Kesin turns 5

The Keśin were long-haired ascetic wanderers with mystical powers described in the Keśin Hymn of the Rig-Veda The Keśin are described as homeless, those who travel with the wind and are adept at being equally at home in the physical and the spiritual worlds. They are on friendly terms with the natural elements, the gods, enlightened beings, wild beasts, and all people

Five years ago the Kesin in me woke up and I started a journey on a path that many of us want to take but are scared to begin.

The transition from long maturity bonds to long focal length lenses was not smooth; it had its phases of doubts about the correctness of the decision. I need to admit that in the first year I have spent many a sleepless night wondering if I had done the right thing as I was solely going by an excel sheet that told me that from the data on hand it looked like I would sustain myself financially. I had no clue how I would cope with the emotional angle of this decision where I gave up a career that provided the inputs (read money) to satisfy my material needs.

In these five years I have found that i could stay true to that excel sheet and it did help that the Maths was backed by some disciplined living. I had written another blog about how I went about planning my early retirement. The link to it is given below

https://wordpress.com/post/steadyandsharp.wordpress.com/237

I have learnt a lot in these five years. My journey through the length and breadth of our country has given a new perspective to my life.It helped me make a journey inward. It has taught me how to live with myself so I no longer crave for company as much as I used to do. I have made some new friends lost a few and have made lots of new acquaintances. I hope some of these acquaintances turn to be good friendships.

Each trip was a lesson in life for me

During The Trek in the Himalayas to the Valley of Flowers and Hemkunt the mountains, the deep valleys and the rushing waters of the rivers made me realise how small and insignificant I was.

The solo bike trip told me how I was my best company.

The cheddar trek taught me how even the basics in life like a hot shower or a peaceful visit to the toilet can become luxuries .

In these 5 years I have ticked off many things that were on my bucket list

Seeing and photographing 100 individual tigers

https://goo.gl/photos/hiLP9XCWqjjSWbJE7

Cheddar trek

https://goo.gl/photos/BpfesyUSxPc5mRFCA

A visit to Siachen

Snow leopards

2013-Jan ( My first Snow Leopard)

2014-Feb

2015-Feb

2016- March

2017-March

Visiting Africa to see the great migration

Tanzania- 2013

https://goo.gl/photos/tySU2FFrhTQMbFEE8

Kenya- 2015

https://goo.gl/photos/4YPhBuzKxempyVZq9

Doing a long solo bike trip

https://wordpress.com/post/steadyandsharp.wordpress.com/49

Doing my bit for conservation

The effort to restore the habitat at Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur has been fairly successful . The sight of this park regaining some of its past glory is very soul satisfying. The credit for this goes to institutions and individuals who contributed generously, also one needs to mention the efforts of the NGO Lifeline for Nature Society and its members who worked tirelessly to achieve these results and they were well supported by the successive Directors of the park and the staff of the FD.

Start an NGO to pay back society

Saucam foundation an NGO was started by me and 4 of my likeminded friends. Saucam foundation aimed for the welfare of the Girl child and uplifting living standards in Rural India. We completed our first project in Gursale near Satara where we built a toilet block in a village school . We have started our second project in पळे a small adivasi hamlet around 10 kms from Dahanu . We distributed stationery and writing material to nearly 1000 students of the 11 cluster schools. I would take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all those who have contributed to make this happen.

The Old and the New Toilet Block at Gursale

Students at पळे

Making a coffee table book

Kesin’s Journey_Coffee Table Book Kesin’s Journey a coffee table book was designed and donated to Saucam Foundation. The proceeds from the sale of this book are to be mainly used for the welfare of the Girl child and her education.
Seeing some of my clicks in magazines

Getting the monkey called “visit to Europe “off my back with a 2 week trip to Italy

Italy -in 2 weeks

I hope and pray that the next 5 years will also be as exciting and fruitful as the first 5 years. I want to thank my daughter, friends and well wishers who encouraged and stood by me throughout this journey.

Some non wildlife images from my travels

Pamban Bridge-Rameshwaram