Intention

[Written 27 July 2025]

Before we begin. In advance of being on (and therefore being able to talk about) the trip in earnest, I want to explore how I currently think and feel about the intentionality behind this expedition. 

Over the last few weeks and months as more and more people have found out about our trip (and those that have known for years actually started to believe we were serious and not just talking about it!), the main question I have been asked is: "why are you doing this?". (To me, the spirit or sentiment of the question shifts depending on the emphasis the questioner puts on the words why, you or this, and means I have given a somewhat nuanced and contained response.) 

So, why exactly are we doing this?

As you might suspect from volunteering to do something this disruptive to our own lives, it requires a level of commitment and planning, but there is no one single reason or catalytic event that led us here. To my mind, there are five interconnecting reasons that shaped how we carved out this opportunity:

1. Resilience.
   I first knew for certain that I wanted to do something along these lines ten years ago, when I first held Sia as a baby. As I cradled her, I had the paradoxical sensation I am sure all parents have had before: on the one hand, my unconditional love drives me towards wanting to give her the best of everything in my power and protect her from all the ills of the world; whilst at the same time I know that in order to raise her to be independently happy and truly fulfilled, she will have to learn to overcome difficulty and challenges, and be exposed to hardship to build her grit and establish her own moral compass. This same feeling washed over me again when Anaya was born, and doubled the stakes. How to reconcile these seemingly opposing forces? My idea was to give them as strong a foundation as possible, and then plan to puncture the bubble at a point when they can still adapt and evolve so they can see how strong they can really be. 

2. Duty.
   Since I was a young boy learning about our Hindu traditions, pursuing a deeper understanding of dharma always called to me. “Duty” is both a simple and profound concept, nuanced in its application and context - we perhaps overuse it in a manner that risks it losing touch with its meaning. I am aware that we are extremely lucky in how we are able to live our life in London - we have already won Peter Singer's lottery of life. One outcome I hope this adventure brings is to help us step out of our privilege for long enough to shake and reaffirm what our duty is to the 7 billion people who don't get to live how we do. 

3. Altruism.
   Whilst it may be somewhat tainted at the time of this writing - It was really by the first principles of the Effective Altruism philosophy when I first stumbled across it many years ago. In my life and my work I have been incredibly fortunate to magnetise kind, generous and brilliant people (including the people who will read this blog :)), and have felt the joy of unconditionally giving back. I am under no illusion that I have very limited transferrable skills in the real economy - I would be useless as a doctor with/without borders and cannot engineer or invent new renewable technologies or grow forests. So I have chosen a path that (in Effective Altruism parlance) means I earn to give - recognising that my contribution can be as an enabler to those who have the necessary skills I don’t. We are proud to have helped some fantastic people and organisations make an impact. I hope that taking this time to be on the ground and putting in blood, sweat and tears, getting our fingernails dirty and witnessing the dedication first hand will invigorate and expand our understanding of how to be more effective in our altruism for the rest of our lives, and deepen our network of impactful partners. 

4. De-materialise.
   Whether it was from the teachings of the Stoics, the Buddha, the Vedas, or even the modern day Financial Independence movement - one thing that has always resonated with me is to avoid becoming obsessed with material possessions. I believe that the things you covet and want to own end up owning and trapping you. I feel that meaningful experiences liberate you and open your heart and mind. Knowing this doesn’t prevent temptation from seeping in - we live in contact and in concert with a system incentivised to convert us in to unending consumerism. So selling the house, getting rid of most of our worldly possessions and taking this trip is a planned stress test that I hope unearths just how little we really need to be content and at peace. 

5. Choice.
   The flow of our lives can sometimes feel like we are in a strong current along a path to normalcy - get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids, enjoy your golden years in retirement, etc. This is not a bad thing necessarily - we are social, groupish animals by nature and it is comforting to have norms and aspirations that are reinforced to define progress. However, a sensation I have often felt is whether I am moving forward of my own volition, or simply being carried by the current. When does conformity erode conscious choice? This pause and interregnum period forces us to make an active choice of how we want to live going forward when we return. 

So there you have it. My reasoning for why we are doing this. The reason to do it now is to balance the point where the girls are old enough to really experience and embrace it, whilst not totally disrupting their education (ie young enough that we are still confident on the home-schooling aspect!). At the end of our journey I hope to reflect back on these and see what the actual outcomes were in reference to our intentions.

PS - I have learned so much in many dimensions just in preparing to do this. Having this as a long-term (and eventually a medium-term then short-term) goal has influenced my approach to so many things: how to live, lead, plan, parent, set up systems and teams for success, what to prioritise, what to prune away or avoid, what type of relationships to cultivate with friends and family. Unexpectedly, there have been so many positive by-products of pursuing this dream and overcoming the hurdles to just get here. The Stoic/Buddhist teaching rings true for me here - that in many ways the path is the goal, and the obstacle is the way. 

PPS - something I have recently realised is that Div’s intentionality is expressed subtly differently. It is interesting to me that we can both have a nuanced intention behind this and still be totally aligned.