beautiful sunset.

Ajanta

Here are some photographs taken during my trip to the Ajanta caves last weekend.





















One piece of advice for people who would like to take photographs there: bring your tripod along.