Bengaluru: Prasad Gurav lost his eye sight as a young man, due to a retinal degenerative disorder. But, he never lost his vision and passion for a life full of possibilities. He might have lost one way of looking at this world, but his loss of sight has not stopped him from seeing the world in more ways than one.
In fact, it has taught him to explore the beauty of this world through all his faculties or rather through the whole of his being. Gurav’s loss of one faculty has encouraged him to fully optimise his other senses and enjoy his life more than he previously did.
“I have always been a good trekker, I am an outdoors person so I would frequently go on long treks and rock climbing. I still trek and do climbing indoors with ropes,” said Gurav, who has done dozens of high profile treks and mountain climbs over the last two decades, more after losing his sight completely.
Mountaineering and trekking is not easy even for people with clear vision and for someone with no eye sight it is an incredible achievement.
However, doing it regularly calls for a great level of resolve and reflects on Gurav’s willingness to push the boundaries progressively.
Beyond barriers
Though an adventure lover by nature, his real journey of adventures began when he started losing his eyesight drastically around 15 years back. In the last 10 years, he has scaled some of the tallest mountains in India and Africa with no eyesight to illuminate his explorations.
From Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa to Stok Kangri in Ladakh and Sikkim’s Spiti valley to Pindari Glacier and Markha Valley, he has scaled them all. He has now set his eyes on the Everest base camp.
His latest expedition was in September this year, when he climbed Mount Kanamo in Spiti Valley, scaling the altitude of 19,635 feet.
“Two years after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the mountain started calling again and I set sight on one more trek-able peak of around 20,000 feet and zeroed in on Mount Kanamo. After a year of thinking and discussing with people about this, finally the dream was realised on September 11, 2022,” said Gurav, who is an electronics engineer by qualification.
The 47-year-old technocrat believes that before scaling physical heights one has to overcome mental barriers.
“This determination comes from the realisation that reality is created in your thoughts and thoughts are powerful,” he added.
For Gurav and his passionate team of explorers, no peak is out of reach, and no mountain is a final destination. Every achievement is just another milestone in a long journey of possibilities.
Gurav’s treks and climbs are inclusive, where visually-able people and visually-challenged people work together to achieve a common target.
“We created history with our inclusive expedition. The team consisted of blind members including me and Chunzin Angmo, who is also an Everest aspirant and members with proper vision such as Nupur Pittie, a superwoman from Pune; and our guides Kesang, who is an expert in flora and fauna and also the lead climber; Stanzin, who was also our videographer; and the young and energetic Tenzing Palvar,” said the explorer, describing is passionate and determined team.
Change-maker
The Mumbai-born explorer is also an entrepreneur and founder of an IT firm in Pune, Maharashtra.
Though, not actively involved in the company’s regular operations now, the 47-year-old has broadened his horizon and widened his scope of impact.
“Around 2012, when I was almost blind, I learnt how to use the white cane and started trekking again. Until this time, like most people my life was determined by external forces such as work and circumstances surrounding me,” Gurav, the inspiring Punekar, said.
So, Gurav decided to live life beyond his daily needs, pleasures and worries. He decided to become more useful and make life better for others, especially those who are facing challenges similar to his.
“I decided to change my approach to life and started living more holistically. When I started my business I had reduced travelling due to my limitations. But, now I started moving again. I started travelling across India and volunteered with different organisations. I would spend time with different blind institutions and train blind children in life skills,” said Gurav, explaining how a change in approach helped him overcome barriers.
He suggests that when you start helping others, your own problems become easy for you. They become insignificant.
“When I started losing vision drastically, I started a support group for people with similar issues so that we could all share our experiences with others and help others face this challenge,” he added.
Inspiration
According to him, one of the most challenging impacts of a sudden loss of a faculty such as vision is depression.
“We take our powers for granted and when people lose these powers suddenly, it’s natural for people to struggle coming to terms with it. People go through depression and mental trauma, I myself had faced such issues. There is hardly any counselling in India for such cases, I saw a need here. So, with the help of a few organisations I started guiding people with similar issues,” added Gurav, highlighting the need for greater support and care for people to come to terms with their loss vision.
Gurav also started bringing out newsletters guiding people to adjust with their new realities. His message is simple: despite the problems we face, we can continue to lead a good life.
“A lot of people think that blind people can’t watch movies, but there are different ways of seeing and experiencing things, you learn to adapt when you are faced with a situation. I do watch movies, I also read and go out on a trek. I enjoy most of the things that other people do. There are other people like me, who overcome all barriers to achieve their dreams. I take inspiration from them,” said Gurav, suggesting that our handicap, be it physical or mental, should never come in the way of our dreams. Disorder
Around the world, millions of people suffer from a range of retinal degenerative disorders, suffering varying degrees of vision loss, including complete blindness.
Retinal degenerative disorders have a debilitating impact on daily life, from basic functions of moving around independently to reading and driving. It also causes depression and puts a major dent in the confidence of the people facing the issue.
But, some people like Gurav overcome these barriers through their sheer mental toughness and turn their weakness into their biggest strength.
“My eyes never came in the way of my dreams, they just threw a few challenges and I always found ways to overcome those challenges. All of us can, so never lose heart.”
Shafaat Shahbandari, founder-editor of Thousand Shades of India, is a freelance journalist based in Bengaluru.
