Thank You: The Village That Made Kilimanjaro Possible

As I'm about to embark on my adventure to Kilimanjaro, I wanted to take a moment to thank the incredible people who made this trek possible. You know that saying about it taking a village? Well, this is my village.

Folks at Home

Thanks to The Missus for being such a sport from the moment she heard about this crazy possibility. She joined me on all those practice hikes even knowing she wouldn't be able to do the actual trek herself. That's love, right there. ❤️

Thank you to my mother and #OhBoy, who have graciously kept their apprehensions to themselves and supported this adventure. They've been wonderful about us being away for hours every Saturday, letting me chase this dream.

The Team at The Quad

From the moment I told Coach Chow at The Quad about this trek, she was genuinely excited for me. She made sure I connected with people who had already conquered this mountain and assigned Coach Yogesh to create my training plan.

Coach Yogesh truly understood the limitations of my situation and location, crafting a plan that worked perfectly for where I was. Thank you!

Later, Coach Roshini became my accountability partner, checking in regularly and keeping me motivated when the going got tough.

Thanks to all of them, I feel so much more prepared and confident about taking on this challenge!

The Generous Souls Who Shared Their Time

Through The Quad and other networks, I connected with folks who had successfully summited Kilimanjaro. Each one of them graciously spent time with me on calls, sharing what to expect and how to prepare. Every conversation added a different dimension to my understanding and training.

Thank you Aswani Kumar Yerguntala, Saraswathy Natarajan, Filbert Pradeep and Amany Khalil! I promise to pay forward the kindness you've shared with me.

And a special thanks to Zohra Merabet  for connecting me with Amany!

The Gear Angels

Being in Egypt meant I didn't have access to much of the trekking gear I needed. So I asked friends who were traveling to Cairo to help me out. These amazing people made sure I had everything I needed:

Anusha Srinivasan — who ordered exactly what I wanted from Amazon.ca
Diya — who carried those items all the way from Canada to Cairo
Sufian — who brought me the things I needed from India

I'm well-dressed and properly equipped for this climb because of all of you. 🙌

My Team at NFN Labs

Thank you to my colleagues for letting me take a two-week break and being genuinely excited ever since I told them about this possibility. We've talked about it in our weekly calls, and they've stepped up beautifully, picking up the work I'm leaving behind for the next two weeks. Having that support and enthusiasm from your team means everything. 🙏

My Kilimanjaro Crew

And finally, the most important group—the team that made this all happen and with whom I'll be spending every waking moment of the next 10 days:

Rajan Mittal — the man who got me into a regular hiking routine in KL, took me to Mt. Rinjani, and now to Kilimanjaro.
Rakesh Aravindan — our forex partner and the ultimate chill pill of the group.
Wong Chin Wai — our super motivator and the master of fine print details.
Naman Gupta — the one who gave us serious FOMO in our training plan and pushed me to train harder than I had initially planned.

All the best to us — The High Five! 🏔️