Recently someone sent me a group of pictures of which one was of the highest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest. It reminded me of my semi-personal experience with its magnificence – a memory from when I was 6 or 7 years old that I have never written about.
I was born and lived in the State of Assam, India, as it was called then. It is now Bangladesh. We had no electricity or running water. Water came from a well that was brought into our home in buckets. We did, however, have a refrigerator, which ran on kerosene. With no electricity we didn’t even have a fan.
The summers got very hot and our family drove to either Shillong or Darjeeling, two mountain towns. Darjeeling was at a higher elevation than Shillong – 6,700 feet above sea level.
During my last summer in Darjeeling, my parents and another missionary couple decided to take a 4-wheel Jeep trip on a switchback gravel road to the top of the third highest mountain in the world: Kangchenjunga. It was only a 46-mile trip, but it took over six hours. They would spend the night there, arriving in time to see the sunset over Mt. Everest and sunrise the next morning, clouds permitting.
Kangchenjunga is situated in the eastern Himalayas on the border between Sikkim state in northeastern India and eastern Nepal, north-northwest of Darjeeling. The mountain is part of the Great Himalaya Range. The Kangchenjunga massif is in the form of a gigantic cross, the arms of which extend north, south, east, and west.
Kangchenjunga holds an important place in the mythology and religious ritual of the local inhabitants, and its slopes were no doubt familiar to herdsmen and traders for centuries before a rough survey of it was made.
When I heard they were going on the dangerous and, to me, exciting Jeep road trip, I wanted and begged them to let me go too. In order to bribe me (and shut me up), they said that, instead, they would hire a man with a horse for the two days they would be gone, to take me wherever I wanted to go. Having been on a horse only once before, that satisfied me, but only begrudgingly.
What I still wish I had gotten and kept is the pictures they took of Mt. Everest on their trip. Even as a nature-loving youngster, I remember thinking how beautiful and majestic – and WOW, simply breathtaking – Mt. Everest was! What happened to those photos is a mystery to me. I never came across them again. And now, with both my parents gone, it is too late to ask.
Another photo I wish I still had was one of me, my dad, and Tenzing Norgay, taken in 1958 or 1959. When Dad and I hunted down where Tenzing lived, we found him on a hillside tending to his terraced garden, where the photo was taken.
Tenzing was the sherpa who guided Sir Edmund Hillary to the top of Mt. Everest on that historic day May 29, 1953. It is not generally known, but a sherpa walks ahead of his clients and actually reaches the summit first. (What? That’s not what the history books say? Oh? Imagine that!)
I’m not certain of my memory, but I seem to recall that Tenzing told Dad and me that leading Hillary up Everest wasn’t the first time he had reached its summit. He had reached it on one earlier occasion. He told us that several men had made even earlier attempts at it, but failed. He had not been their guide, so he decided to try it himself, since he was already an avid climber. He said he recognized the opportunity to advertise himself as a successful guide and make more money.
I remember him being a very humble, warm, and respectful man that I wanted to know better. Even at the age I was then, I felt he was wiser than his years. There was a spiritual and human depth to the man that mesmerized me.
Tenzing died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India, on May 9, 1986, at the age of 71. His remains were cremated in the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling, his favorite haunt.
Yes, regrets. I do have a few, but the memories are so enriching and loving to my soul. Folks say I have lived several lives, and I suppose I cannot argue with that. I am very blessed. I thank everyone for their time, and you for the time you have taken to read this. Time is so very precious.
—Remembered with love….
When I heard they were going on the dangerous and, to me, exciting Jeep road trip, I wanted and begged them to let me go too. In order to bribe me (and shut me up), they said that, instead, they would hire a man with a horse for the two days they would be gone, to take me wherever I wanted to go. Having been on a horse only once before, that satisfied me, but only begrudgingly.
What I still wish I had gotten and kept is the pictures they took of Mt. Everest on their trip. Even as a nature-loving youngster, I remember thinking how beautiful and majestic – and WOW, simply breathtaking – Mt. Everest was! What happened to those photos is a mystery to me. I never came across them again. And now, with both my parents gone, it is too late to ask.
 |
| Photo of Tenzing Norgay taken soon after guiding Edmund Hillary up Everest |
Tenzing was the sherpa who guided Sir Edmund Hillary to the top of Mt. Everest on that historic day May 29, 1953. It is not generally known, but a sherpa walks ahead of his clients and actually reaches the summit first. (What? That’s not what the history books say? Oh? Imagine that!)
I’m not certain of my memory, but I seem to recall that Tenzing told Dad and me that leading Hillary up Everest wasn’t the first time he had reached its summit. He had reached it on one earlier occasion. He told us that several men had made even earlier attempts at it, but failed. He had not been their guide, so he decided to try it himself, since he was already an avid climber. He said he recognized the opportunity to advertise himself as a successful guide and make more money.
I remember him being a very humble, warm, and respectful man that I wanted to know better. Even at the age I was then, I felt he was wiser than his years. There was a spiritual and human depth to the man that mesmerized me.
Yes, regrets. I do have a few, but the memories are so enriching and loving to my soul. Folks say I have lived several lives, and I suppose I cannot argue with that. I am very blessed. I thank everyone for their time, and you for the time you have taken to read this. Time is so very precious.
—Remembered with love….
| Copyright © 2021 by Vic Midyett |
Vic, thank you for sharing some of those lives with us!
ReplyDeleteHa.. "some of these lives", I like that.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting story about your connection to Tensing and the mountain.
ReplyDeleteMany decades ago, I saw an original documentary about the Hillary/Tensing climb. Also there was a 1970 documentary titled “The Man Who Skied Down Everest.” The man was Yuichiro Miura , a Japanese skier and climber who climbed Everest a few times, including at age 80. I believe he still holds the record as the oldest man to do so. You can access that movie on Youtube, at https://youtu.be/ViFmRQx66Xg.
A slightly older cousin of mine, who actually retired to India, visited Tibet many years ago and got to meet the Dalai Lama. On her flight there, she took a picture of Everest from her plane seat. It amazes me how small the world can get when you tell a story. I never knew she did that.
ReplyDeleteAmazing shot.
DeleteThank y'all so much for commenting.
ReplyDeleteGreat story Vic. I tried to post the other day, but I think Morris blocked me.(A joke Morris) When our daughter Shelley got married I told her to go make memories, the more the better. It's about the only advise she has taken from me.
ReplyDeleteEd, I’m finding, in my old age, that many sad or unhappy memories are coming up too. Did your advice to Shelley make a distinction between happy and unhappy memories?
DeleteVic, Ed is the most persistent kidder I have ever met. I failed to get his jokes at first, and he now he rarely fails to label them for me.
ReplyDeleteBut wait! I very often fail to get YOUR jokes too!
Ha ha... yes, you do Morris. I don't try anymore. Excellent advise to Shelley, Ed. And thanks from me too.
ReplyDeleteEd & Vic, I wonder whether I fail to get your jokes because you both spell the noun “advice” as “advise” (the verb spelling)?
ReplyDeleteOr might it be spellcheck’s jokes I fail to get?
We it's advice, we were testing you.
ReplyDeleteI am SO RELIEVED that you it’s advice!
DeleteI just thought I was right. ha ha
ReplyDelete