Wild Bio
I’ve gotten lost in the woods, camped under the stars in the redwoods and Sierra pines. I’ve climbed Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite, and hunted down waterfalls around the world ever since. I’ve tested rope swings for my older brother and climbed sailing masts under sail to recover halyards and pull down torn spinnakers. I’ve sailed north, at night in gale force winds around Pt. Conception, CA. I’ve always fancied myself a bit of a mermaid even though I’d nearly drowned twice as a child. I’ve been trapped between coral reefs surrounded by a school of barracudas, and dived in the Caribbean Sea. I’ve raised money for kids in sailing programs. I’ve rebuilt their race boats. I’ve won dinghy races and can tie a large assortment of knots. I’ve sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge hundreds of times, but never walked it. I’ve done women’s sprint-distance triathlons and played years of tournament level Ultimate Frisbee. I might have been a Border Collie in another life.
I’ve been inside the tower at San Francisco International Airport. I’ve gone flying in aircraft with no engines and taken chances while teaching teenagers by sailing larger boats with no engines. In my younger days, I’ve crashed sailboats, cars, scooters and bicycles. I’ve put a car on two wheels taking a curve too fast, and my sister caught me in the act.
Annie Kolatkar Backpacking in Thailand 2001
I have seen the gold and bejeweled royal yachts and kingdom of Thailand. I’ve been bothered by jellyfish in the Florida Keys and certain islanders in Antigua while sunbathing. I’ve swam in the Mediterranean Sea off the Balearic Island of Formentera. I’ve had my palm read in London and a parakeet tell me my fortune in Tamil Nadu. I’ve seen where the Indian Ocean meets the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. I have crossed a busy street in India by picking my way through a herd of water buffalos. (They were violating the red light signal and damned if I was going to wait for the next green light!) I have been to the Taj Mahal and sat in the same spot, as Princess Diana did, for my picture. I’ve lived in a palm-frond tepee on the beach –without electricity and telephone for two months in a remote Mayan fishing village in Mexico. I’ve climbed the Tulum ruins before they were safeguarded. I’ve walked The Giant’s Causeway and found the Queen’s Chair. The Irish Sea has impressed me with its fierceness. I’ve seen the Irish National basketball team play the Euro Stars and Utah Jazz teams in a small school gym in Ennistymon for free. I have stood 230 meters over the sea, on the edge of the Cliffs of Moher. I’ve seen the Quiet Man’s house before the roof was burned down by accident. I have no need to kiss the Blarney Stone.
I’ve gone by myself to seek mountain lions at the suggestion of a Medicine Man, and found two big cats waiting for me on a rainy morning with no one about, in the Marin Headlands. Birds of prey have elected to eat their catch in front of me numerous times or fly with dinner over my truck while I was driving. I’ve sailed alongside dolphins and whales, and paddled a kayak near manatees and mating frigate birds. I’ve been surprised by a bobcat, a possum looking in my bedroom window from the fence just outside, a coyote on the side of the road, and a wild pig on Santa Cruz island that had me running for my life –only to learn later on that they are fairly tame! Moose have stopped our family car in Yellowstone Park, and often I have encountered rattlesnakes on my path. I once had a large yellow butterfly land on my foot in the middle of San Francisco’s financial district and dozens of business people on their lunch crowded around to witness the miracle. I attract mosquitoes more than anyone else I know.
Annie Kolatkar, on the same bench as Princess Grace, at the Taj Mahal, India 2001
I hate the smell, taste and texture of seafood. I love: semi- and bitter sweet chocolate; white cake with mocha buttercream frosting and almost any exquisitely made French pastry. My middle names should be “Bakery-Creamery”. I travel the world in search of beautiful scenery, excellent food, coffee and red wine before looking at art.
I’ve been treated like a Queen by the men who loved me. I’ve been accused of being a femme fatale, although I have won the hearts of many. I’ve often had my leg pulled. I have laughed my head off at really good jokes. I’ve been busted for laughing in school and church. I cry at funerals and weddings…even if I don’t know the people. I was unbeatable at the game Othello until I met my husband, and I’ve never played since. I’ve done a 5000 piece puzzle in one day. I can write, paint and sew with both hands, but hold a hammer, baseball bat and tennis racket in my right. I’ve kept the peace and started wars. I can imitate life and still feel original. I’ve written several books and plays –yet to be published, and can’t decide if I love writing more than painting, photography or gourmandizing.
I’ve never met a person I couldn’t talk to or help out. I know people from all walks of life. I love to network. As a teenager and young adult, I had over a hundred babysitting clients. I can still get any child to sleep faster than their parents. I’ve never given up, but I have walked away –especially from failing tech companies I’ve worked for. I’ve landscaped yards. I’ve single-handedly done all the flowers for over a dozen different weddings or parties. I’ve taught oil painting to beginners for more than ten years. I’ve sold Girl Scout cookies, newspapers that were free, men’s suits and high-end linens, car treatments, (SF) State Fair booths and art frames. I’ve built several tech companies from scratch. I’ve been part of a team that did mergers and acquisitions. I’ve been a business mid-wife for many sole-proprietors and approached venture capitalists for seed money. I’ve done lay-offs and closed facilities during the “dot bomb” era. I still can’t resist looking at a start-up company as an opportunity to work on something fun and exciting. I don’t have a degree. People say my life is blessed.
Annie Kolatkar - island of Antigua, West Indies 1996
I can go anywhere in my mind. I can find lost objects. I always could find where my mom hid her chocolates. I “found” my husband 30-days after I wrote out a long description of my ideal life partner. I don’t get lost: I go on adventures. I have courage in heaps and am willing to lead. I am all for fairness, and rudeness shocks me. I’ve learned that pain is a gift in disguise. I believe in the power of forgiveness, as a great secret to health, enlightenment and to rejoin with God. Not a day goes by that I don’t tell someone “I love you” –especially my husband and daughter who is blessed with Down syndrome, a gorgeous face and personality.
Above and beyond all else, I have learned and come to believe this: Life is a grand illusion created by the ego –and you and I have the power to change the illusion but only through forgiveness.
