Beyond the edge - Abhinav Shukla the adventurer
“There are two kinds of adventurers; those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won’t.” - Rabindranath Tagore
Gladrags titled him “Best Mr. Potential” and at Grassim he won “Best Physique” and finished amongst the top six. An engineering degree neatly tucked under his belt may make him think like a scientist but Abhinav’s heart beats for adventure - trekking, hiking, camping, rock climbing, off-roading…you name it, he has done it! “Records and numbers don’t matter”, states Abhinav matter-of-factly, “Because at the end of the day it’s the method and the approach that counts.” Abhinav talks to Tinsel Gupshup about getting bitten by the adventure bug, Survivor, his adventure diaries and how he became the rebel without a pause!
We read that you don’t like to shoot for 30 days at a stretch. You would prefer to have 10 days to yourself…what will be the “ideal, perfect” 10 days off for you?
WOW! Ten days is a long time and if I get those many days off, I would probably go to some island – Maldives or back to the Philippines. Survivor was shot in the Philippines and after the Survivor experience I have developed a love for the ocean, marine life…beaches. So, if you ask me this question now I will definitely take off to some island. I won’t stay at a hotel; I’ll pick some secluded spot away from people, camp it out and just relive my Survivor moments. The show went on for a duration of 45 days and I was in it for 42 days so, I am really nostalgic about it in fact, not a day goes by when I don’t think about my time on the show and the time spent on the island…it was truly memorable! I enjoy swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving. Unfortunately, with my tight scheduling and work I could probably only get 5-6 days off and I’ll use the opportunity to try and explore some new place in Maharashtra…again someplace that is secluded, not reachable by everyone. That will be my ideal getaway.
If you had been allowed to take your camera to Survivor, who would you have photographed and why?
I would have photographed everything - the locations, the people, captured all the moods…everything! You know, on the first day of the show we were on a boat in the middle of the ocean and the boat capsized…I would have loved to capture all the expressions. I have never seen such fear on people’s faces. I don’t think I would have photographed any one particular person but all the expressions and the moods. The face of hunger, the face of stress, the face of longing to go back to civilization, the face of hope to win, hope to survive and make it past one more day and the greed when you see a tiny morsel of food. So I would have loved to click all these expressions! Honestly speaking, I wish I had my camera on me…in fact I don’t mind going back as a photographer in the future!
What was your first ever adventure? Please tell us a bit about it
My first adventure was back in 2001. I was in my second year of engineering and my parents asked me to go visit my brother – a naval officer posted in Lonavala. I had been on trips before but never alone…always with friends or family. So my parents made all the bookings and when I arrived at Lonavala my brother came to pick me up and said that we were going trekking. I knew what trekking was all about but I had never actually done it before, so I said “Chalo”, let’s go. So we started out in the morning and we kept trekking through a jungle and though it was not new to me because I had been in jungles before yet it was a completely different experience. The best part was when we had to cross a river…we had to get to the other side of the river and set up camp there. My brother of course knew the ins and outs of camping and trekking so he used sticks that he placed on the base of the river and we held on to a rope and that is how we managed to cross…the current was quite strong and it was quite an experience crossing the river – running water and strong currents, no guidance, no support…just your own sure footedness and intuition. We set up camp and stayed there the whole night and we had to cook on our own and of course there was some alcohol involved! It was brilliant, getting away from civilization, camping in the middle of nowhere and my brother taught me so many things about what one should do, should not do etc. For example, in the morning before we left, my brother started picking up all the litter and putting it in plastic bags to take back to the base. You read about these things and it is supposed to be common sense – don’t litter, keep the forest clean etc but to actually watch him practice that was a learning experience. So that first trip was a mix of everything for me – a bit of adventure and a bit of learning. After that one trip we have been doing some really hardcore crazy treks!
What is it that draws you to an adventure?
After that first adventure, I realized that this is another aspect of our lives. These are the basics of survival that we have long forgotten because we are so engrossed in our daily busy lives. We are in this rat race, cut throat competition and we don’t have any time to sit back and think- what if we are stuck in a situation with no food, no water - what will we do? How will we procure water, the basics…how will we survive in such a situation? I know how to light a fire and in Survivor there were 11 celebrity contestants and some of them did not even know how to light a fire using matches! So, it just amazes me that we are progressing as humans, all these technological advancements, we have iPads and iPhones, we know how to download applications yet we are completely oblivious to basic human survival – fire, procuring water and cooking food. So, setting out on an adventure, trekking, camping, and going to secluded destinations allows me to connect with nature and go back to basics and I enjoy that whole experience.
What do you consider to be your Everest?
Before Survivor, I had a fear of water but now that is gone. Basically I feared jumping into water from a height…so I would like to try that at some point…something like professional diving. Also, I had a fear of the depth of water. So when I Scuba dive with the proper gear I can go down 3 or 4 meters before I start feeling the pressure in my ears and then I have to come back up. My brother told me that people can go down 15-20 meters easily but I can’t even think about that. So the fear of jumping into water from a height and going deeper into water are the two things I would like to conquer.
Oh actually…just remembered one more thing! I was watching this program on Discovery and there is a place in Nevada where people do base jumping from a bridge. They say that the whole catch is that you have just 2 seconds to open the parachute…any delay and you won’t make it! Apparently very few people have been successful and received that ID for base jumping. So after I have conquered the fears I mentioned above, I would like to try that!
When you set your mind to an adventure, do you plan it out (research the area, trail, map out your progress) or do you gear up and leave it to the Gods?
Well I have been on both kinds of trips and both have their pros and cons. At the end of the day it is all about the adventure. I have planned, geared up, carried my camping equipment, mapped the GPS coordinates, taken satellite imagery etc and I have gone without any kind of planning and thought “ok, let’s see what happens.” Recently, my brother was in Mumbai and we had just finished dinner and he told me that while on the flight from Bangalore to Mumbai he had seen a few hilly areas about 1,800 kms east of Mumbai. So we started checking out the satellite imagery and there is a place called Gunnar and Naneghat and we kept talking about how these places must be worth visiting. Now, I was just kidding but my brother was actually ready to leave and said “let's go!” So we packed up and left the house at about 11pm and reached there at 2am! My brother gave me the coordinates, told me to drive while he went to sleep at the back and told me to wake him up when we got there. So we got there at 2am, there was a bit of an off-road trail after which we parked our vehicle in the forest and then trekked up. So the whole trip was planned in 2-3 minutes!
The best part was that Naneghat is a mountain pass and it connects the Deccan plateau to the Konkan area so in earlier times, people used to follow that pass and they would deposit a coin there…sort of like a toll. So “Nane” in Maharashtrian means coin and that is how the area got its name. So there we were sitting on a mountain pass at 4 am, not a soul around, thinking that at one point in time people used to pass through here and it was a compulsion for them because they had no other way to get to the other side!
What has been your most dangerous adventure so far? Would you go back and do it again?
Well, I remember this one particular trek. It is a peak in Lonavala called 701 because of its height above sea level. My brother told me that we will be trekking and climbing up this peak and I said ok but he failed to mention that there was going to be a serious rock climb there. So, we’re trekking, it was an 18 km trek, we got to the base of the mountain and climbed up the first ledge and then my brother said, ok now you are going to climb this rock phase. It was an extremely steep rock phase and I said, “You must be kidding me” and I just said NO…I thought he was kidding and so I kept looking around to see if there was another way. There were three other junior officers with us and my brother told them to start climbing and they did…they started climbing this steep rock phase in the dark without any gear right in front of me…I was zapped and I kept saying “There is no way under the sun that I am going to climb, I am a kid and I want do a lot of things in life and I am not dying here on this peak!!” So my brother pointed to the ledge (hardly 2 feet wide) and said, “Well you can either stay here or climb up.” Just imagine the situation I was in, it was pitch dark, I don’t want to climb this 60-70 feet phase and I can’t even trek back alone and then my brother added, “what is wrong with you, even your bhabhiji has finished this climb!!!!” So I started climbing, I was trembling, I was in tears and there was this complete adrenaline rush and I was tiring myself not because of the physical effort but I was just too conscious of everything. Once I got to the top I was like WOW, there is no feeling to describe what it felt like.
The one thing I have realized is that while on an adventure when you are in an extremely dangerous, desperate and serious situation, at that very moment you may be cursing yourself BUT once you achieve your goal you are going to remember that moment for the rest of your life. So you may not relish the moments when you are in trouble but once it is done and you have conquered it then you feel like WOW…I have done it. That was the most dangerous and risky thing that I have done and if you ask me whether I will do it again NO… I will not do it again...I may do something similar but not that. We had no gear, I kept asking my brother you must have a harness or something, how will I climb without a rope and he was like NO!! Honestly, I am a scientist, I have studied engineering and I have been on many adventures and at that time in that situation when I am on that rock phase my chances of survival were actually 50-50! At that time my calculations and intuition kept screaming that there is no way I am going to survive this. So that was the time I was closest to death actually!
“What is hard to endure is sweet to remember.”
Do you have a good luck charm you carry with you on an adventure?
Well, when I did that particular dangerous trek, I was wearing a leather belt. At one point of time I was just on top of the rock phase and I was about to step on the other ledge, I took off my belt and told my brother to hold it. I was thinking I have climbed up so much, just one meter left and I don’t want to die here. So I told my brother to hold on to my belt as I climbed that final leg. In another similar trek I carried the same belt along and it actually came in handy again. So you can say it is a good luck thing or you can say it is a very basic handy thing.
Have you ever been challenged to the extent of wanting to give up?
No. There have been challenges, tough ones but I never give up…I just don’t do that!
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
Gladrags and Grassim may have showered laurels on him for his looks, intelligence, wit and body but we at Tinsel Gupshup would like to put our hands together for Abhinav Shukla – the adventurer because as Grayson very eloquently put it – “Adventure is not outside man; it is within!”
Photo credit: Abhinav Shukla
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