Videos from India

In addition to the previous blog post with photos and thoughts, here are two videos from our rickshaw ride in Delhi.

Photos and Thoughts from Outward Bound

(Don't forget to see my last post on my India trip...)

In September I went on a 10-day "canyoneering" expedition in Utah through Outward Bound (see this blog post for background).  Click here to see all photos from the trip.  Here's the way things went...

The group met up in the hotel lobby on our first day.  Everyone was quiet, and I was surprised how young people were.  There was no age requirement on this course, but I expected there to be more people in their 30's and 40's.  Regardless, it was a phenomenal group of people, and we all got along very well.  I feel damn lucky that we were all grouped together.The crew was:

• Elliot (19 year old guy from Seattle going to UW)
• Jimena (18 year old girl from Chicago - about to start at Northwestern)
• Andrew (~22-year old guy from Florida - studying alternative medicine)
• Kate (~30 year old girl from Milwaukee - works at Starbucks and on her third OB course)
• Edouard (20 year old guy from Belgium who goes to school in the States)
• Khevin (40 year old police officer from Indianapolis)
• Me
• Instructor: Card (32 years old)
• Instructor: Lisa (~28 years old)
• Instructor: Kate (~22 years old)

Anyway, we drove 2 hours to Moab to have lunch at the OB headquarters, then another 3 hours to our drop off site: Gravel Canyon.  For the next 9 days we hiked in and around Gravel Canyon, which is on public land in southwest Utah.  It's the most remote place I have ever been.  We didn't see any other humans for 9 days; the only sign of human life were ruins and planes flying far overhead at night.  

A few days were hiking days where we’d walk about 5-6 miles with 60-pound packs on our back.  60 pounds is very heavy, by the way.  Even though I trained for this trip, I wasn't ready to carry the big packs... it was truly painful at some points.  At night we’d set up tarps on the canyon bench and sleep under the stars.  To fall asleep looking up at the Milky Way with no light pollution is an unreal experience.  But the real fun came when we did day-hikes through the canyon.  For example, over the course we did 7 rappels (a couple of which were 80 feet high).  Perhaps the coolest thing was making our way through “the narrows,” which is the part of a canyon in which you have very tight walls on both sides of you, and oftentimes a pool of water at the bottom.  So, you have to use your body weight and balance to push against the two walls on either side of you to prop yourself up so you don’t fall in the water.

Along the way we came across 1000-year old ruins, saw two tarantulas (including one right outside our camp at night), two rattlesnakes, and a peregrine falcon.  I could go on and on.

We would normally eat dinner around 6pm (two of us would cook), then give "appreciations" for the day, eat, clean up, then after sundown we'd circle up for some themed activity - usually we'd share our thoughts on a topic like "why did you come on this trip" or we'd react to a story or quote.  It was all so that we would reflect on what we're learning out in the wilderness - mainly what we were learning about ourselves.

On every Outward Bound course, they do something called “solo,” where the instructors take each student to a place where they’re isolated from the rest, and ask them to just be there for a period of our time.  For our solo, our instructors had us be alone for about 18 hours.  They took our watches and books, and all we were left with was our clothes, some food, and a journal.  An hour into our solo, a truly spectacular thing happened… the rain started to pour down – and hard.  Luckily we were all sheltered to some degree – I was under a small overhang about midway up the canyon wall, and had about a 5x10 space where I wouldn’t get wet from the rain.  So the rain started pouring down – so hard that I saw four waterfalls form on the other side of the canyon, and one formed right beside me on my side of the canyon.  When it rains around a canyon, there will be flash floods, so I could hear the water rushing through the bottom of the canyon.  It was truly awe inspiring to see the power of nature.

On my solo, it's fair to say that I did a LOT of journaling (I spent the other half just staring out at the rain).  I won't go into all the insights I had, but there were plenty.  The one main one is that, in my life, I am going to work harder at proactively seeking moments of joy.  What does this mean?  It means actively seeking out things that energize me, rather than being passive.  Perhaps this is self-evident to others, but I needed to remind myself of this fine little piece of advice.

In general, solo, and the trip as a whole, allowed me to reconnect.  Yes, there were specific lessons that learned, but being in the wilderness somehow - magically - helped center me in a way that nothing else has.  Since Outward Bound, I have found myself craving that type of experience once again.  I have a renewed appreciation for introspection, silence, physical challenge, and listening to my soul.  I can read all the books in the world, but "the answer" - to any big life issue - is probably going to come from within.  To reconnect with one's inner sense is critical, and that's the most important thing Outward Bound taught me.

And with that, I’ll leave you with a quote that our Outward Bound instructors read to us on our last day. The quote is inspiring because it reminds me to have vitality in what we do... and to take moments for ourselves.  It's by Edward Abbey, a cantankerous writer and environmentalist for the southwest United States. 

"One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast... a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards."

And another quote from a famous Outward Bound instructor, Willi Unsoeld:

"Why dont you stay in the wilderness?  Because that isnt where it is at; its back in the city, back in downtown St. Louis, back in Los Angeles.  The final test is whether your experience of the sacred in nature enables you to cope more effectively with the problems of people.  If it does not enable you to cope more effectively with the problems - and sometimes it doesnt, it sometimes sucks you right out into the wilderness and you stay there the rest of your Life - then when that happens, by my scale of value; its failed.  You go to nature for an experience of the sacred...to re-establish your contact with the core of things, where its really at, in order to enable you to come back to the world of people and operate more effectively.  Seek ye first the kingdom of nature, that the kingdom of people might be realized."

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip.  See here for all photos.

Photos and Thoughts from India

Here are the photos from my trips to India (10-day work trip in June).  I annotated most of the photos so you can follow along.

I went to India for work - mainly to do a couple workshops with our client (a large US-based pharma company with their India country headquarters outside of Delhi) and to interview physicians (sorry I can't disclose more!  If you want to read more about the project, check out this blog from one of my team members).  The FSG team of 4 from the US plus one colleague based in Mumbai met up in Delhi on a Saturday after a transcontinental business-class flight.  See here for a few blog posts about this flight, and a couple from when I was on the ground in India.  We stayed in Gurgaon, which is a large city outside of Delhi.  After a logistics meeting with the client, our team fanned out to three cities across India to interview physicians, social entrepreneurs, and government officials.  Our task was to figure out what barriers there are for low-income patients to accessing and persisting with diabetes treatment.  I spent 4 days in Hyderabad working with the local client sales team going from interviewee-to-interviewee, who were mostly based in public hospitals.  We all came back to Delhi for one last meeting with the client, after which my colleague Sam and I stayed another 3 days to check out Delhi, go to the Taj Mahal, and then one more day just to chill.

A few observations about my time in India:

• India is exhausting.  I consider myself a pretty savvy and indefatigable traveler, but India got to me.  It is a nonstop barrage of sights, sounds, people, and general activity.  I sometimes feel that San Francisco has more ambient stress than what I'd like, but India was a whole new level.  I'm thankful to have traveled to India, especially under such unique circumstances (getting to go inside hospitals, etc.), but I don't have much desire to go back soon!
• The difference between the rich and poor is extraordinary.  I got to go into a nice, private hospital (run by the Apollo Group) and a number of government hospitals.  The private hospital, while more crowded than a US hospital, was nice and clean.  I think any American would feel comfortable getting treated there.  On the other hand, public hospitals were... in bad shape.  We met many very capable doctors who clearly cared about their patients (there are obviously bad doctors too, but the ones we met were generally good).  It is SO clear why health outcomes between the poor and rich are different when one sees what kind of care money can buy.  In one government hospital, there were patients sleeping on the floor in hallways.  I saw baby crap on one of the staircases.  Many hallways were not lighted.  
• India is clearly a developing country.  There is construction everywhere, and it feels chaotic.  If I were to judge India's prospects to be an economic power based on what I saw in Delhi and Hyderabad, I'd say that it's going to be a while.  By the sheer number of people that exist, you have to think that there's potential.  But, infrastructure is a long way from being able to support a robust economy.  At least that's what I saw from my visit.
• The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful structures I have ever seen.  I've seen a lot of cathedrals and fancy buildings in my day, but nothing compares to the Taj.  It is striking in its perfection - EVERYTHING is symmetrical, the marble is partially translucent, and the craftsmanship of every detail is impeccable.  Well worth the 4-hour drive from Delhi to Agra.
• Guides matter!  Sam and I lucked out and and three great guides (2 drivers from the Leela - our hotel - and one guide in Agra to see the Taj and the Red Fort).  Especially in India where it's difficult to get around, good guides are worth every penny, and make the trip memorable.  
• Seclusion of Leela became an uncomfortable cathedral.  We stayed at the Leela in Gurgaon, a legit 5-star hotel.  The hotel was both necessary (especially when traveling for business, it's worth it to spend a night in comfort and to have ridiculous breakfast bufftets) and... separating.  By that I mean that one can easily "experience" (or, not experience) a country by being holed up in a hotel.  The staff at the hotel do their best to protect you from the hassles of "going local."  For example, I wanted to take the subway during rush hour just to see what it was like. The hotel staff looked at me like I was crazy, but I went anyways (and it wasn't bad at all!).
• Highlights of my trip:
• Getting to know our client's staff, especially Joseph - the sales manager in Hyderabad who ushered me around for 4 days and was exceptionally gracious, fun, and thoughtful.  
• Seeing the Taj.  Simply amazing.
• Talking to our guide, Kahn, in Agra and our two drivers.  Sam and I got a wealth of knowledge that we would never have gotten otherwise.  For example, we learned a ton about a farmer's life from one of our drivers because he grew up on a small farm.
• Seeing the difference between public and private hospitals

Below are a few of my favorite photos from India.  Check out the entire set here.

  

Video of flying into SFO

My cousin - a flying nerd - posted this to facebook.  Pretty cool to see the pilot's view of descending into SFO.

Better to burn out or fade away?

Now why did I not go see Neil Young when he played Outside Lands a couple months ago?  Mistake! 

I looked up this song's origins and meaning on wikipedia (see below).  Essentially, it proposes that it's better to burn out than to fade away.  I prefer to former, but as I grow older the latter seems more of a possibility.  I'm not ready to cede just yet, though.

From wikipedia:

Ex-Beatle John Lennon commented on the message of the song in a 1980 interview with David Sheff from Playboy:

Sheff: You disagree with Neil Young's lyric in Rust Never Sleeps: "It's better to burn out than to fade away..." Lennon: I hate it. It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out. If he was talking about burning out like Sid Vicious, forget it. I don't appreciate the worship of dead Sid Vicious or of dead James Dean or dead John Wayne. It's the same thing. Making Sid Vicious a hero, Jim Morrison - it's garbage to me. I worship the people who survive - Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo. They're saying John Wayne conquered cancer - he whipped it like a man. You know, I'm sorry that he died and all that - I'm sorry for his family - but he didn't whip cancer. It whipped him. I don't want Sean worshipping John Wayne or Johnny Rotten or Sid Vicious. What do they teach you? Nothing. Death. Sid Vicious died for what? So that we might rock? I mean, it's garbage you know. If Neil Young admires that sentiment so much, why doesn't he do it? Because he sure as hell faded away and came back many times, like all of us. No, thank you. I'll take the living and the healthy.

Young would reply two years later when asked to respond to Lennon's comments:

The rock'n'roll spirit is not survival. Of course the people who play rock'n'roll should survive. But the essence of the rock'n'roll spirit to me, is that it's better to burn out really bright than to sort of decay off into infinity. Even though if you look at it in a mature way, you'll think, "well, yes ... you should decay off into infinity, and keep going along". Rock'n'roll doesn't look that far ahead. Rock'n'roll is right now. What's happening right this second. Is it bright? Or is it dim because it's waiting for tomorrow - that's what people want to know. And that's why I say that.

Just a little Sunday morning bike ride in SF

Most excellent bike ride

Today I went on a big bike ride in Marin County with my coworker Mike.  It was an amazing ride and took about 4.5-5 hours.  We did a ride called the Alpine Dam Loop.  We rode through San Anselmo, Fairfax, then through the redwoods to Alpine Dam, up a sizable mountain, along the ridge that overlooks the Pacific Ocean on one side and Marin County on the other side.  I'll let the photos paint the picture.

Songs about being alone, then getting up

Two of my favorite songs about being alone.  The PJ song takes someone's hand and gets the f out of here.  The D-Plan song is about the open invitation - to anyone and everyone - to be with others: "you are invited, by anyone to do anything.  You are invited for all time."

Damn I love these songs.





Fun fact: I saw the Dismemberment Plan and Pearl Jam together in Zurich in 2000 with Vinay, Amit, and Andrew Corey.

Fall weather

I was back in Grand Rapids the past two days conducting a "community forum" on how the community will collaborate to improve the conditions of children and families (that's a mouthful to say, but it was one of the most inspiring moments of social impact that I have seen at FSG).

As we were driving to the airport, I saw these beautiful, colored trees. Combined with tue crisp air I thought "THIS is what fall should feel like". Yes, I suffer from envy of other places, and I know that other cities have their pros and cons. But I also know that fall weather, taking into your lungs that cold, crisp air, is what I'm used to and what I want my fall to be like. College and high school football, back yards, leaves on the ground... Yeah, that's what I grew up with. I'm lucky that I get to come home to Birmingham to feel this weather, and to visit Grand Rapids a couple more times.

BBQ

... And here is my massive pulled pork sandwich and Bells Amber Ale I just scarfed down. Life is good.