| ashu |
Posted
on 20-Mar-03 10:51 PM
Pramod Lama is a high school classmate of mine.
In Ohio about three years ago, I had had the pleasure to do much guff-suff (that
went late into the nights) with him about hiking, camping, mountain-climbing, Nepali
music, and much much more. [Pramod is a damn good guitar player.]
It's great to see and hear about Pramod's scaling greater heights with his passion for adventure and his love for Nepal. I wish him all the best, and cheer for his further success.
What follows was published in today's (Friday's) The Nepali Times newspaper. Thanks to editors there for emailing this to me.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
**********************
Skiing for Nepal
Pramod Lama has an entirely different way of
meditating. To unshackle his mind, he skies down very
steep slopes very fast.
Its just great. Every thought leaves my mind, it is
only the next turn that I think of when coming down a
stop, says the 33-year old Ohio-based software
engineer who represented Nepal at the Salt Lake Winter
Olympics, and later at Aomori in Japan.
He didnt win any medals, but Pramod did become the
first Nepali ever to compete in a slalom event, one
that requires 56 turns in the course of one km with an
average steepness of 30 degrees.
Pramod is into all kinds of adventure sports: mountain
biking, rock climbing and roller blading, but admits
he was not all that prepared for competition. My
limited skiing and the extensive media coverage played
tricks in my head. I was close to panicking and even
closer to quitting, says Pramod. But his Japanese
coaches persuaded him to persevere, and so he ended up
racing slalom on a pair of borrowed skis.
Pramod, now a permanent resident of the US, is now
looking forward to joining the US Ski and Snowboard
Association which is a bigger organisation and offers
more competitive races. With coaching he will be in
for tougher competition in the coming skiing season.
Pramod started skiing in 1995, but money, school and
work kept him away from the slopes until 2000. But the
constraints did not end his fascination with the
sport. As soon as he could afford it he bought
mountain skis and a season pass to the slopes. But
determination alone was not enoughski injuries again
kept him away from the sport most of the following
year.
Recovery was painful, but he was back on the powder
before long. Through summer he dreams of fresh snow
and he couldnt help celebrating unusually high
snowfall this February in Ohio.
His wife Moini supports his love for skiing but would
be happier if he took up a less adventurous sport.
Like golf, she says. Pramod thinks he has become a
more careful skier after learning he was a
father-to-be. But it is not his skills on skis that he
looks forward to sharing when he comes home to Nepal.
I want to educate Nepali children, Pramod says. It
is what they need most.
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