Passion aka Junoon

• Blogs
• July 20, 2020

Passion  aka Junoon

Ask anyone who climbed Everest 1st and answer would be Edmund Hillary followed by his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. What most folks would not know, that a gentleman before them nearly reached the summit (some say he did reach the summit) and died in the icy environs of the Sagarmatha (Nepalese name of the Mt Everest). His name was Mallory.

George Herbert Leigh Mallory (Mallory) and his partner Andrew Irvine were part of multiple British expeditions post-world war I to reach the summit. In the 4th expedition in June 1924, they were last seen 800 meters below the summit and then were lost for 75 years. In 1999 an expedition with a specific aim to find their remains located the bodies on the northern face of the mountain.

Why I write about Mallory and his partner is that they are perfect examples of following their passion. Mallory was so focused on mountain climbing that in his lifetime he ended up climbing almost every climbable height in Europe and then focused on the biggest prize in the world. In the fictionalized account of his life “Paths of Glory,” author Jeffery Archer cites several instances of his deep and abiding love & passion for climbing mountains. Does popular folklore say that once Mallory was asked why does he climb the mountain? He calmly responded that he climbs because they are there to be climbed. Simple and profound with no in-between words or qualifications

In all this Mallory was not promised a reward, position, or anything remotely of the economic variety. He did it because it was his passion to climb the impossible.

I see passion as embracing possibilities & not the popular and quite non-sensical embracing & flowing with your emotions. Finding a goal and aligning one’s life to it is an important part of the following passion. Making a conscious decision about giving up things to focus on the goal is an essential part of following your passion. No easy way to attain Siddhi (attainment) has been discovered until now by anyone.

Why I wrote this today is that I am seeing far to frequent break down in folks with current uncertainty. With immediate chances of gratification becoming zilch, folks are trying to find an easy way out. Well, easy ways do not exist, as the world moves to a reset of sorts in economics and social life.

Find your purpose, align yourselves to it, and start working towards your Siddhi.

Happy to talk about this any time anyone wants.

Thanks for your patience.

-Chetan Pandya, Director, World V

For more details please see the following links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paths_of_Glory_(Archer_novel)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory#June_1924_expedition_to_Everest

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Mount_Everest_expeditions

https://thewire.in/history/could-they-have-climbed-the-everest-part-2-of-the-story-of-mallory-and-irvine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Irvine_(mountaineer)