View Point

A page from the diary of a woman traveller

Deepika Mehra

I have been on many trekking expeditions over the past decade with my friends - base camps of Mt Jomolhari in Bhutan, Mt Kunchunjunga in Sikkim, Mt Everest in Nepal, Ladakh. All these have been all-women trips. When we get together, we do things in style and have plenty of fun amid the laughter and the tears. There is great camaraderie.

These trips are mentally and physically challenging, yet extremely rewarding. Their main purpose is for us to get away and have a fun time together by doing something that is completely removed from the reality of our day to day existences.

Yes, they have been tough - very tough. But I believe that if there is a willingness to succeed, one can accomplish anything one wants to. These trips are a great a humbling experience. One gets so caught up in one's lives but one trip like this forces you to acknowledge the grandeur of nature and that in the final scheme of things you are just one tiny speck. It makes you put things in perspective and see yourself and your life from a different point of view. When on the mountains, the most beautiful thing about the scenery is the vastness all around. It is stark, barren, yet so beautiful and wherever you look you are surrounded by the majesty of the mountains.

Why do we do this? To go beyond our limits, to have fun, to switch off from our daily lives, to meet people during these travels, to get to know our own friends better, to have wonderful memories....These trips are also a great time to just have fun, to do something that one normally wouldn't do, to push yourself beyond your limit and realise that your limits actually have no boundaries. Also, the daunting realisation that one's feet can really take us places - literally to the top of a mountain! One needs to have a great deal of mental strength which in a sense needs to be greater than the physical strength. It is the small steps that get us to the top. Eventually, this is also what life is all about - small steps that eventually help us reach our goals. However, none of these getaways would be possible without the support of my husband who has encouraged me throughout.

As a career woman, the biggest challenge I constantly face is juggling home and work. Bringing up three children along with a full-time work commitment can be daunting, but eventually the realisation that it is something that needs to be done and more importantly the faith that it can be done is what makes everything possible. Managing one's time is the biggest challenge and being able to do it efficiently is the key. My success mantra is to set small goals and go about achieving them.

The writer is proprietor of Leiner Shoes and an ardent traveller