About Me
I am Mohan Ranga Rao,
a 64-year-old entrepreneur who treats life like an enterprise. I am a trekker, traveller, writer, tennis player and the kind of a guy who takes his double espressos and his single malts neat.
By the time I turned 50, I had fathered a blind daughter, lost her to cancer when she was barely 9, set up and sold many brands and businesses including a world class pharmaceutical facility, built a temple for the poor, completed 25 treks several of which were in the Himalayas at more than 12000 feet altitude.
It is my wish to share my experiences of my inner and outer journeys, my thoughts about eastern philosophy and my treks and travels.
I have written numerous blogs and two books.
My first book, Inner trek…a reluctant pilgrim in the Himalayas; It is about my trek around Mount Kailash, a holy Tibetan Mountain revered by over a billion people. What started out to me as merely a challenging high-altitude trek soon became a life-changing adventure. With a blend of humour, honesty and keen insight, I have narrated journey toward a deeper understanding of the world around me. It is a travel memoir of a road less travelled and a true story of self-discovery at 19,000 feet.
My second book, to be published in 2022, Myopia is my true-life memoir of a phase of my life that will show you how you can use personal tragedy for building you inner strength, failures to build character and make you move forward in better ways. Tragedy and failures occur for the benefit of mankind, not just you. You will not see that when you are facing the hardship due to your mental myopia.
INNER TREK
Inner Trek begins inauspiciously: an Indian land mafioso threatens Mohan’s life unless he gives up a piece of land whose value had increased more than tenfold in the 20 years that had passed since he bought. His wife pleads with the cynical Mohan to pray for a way out. He bows his head more out of respect for his wife than any God.
Events unfold that ultimately set him off on a journey to the Himalayas that winds its way through Nepal to Tibet towards the holy Manasarovar Lake and sacred Himalayan mountain, Kailash. Mohan covers more than just ground on his journey, as he undergoes a spiritual transformation in the mountains that are soaked in ancient history.Inner Trek begins inauspiciously: an Indian land mafioso threatens Mohan’s life unless he gives up a piece of land whose value had increased more than tenfold in the 20 years that had passed since he bought. His wife pleads with the cynical Mohan to pray for a way out. He bows his head more out of respect for his wife than any God.
Events unfold that ultimately set him off on a journey to the Himalayas that winds its way through Nepal to Tibet towards the holy Manasarovar Lake and sacred Himalayan mountain, Kailash. Mohan covers more than just ground on his journey, as he undergoes a spiritual transformation in the mountains that are soaked in ancient history.
MYOPIA
While everything is wonderful in his marriage, Mohan must desperately work to gain his footing with his own business after having decided to fly solo. Instead, his attention is pulled away from his work when his first daughter, Yogita, is born blind and, as he and his wife find out, with extreme developmental delays. His whole life is turned upside down. In order to right his life, Mohan must make drastic changes. As he works his way out of debt, flies around the world to find help for his daughter and heals his relationships with his family, Yogita, his first child is born blind and with arrested cognitive developments. She is also very beautiful, affable, tender, inquisitive, playful and very perceptive about sounds. Parenting her becomes Mohan’s biggest privilege since it transforms him from a power and material seeking individual to a spiritual and devoted family man.
MyOpia is a memoir that teaches us about the resilience and possibility within each one of us, and the treasures that may be earned when we face our obstacles head on.