Kaushal Desai gave up his highly-paid job with a telecom company so that he could pursue his dream. Mountaineering to him is another way of expressing himself, he tells IAN EDWARDS, about his adventurous expeditions and a life of exploration To the unadventurous, mountain-climbing might send a shudder down the spine. This heart-in-the-mouth hobby requires courage, conviction and determination with the risk factor always hovering in the backdrop. But young Kaushal Desai loves the adrenaline rush he gets when he’s up in the mountains! Kaushal embraced a life of exploration about four years ago and the ardent fervor has still not abated. His current focus are places of beauty - veritable paradises - tucked away in the folds of the Himalayas. He is just back after a nine-month stint, where he found himself with Ladakhi tribes, travelling up the Silk Route to China and the Karakoram Pass which leads into Pakistan, shacking up in Himalayan ghost towns, targeting various peaks like the Nun, Kun, the Pinnacle in Ladakh, the Chaukhamba in Gharwal. The fact that nothing seems to faze him is quite evident when he says, The object of my climbs is never as much as to reach the summits, as to discover in how little time and with how much little technical aid it is possible to climb the identified peak as well as discover the unchartered territory enroute. No sort of geographical conquest is involved in the expedition, it is just the expansion of my own capabilities. The impetus comes not from idealism or heroism, but a desire to express myself. An engineering graduate in his 20s, this Bangalore boy loves a life of adventure. Hailing from an affluent Gujarati family, even his father’s successful business could not entice him to join the family firm. He opted to stake out an identity of his own. A steady, highly-paid job with British Telecom as Sales Manager, selling satellite bandwidth, did seem like the answer to his prayers for a while, but the tension of meeting targets/deadlines was taxing and, eventually, took the wind out of his sails. The spirit of adventure may have initially lured him to mountaineering, but the actual experience snowballed into a life of achievement. In short, he became a master of his own destiny. Did he have a full-fledged career in mind when he took to mountaineering? As a kid in school, I got hooked onto trekking/back-packing expeditions and my love for this adventure grew as I got older. Today, the mountains for me are places that offer an opportunity for performance. They are a natural theatre where I can test all my skills, my craft and my instincts,he says. Kaushal spends most of the time during the year in high altitude regions -- Himachal, Ladakh, Kumaon and Garhwal. He also doubles up as a part-time instructor at mountaineering institutes and teaches skiing at the high-altitude warfare school. He makes just enough money to keep him going, but he’s happy and content. When he is back home (Bangalore) for three months a year, he works at his one-man firm ‘Adventure India’ doing programmes for corporate houses such as trekking in the Western Ghats or testing their mettle with rappelling (descending a steep rock-face using a doubled rope) or climbing. Essentially, the programmes are all about performing in extreme situations which act as a stress-buster and toughens you up to meet the challenges of life. Kaushal’s advice to all youngsters wanting to make it on their own is: Be devoted to whatever profession you choose in such a way that nothing can deflect you from your mission.ÿ