She 'rocks': When climbing paves way to empowerment, crossing mental hurdles

The true meaning for Gowri, who started CLAW with others, is empowerment, breaking mental barriers and building a community for women.
Gowri, the brains behind the CLAW, conquers the heights (Photo | Meghana Sastry, EPS)
Gowri, the brains behind the CLAW, conquers the heights (Photo | Meghana Sastry, EPS)

BENGALURU:  Claw — can be Climb Like A Woman, which it is. Or Claw your way out of your fears. Ask Gowri Varanashi, 29, climber who started CLAW with like-minded climbers in 2018.

The most common association one makes is the claws of an animal as when you climb your hands look like claws.

While that is true, the true meaning for Gowri is empowerment, breaking mental barriers and building a community for women.

She says, “CLAW your way out of your fears and inhibitions, and come out stronger and confident by the end of this programme.” Gowri who teaches and lives in New York and visits India every year for six months, plans to move back for good. When she joined her husband Paul Rosolie on his expeditions in the Peruvian Amazon forests as he runs an eco tourism programme there and she was climbing trees, a girl noticed and said you will love rock climbing and took her to an indoor gym in New York.

“All you need is your chalk bag, crash pad and your shoes. Bouldering empowers you as it builds self-confidence. All one focuses on is getting to the top of the rock which is a feeling of immense joy and accomplishment. It helps you deal with failure and makes you more tenacious,” she says. Talking about CLAW,  Gowri says, “Climbing is very male-dominated.

Be it America or India, the society expects women to behave in a certain way and extreme sports isn’t encouraged. In India it’s way harder as the cultural values attached to women are more stringent.”She says, “Even if a woman is a climber, climbing with men in the beginning can make her feel intimidated and weak. It is important to have women mentors who make you feel comfortable and understand your needs better. In the US, I noticed that women created a community where they conducted ladies night at gyms and more, and that’s when I decided to start a community in India and contacted other women climbers Lekha (Bengaluru), Prerna (Delhi), Vrinda (Delhi), Mel (New Jersey).” And CLAW was established in 2018.

The first workshop was an eye-opener to many problems women face and how they overcome it. One of them said, “It’s so liberating as one doesn’t have to worry about being feminine as defined by the society. It’s okay to tan, get scratches and not worry about how I am dressed.” Another girl said “I thought climbing was only for women like you.” She was referring to Gowri’s body type. “There’s so much stereotyping of how a woman should look and body shaming suppresses a lot of women,” Gowri says.

Thus they succeeded in forming this community. Many women from the first edition asked if they could volunteer and be a part of the second edition as well and continue to stay in touch. They say “it feels like a family.” Gowri says, “We also wanted a woman climbing photographer and videographer which was very hard to find and hope to find one soon.”  “I would like to tell people that one should always try something new in life and not hesitate.

If you do try climbing, I think you will find that it’s a very subjective sport as you do it for yourself to find that joy,” Gowri says. Gowri went to an unconventional school where children were encouraged to spend time outdoors. She spent her time studying wildlife and climbing rocks. Every year she focused on an animal, one year she focused on snakes. She continued to pursue this as an adult and graduated in environmental studies and biology from Bard College. As a profession, she conducts nature connection programmes based on wilderness school concepts for children. She says, “It helps bring back observatory and sensory skills which we are all losing as we are carried away with technology.”

BOULDER SPOTS
There are a lot of spots for boulder climbing around Bengaluru like Raoguglu past Turahallli, Avati near Nandi Hills and rope climbing at Ramanagara and Varlakonda which is near the airport.

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