Call of the mountains....!

Today is my fathers first birthday after he passed away on 13 June 2025 at the age of 87 years. For papa, the Himalaya's were the biggest inspiration in life. And so I thought to start my Blog - ImpactwithNP with an anecdote from papa's life:

At the IAS / UPSC interview he was asked a question on Mountaineering, which he did extensively, by the UPSC Interview Panel - "What did Mountaineering teach you?" The young IAS aspirant replied after a brief pause, mindful that he spoke what he believed in based on what he had learnt - "Learning to take calculated risks in life!"

As you climb a snow clad mountain, each step has to be incremental, measured, mindful and with determination. A number of steps add up to gaining altitude as you go higher up. Each step is fraught with risk - under each step there can be a crevice, or a deep gorge, hidden from sight but very much there, ready to devour you and end your progression in the climb and the journey.

Right through life, papa adhered to this learning he had had as a young mountaineer in the Himalayas....he was bold and ruthless about doing good,; he took enormous "calculated risks" at every posting he held as an IAS officer with one goal in mind - to serve the people of the country, so that each individual benefits - to gain, rise and grow as a citizen.

My life has been deeply shaped by what papa shared with me, and this day I wanted to remember and share this learning...I took my "calculated risk in life" at age 26 years when I left an engineering job to become a primary school teacher from 1996-97 till 2010.

Jai Hind !!

Note: Sharing pages from his Autobiography.