This is the gutsy story of a hard core trekker whose urge to become someone big brought him out from his humble background to excel in his profession to the level of senior business associate. Born to a postmaster father and a farmer mother, Durgadas saw a difficult childhood in remote Pernem where he was raised with five other children “ his two sisters and two cousins, that of his deceased uncle and aunt. With no means to survive, education was secondary and hard to come his way but he somehow managed to graduate. Not forgetting his struggles and bad days, Durgadas today supports around 200 SSC students from 71 schools in Pernem, Bicholim and Sattari through his organisation “ Urjja Foundation, paying Rs 2500 each towards annual school expenses.
Popular not only for his philanthropic endeavours, Durgadas is more known for his trekking adventures. Having being associated with Zonal Himalayan Expedition Programme (ZHEP) for 16 years, first as a participant and later as a leader, Durgadas kick started his own trekking group Eco-Treks Goa. “Guided by IMF (Indian Mountaineering Foundation), Eco-Treks was put on track on 26 October 2008 and it’s been seven years that we have been unfailingly organising treks for enthusiastic participants every single month,” says Durgadas, adding, “On December 6 we will be undertaking our 88th trek. So far we have organised 8 Himalaya treks and May 2016 will be our 9th one, the bookings of which are already full. A voluntary organisation of likeminded nature lovers Eco-Treks has been instrumental in taking 4700 trekkers so far on various treks in and around Goa and to the snow laden Himalayas.
Wherever he goes, Durgadas develops a bond between the local inhabitants of the areas where the group goes trekking. The food is cooked by these locals who are paid for it. “These gestures help them to earn some income and also allows the trekkers to taste the local food,” he explains the motive. Dedicated to protect the environment and ecology of Goa and wherever else they may trek, this Mapusa based group goes trekking to high altitude nature spots, rivers and waterfalls.
Owner of a fleet of 10 tourist buses, Damodar Mandrekar of Nonco Travels at Anjuna, is thrilled every time to offer his newly purchased bus to the trekkers. “It’s a bond between him and us, which compels him to follow on our track,” quips Durgadas, an athlete who takes life head on and accepts the toughest challenges in calling situations that life places him on and off.
A tough trekker Durgadas has climbed the Himalayas 28 times till 2015 as he has taken only a year’s gap in these years. “It was in 2000 that I did not answer the call of the mountains because my son Vrishabh was to be born in that May and I had to be beside my wife Julie,” recalls Durgadas.
Being an athlete in his college life, Durgadas was selected by the Mumbai University to do 30-day basic mountaineering course in the Himalayas by paying only Rs 180 in 1979. “But I could not afford even that meagre amount in spite of the strong urge to hug the Himalayas. Next few years I struggled hard to earn money, took up a job in 1982 but it was only after 10 years, in 1989, when Youth Hostel gave me this life-changing opportunity to visit the Himalayas and believe me, it changed me in and out,” admits this humble man whose aggressive, extreme competitive nature and angry man image was totally mellowed after visiting the great mountain.
“Looking deep down in my mind and realising my smallness, I became a different, a better person altogether. The Himalayas made me humble,” admits Durgadas who will be completing 34 long years in LIC in January 2016. It was his first job after graduation which has given him not only financially stability but has fuelled his passion for trekking, widening his circle of like-minded friends. Eco-Trek runs on rules and follows them strictly. The group orders the food from the locals, thus allowing the trekkers a taste of the local cuisine and generating a source of income for the locals. “Smoking is not allowed, no liquor or no littering the place we visit. Our trekking is for fun, education and relaxation. It offers a break from the monotonous mundane life. It rejuvenates us and pumps in us zest and zeal in our ever enthusiastic soul to take the challenges of life,” concludes Durgadas.
