Mysore/Mysuru: The book ‘Inner Trek, a reluctant pilgrim in the Himalayas,’ authored by city’s industrialist, blogger and philanthropist Mohan Ranga Rao has bagged the Best Indie Book Award (BIBA).

This book has also won the Chanticleer Hearten grand prize for the uplifting and inspirational non-fiction category.

He is working on his second book Myopia through which he hopes to reach out to parents of children with disabilities, entrepreneurs facing challenges and family businesses.

About the book

Embroiled in difficult business dealings, author Rao is convinced by his devout Hindu wife, Mamatha, to vow to Lord Shiva that he will go to sacred sites at Lake Manasa Sarovar and Mount Kailash in Tibet. He gradually acquiesces and she books the tour.

Crossing into Tibet on a narrow, swaying suspension bridge is the first taste of challenge, followed by cramped sleeping quarters shared with fellow pilgrims and no toilets or hot water. The couple bathes ritually in the beautiful blue, icy Manasa, a prelude for deeper spiritual connectivity that will infuse Rao’s mind and heart as he and Mamatha hike the entire circumference of Kailash that rises out of the rocky landscape like a divinely formed pyramid.

By the end of their adventure, Rao says he has “surrendered to a higher intelligence.”