BENGALURU: Encountering medical emergencies on a daily basis and watching the struggle of patients often takes a toll on doctors. Many a time, dealing with the after-effects of a patient’s death can be quite challenging.
Which is why Dr. Justin Gopaldas, consultant- critical care medicine at Manipal Hospital, Jayanagar, engages in multiple adventure sports to handle the trauma. From mountaineering to bungee jumping and rock climbing, Gopaldas’ tryst with adventure is always high. He’s hiked the Alps in France, the mountains of Canada, even as he deftly balances his medical practice.
It all started when Gopaldas was finishing his medical school in 1999, and travelled to Himachal Pradesh for long hikes. After he found mountaineering to be his go-to sport, he travelled to the United Kingdom in the mid-2000s and started training for the Alps in Scotland while he was a practising physician.
“Going on hikes is probably where I discovered myself, got clarity of mind, and a broad view of everything in life. When you are at a high altitude, there is silence and your mind starts decluttering, giving you space to think clearly. I ended up liking mountaineering as a sustained challenge because it is physically and mentally demanding,” says the 46-year-old, who later did a road trip from the UK to India, hiked the mountains in Canada, called the Intercontinental Divide which is essentially a two-and-half-month road trip between Canada and USA .
“In fact, hiking the mountains in Colorado was one of the toughest expeditions because I followed a different group and ended up on the wrong route which I realised after five hours of the trip. I ended up hiking two mountains,” says Gopaldas.
Gopaldas has also combined adventure and social campaigns. Upon his return from the UK to India in 2007, his wife and he drove down by road, to raise funds for UNICEF, a humanitarian aid organisation under the United Nations.
“We actually sold everything in our household in the UK and set out to drive to India by road for a cause. We crossed mainland Europe, the Baltic Circle, and Middle East countries and reached India,” says Gopaldas, who also spearheaded a cycle campaign from Bengaluru to Gokarna last year to raise awareness on the violence against doctors during the pandemic. His last mountain expedition was in Belgium before the pandemic.
Now, he is planning to do high-altitude cycling at Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh later in the year, and also hike the Himalayas beyond the base camp. “I believe mountaineering is more of a mental task because it always pushes you beyond boundaries. You will realise that you have more reserves than you think. As a doctor who is in the thick and thin of medical emergencies, we need time off to reflect on these things. For me adventure sports has allowed for that introspection,” says Gopaldas.