ROLE OF ADVENTURE IN SOCIETY AND LIFE

Every new activity that one does is an adventure. Development springs out of adventures. Adventures of our ancestors in various fields have brought us, the society, to the present standard of living. Anything that was adventure yesterday ceases to be so when one does it regularly. It becomes a routine. As such it becomes drab.

Surely, life should be more interesting with “zing” as they say. We don’t stir out of our secured life style and charted route due to uncertainty that goes with the uncharted path. On every occasion anxiety grips us by our throat. We live with a constant fear in our hearts that our secured, peaceful and certain life will be disturbed. The main question is, IS LIFE REALLY AS SECURE AND AS CERTAIN, AS WE THINK IT TO BE?

That is what our forefathers called “MAYA” an illusion of certainty, security and perpetuity. Experience tells us that uncertainty is the only certain thing in life. Change and not status quo is the rule of life.

I asked a friend to join me for a hike. While declining he said, ‘I like to walk on ‘TERA FIRMA’.’ Well how firm is our terra? May be 20 to 30 kms. before you strike molten lava. The diameter of the earth is approximately 13000 kms. Now consider the firm ground under our feet say 25 kms. Divide it by 13000kms.The product is 0.001923.The cover of the fireball our terra, is like that of the shell of an egg containing molten lava. Boiling at 1600 degrees centigrade. How much, we love our illusions of safety despite the earthquakes such as those of Killari ,Bhuj and the cloud burst in Himachal or even the ravages of the human mind in Rwanda.

It is very interesting to see what one Western thinker Price says about it.

“A clear sign of the lack of spiritual resources is the fact that anxiety is one of the greatest of modern ill. It flourishes most in the fat soil of security. It is a middle class disease endemic in those countries, which enjoy the highest standards of living and greatest stability. We have to banish fear, which is a healthy emotion, only to admit anxiety, which is a morbid one. We no longer wake up in the morning mildly astonished and delighted to be safely brought to the beginning of this day. We no longer spring to our feet and satisfy ourselves that there is no immediate threat. Instead we come gradually to consciousness and lie in bed in complete safety gnawed by anxiety”.

Therefore, what is required is initiation of individuals and society to a calculated risk and to slightly unknown areas so as to help them to face fear and not be in it. When one faces uncertainties and be grateful for what you have than to crave or brood for what you do not have.

One does this more happily and easily because one has earmarked upon the venture with limited resources and in a jungle, at whatever height or place one has reached there is absolutely no way one can aspire to get anything that one has not cared to carry. So you

manage to face nature with what you have, known or unknown resources. Known are those outward material resources and unknown are the mental and physical (bodily) resources which were hitherto unutilized including your own fat. It is said that in our day-to-day life we hardly use one third of the capacity of our lungs, muscles and brain.

In adventure activities when nature and your pursuit throws you in a situation which causes thirst, hunger, fatigue, cold, heat, breathlessness and fear, your body and mind automatically get groomed to face them again and again. That you discover your capabilities is another major advantage, which in other terms is called self-awareness or awareness of your physical, mental and spiritual self.

Mental self-awareness or self-concept is a very tricky phenomenon. In our day-to-day life in safe environments of home and work place, we always wear a mask of goodness, selflessness and all that is supposed to be virtuous in the society. But when one is on an adventure activity, which causes stress and strain, day in and day out, continuously for a week, days and nights, with all the basic difficulties mentioned above, one cannot but throw away the mask and be his own natural-self. This is inspite of what others would think of him or her; selfish or selfless coward or galiant, helpful or unhelpful, kind or unkind, at whatever level one exists and survives. These qualities of one self are many a time not known to the person. They are either under or over estimated. Like for example all the stories of one’s valour melt away when one actually encounters a cobra or a leopard, or a panther or a wild boar or a bear or even for that matter a swarm of bees in the wild.

Yes it had happened once on the top of a pinnacle, which some hikers had climbed. The ascent was not properly planned and with the release of some loose stones and scree by the feet of one climber a beehive was disturbed. A swarm of bees emerged from the hive to attack the intruder and went up to the top in their pursuit. The attack was so sudden that it made everybody panic. Senior members who were known to be experienced and tough rushed down the cliff in panic leaving hapless colleagues and inexperienced members to fend for themselves. That was the time a frail looking boy with a cool and quiet disposition and tremendous presence of mind gathered the people together on the pinnacle. On his advice everybody lay on his stomach on the ground with face covered by arms and hands. Then he cooly descended to take chaddars up to cover their exposed skin to avoid further stinging. After passage of time when the bees settled down he helped everybody descend.

SELF DEVELOPMENT

Now it was the most revealing event of self-realisation for every body to know where one stands with respect to fear and panic. Here it must be stated that whatever level one has found oneself it is not final as there is always a scope for improvement. I am sure that those who ran away in the first instant will face another such incident in a better way and with a cooler head as one really wants to be bold, valiant helpful and daring.

UNDERTAKING

With the self-awareness comes the thorough knowledge of each and every member’s capacities and tendencies, strength and weaknesses. Having known the weakness also you don’t abandon them or jettison them or leave them behind. Thus one learns to accept people for their real worth and the association that develops is either long-lasting or it is not developed further at all. With this awareness of a practical and truthful friendship gleaned through an adventure experience a person gets an insight into human behaviour and is not carried away by superficial social courtesies in our mundane life.

NO COMPETITION

Whereas all other fields are competitive in nature and your achievement depends upon the failure of other persons to come upto your standard, in case of adventure activities you are competing against yourself and trying to understand nature and overcome the natural hurdles by extending your own physical, mental and spiritual capacities. This gives success to the whole group and sense of achievement to all the participants equally. The success is absolute and not relative.

ADVENTURES ARE FOR EVERYBODY

Can everybody undertake adventurous activities? Yes why not? All that one has to do is make a modest beginning somewhere. Take a calculated risk as per your assumed capacity. Because as Sir Edmond Hillary says, “Even the mediocre can have adventures and even the fearful can achieve. In a sense fear becomes a friend”. That is what adventure is about –“Looking for a friend in a foe.”

Prakash Tendulkar

FA&CAO (CON) CENTRAL RLY.