Oh yeah ?

I hated Geography as a child but loved history. I can still tell the date/year of most historical events, I probably can tell the capitals of most countries, but not their borders, not even where the International date line is. But there are things I remember from my Geography student days. I can still see myself sitting in my STD X division B classroom  and my geography teacher Molly Kochamma teaching us about the Earth’s magnetic poles and  why magnetic south pole is actually a north seeking pole.  I remember thinking, how wonderful it would be If I visited all these magical places. But Amma was a firm believer that, one should only dream achievable dreams . Then,  I was living in a tiny rented house in Kottayam without a father and there was not much I was allowed to dream. But I read every single book published about Antarctica, ( Amundsen, the first person to fly over the North Pole  ( 1926) and was the first person to reach the South Pole( 1911)  and the legendary Mawson. ( those from Australia would know who he is.  http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/history/people/douglas-mawson) were my heroes.)

Though I wasn’t allowed to dream much as a child, I learned over the years that you can dream really big. It is true that sometimes your dreams don’t happen, but  I learned that it is better to live with a few disappointments in life than a life lived with no dreams.

Yesterday, I was part of the Qantas first inaugural flight from Brisbane to Antarctica ( 11737 km trip), I crossed the south Magnetic pole, saw my first icebergs ( I laughed thinking about my community medicine answer to iceberg phenomenon question and how I was called Ms Titanic for a very long time), current Antarctic base, Mawson’s hut and a great expanse of ice.

I will be 43 in March and I have crossed both the North and the South Magnetic poles, crossed the arctic circle, swam in  all the 5 great oceans and lived more than a year in Asia, Europe, North America and Australia and visited Antarctica. I now only have South America and Africa to do in my list.

Not bad for a town mouse eh?

19 thoughts on “Oh yeah ?

  1. Awesome!! Congrats! These things just don’t happen, you made it happen!!
    At this rate, you will surely be on a commercial flight to space and back..another personal first!

  2. Sarah, Grand Canyon was your dream destination and you were so eloquent before your US journey but nothing heard afterwards. I even dreamt of you tight rope walking across it What happended? disillusioned?

    • Bipin: I visited all the places I had dreamt of. My father told me about Hoover dam and why it is an engineering marvel when I was 7 years old. So visiting the dam was a big thing for me. So was the grand canyon. Once I checked all the to do lists, I felt miserable.. that I don’t have much to do in my bucket list..it feels odd to create a new list, yet I have only lived half of my expected life..

  3. That is what my impression was, when you come back from US, your blog will be full of stories from places you visited, some recommendations for us readers, and your experience in a new country. Never mind, glad that you are able full fill your dreams. Keep going.

    • Joan: I can’t upload any photos, because that will eat up my bandwidth. I find it difficult to write travel experiences without photographs.

  4. Wow. Really admire you… for making your dreams happen and your kids are soo lucky to have a rockstar mom. You’re truly inspiring.

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  6. Hi Sarah,
    life is great, if you dream and make it happen, you have made it happen:
    I have lived my life to my hearts calling, falling in love …..getting hurt…back up….and i dreamed to see the Big apple, in the west…..or other cultures….no body judges you, but in our “naddu” we live for others,….live you with this song..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc3xUedc3BI

    keep on dreaming……!!

    • Tom: Congrats.. ( you know for what !) Thank you for the song..
      Mallus are only concerned about the opinion of others. Unfortunately, it will only bring them heartaches

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