Friday, June 17, 2011

memories of a night 'trek'....

During March 2008, we went for a trek in a group of 22. The plan was to cover the Everest base camp (EBC), for which we choose to travel through the cheapest way possible, reaching the border town by train & crossing border on a horse cart. There was no better way of doing it, as we were completely cash strapped. So it wasn't surprising that we opted for no frill trip. Insurance was also out of question as it meant additional cost. We were betting on our luck & our 'fitness' :)


We had done our research on altitude sickness, and made a note of basic precautionary measures like drinking loads of water, taking acclimatization walks, drinking garlic soup, etc. The main objective behind all these precautions was to avoid the cost of helicopter rescue. Without insurance the cost was around 1 lac.


Anyways, so after the adventurous journey & going for the local sightseeing organized by the agency, we started on the trail. We kept ourselves busy with uno, cards, bakar during the evenings, as trek took all of our time during the day. On the way up we also celebrated supro's b'day at Namche bazaar (3440m) with a cake baked at a local cafe, which wasn't before me & jap used our persuasive skill to the maximum possible extent on the chef to make something off the menu. And we had pizzas here, which was the best meal on the way up for most & best meal for the trip for me.


A few of us had breathing problems post Dingboche (4350m) but it was manageable & would only bother during nights. Gorakshep was fun as we decided to sleep in the common area; it was only to stay as close as possible to the furnace. And post that it was a combination of some awesome views, bad weather, avalanche, snowy tracks, etc. And then we started descending, but not before we took loads of pictures clicked here, there & everywhere.


I was pretty happy on the way down, thinking that now I would have better sleep instead of staying awake throughout the night, downhill walks instead of dreary uphill climbs, good food instead of uncooked rice & tasteless water passed off as dal (evidence suggests quality of food is inversely proportional to altitude). But I didn’t knew what was in store for me. On the way back at Thyangboche, we were taken to cafe Tengboche, and for the first time in the trip given an option to select the food ourselves. That day since morning I was not feeling well but couldn't have given up on this opportunity. Hence even I ordered a grilled sandwich. After taking a single bite, I started throwing up. That bite also led to stomach pain. Post that whatever I would try to eat or drink, within a minute I will vomit it out. Stomach pain increased to such an extent I couldn't even walk. My buddy (yes, we had a buddy system for the trek), Jap & DRDO decided to stay with me, as others moved on. I was taken (literally) to Khunde hospital, but they only understood & treated altitude related sickness. Hence without thinking twice they decided to move me to Kathmandu, assumption being that facilities would be better there. Hence 4 porters were arranged, and from Khunde I was taken to Namche where the rest of the group was waiting for 4 of us.


During this period every single medicine was tried, but what went in came out the same way. And the time lag between anything 'going in' & 'coming out' was reducing with time. So after reaching Namche bazaar, post walking throughout the day, guides assess the situation and told the group that I need to be taken to Kathmandu by next day. That means porter would have to carry me throughout the night and reach Lukla by morning so as to catch the first flight to Kathmandu. 5 of my friends including 3 who stayed back with me, decided to come with me. Walking throughout the night, with just torch/headlamp, is not easy in that terrain. And from Phakding to Lukla it was a steep climb up. Hence without taking much rest all of them, 4 porters, 1 guide & 5 of my friends, reached Lukla on time. I was so blinded by the pain that I didn't even think of the ordeal suffered by my friends. And I was shouting in pain throughout, more so when they would stop for some much deserved rest. We had cover the same journey in two days on the way up, and covering the same within a day is still acceptable and many does it on a regular basis. But covering it in a night was a great achievement, especially when 3 of them had walked down from Khunde to Namche during the same day.


So to cut the long story short I reach Kathmandu on time, got admitted to hospital without any improvement, took first flight to Kolkata, got admitted to a hospital for 22 days after landing, missed my convocation, had to survive on food which made me miss uncooked rice & watery dal of mountains, etc.


But this trip made me realize a few things,
1. Friends would go all the way for you when they think your life is at stake. Rest of the times they will keep thinking of ways to have fun at your expense.
2. They didn't name the trek, E'BC' for no reason :)
3. You would need insurance only when you don't have it and vice versa
4. 'Jo gir-gir karta hai, wohi girta hai' :P

Monday, June 6, 2011

Korean cinema

Have been meaning to start blogging long back, but it never materialized. But today on an overdose of South Korean cinema, well beyond midnight, I thought why not write a piece on this which has entertained me beyond expectation. So here it goes, according to me most underrated artists & cinema industry belongs to this Asian country. The cinema from this part of world started blooming very late in early 20th century, and it was not without the efforts of writer-director chan wook park. When you watch any one of his movies, you would start appreciating the genius that he is. After seeing my first movie, 'Oldboy', I thought he was good. Then I went on to complete the vengeance trilogy ('Lady vengeance' and 'Sympathies for Mr. vengeance'), and CWP had a fan in me & and by no means these are CWP's best work.

Slow pace is his forte, and the way the human emotions are portrayed in his movies is unparalleled, as a writer he does sketch his characters with extreme care & believability. Everything in his movie is perfect and realistic, especially the characters. Well, you would expect the lead in 'Oldboy' to be so vengeful after been kept away from normal life for 15 years or the father to be vengeful after his daughter is kidnapped & killed in 'Mr vengeance' or the protagonist to be so lifeless & cold in 'Lady vengeance' as she is jailed for 13+ yrs on a false charge. While all the actors have done a great job, credit has to be given to CWP for these beautifully sketched characters & great direction. Many, while discussing his movies, say how violent his movies are. My take on this is till you feel that the violence shown is not justified or doesn't fit the movie/sequence/character you can complaint about it, but when that's not the case anything and everything is fine. Probably that's the reason I like so many of CWP's movies. My respect for him as a writer increased manifold after watching 'Thirst', but I will come to that later.

Another good thing that he does is cast Kang-ho song in most of his movies, for the uninitiated this guy is one of the most versatile actors in the world. He can do justice to a role of a doting father who would avenge his daughter's kidnapping & death (sympathies for Mr. vengeance), or a small town cop who does all he can to catch a serial killer and in the process beats up anyone & everyone but still ends up failing (memories of murder), or a weird train-robber cum bandit cum treasure hunter (the good, the bad, the weird). But before I move completely away from CWP, and start heaping praises on kang ho song, will let you know the reason why I started blogging. It was watching "Thirst", which is the best collaborative work of CWP & KHS.

<Spoiler alert> The movie is about a passionate priest, played by KHS, who always thinks about welfare of mankind. He gets involved in a failed medical experiment, and gets transfused with vampire blood, hence becoming vampire himself. The movie progresses to show his love story with a bored, exploited, girl whose parents are dead and is married off to the son of the family she grew up with. As he turns into a vampire his life style changes from ascetic ways to pleasure loving ways. The lovers start an illicit relationship during which she gets the priest to sideline her husband & convert her into a vampire as well. She plans her revenge with the family using the new lover in her life. I love the way in which CWP tries to show the priest hidden inside the vampire, like when he steals blood from a coma patient while taking his excellent care, he denies his fellow priest his vampire blood, and the best is when he falsely shows himself as a rapist of mental patient so as to make people believe that he is not a priest or a life saver, etc. <spoiler alert ends>

Innovative treatment for a vampire based movie, performances are top notch & setting is perfect. This has to be one of the better vampire movies, much better than "from dawn till dusk" (though I like all Tarantino) kinda movies. It would be in the league of "Daybreakers" & "Let me in", equally good if not better than these. Highly recommended stuff. Even though it is slightly difficult to imagine vampire movie without holy cross/holy water, lot of blood, random killing, vampires or their hunters wearing tight leather, etc. But the movies mentioned above did their best in changing all these notions & present the subject with refreshingly new ways & this is where 'thirst' wins the approval of its viewers.

Damn, this post is completely mixed up by now, all I wanted to talk about was how much in awe of Korean cinema I am. And all the 9 movies which I have seen so far, have impressed me immensely.Among the movies which i liked but didn't mention so far on this blog, the best would be "The chaser" followed by "The host" & "I saw the devil". But will not get into details of these movies, as the post would get even more mixed up.