21.2.09

Feelings on the Nepal Himalayas: An anthology of perceptions

by Shiva Devkota
Skanda Purana
In the hundred ages of the gods I could not tell thee of the glories of the Himalaya. As the dew is dried up by the morning sun, so are the sins of mankind by the sight of the Himalaya.

Folk song of Nepal
Alpine grassland above, rock cliffs below;
Waterfalls over the cliff, creepers adorn the tree,
Snow ranges higher up, lower down the white river;
And suspended half way, the blue ridge, forest and stony scree.

Harka Gurung
In Vignettes of Nepal
(Dr. Harka Gurung was a veteran geographer and planner of Nepal)
There is a Nepalese belief that some one with a mole in the sole is destined to travel. I have no faith in moles or for that matter even in stars although I have a prominent mole in my left sole. The reality however is that I have developed varicose veins on my calves through extensive travels in the hills of Nepal.

Mahakavi Laxmi Prasad Devkota
in Gauri Shankar Yatra
Human soul doesnot want to sleep;
Desires to awake and wants to win.
When I became a traveler to the gold-shining peaks,
I feel like going in search of heaven

Poet Laureate Lekhnath Paudyal
Where there are the treasures of jewels
Who gives nectar like pure water?
Who is said keeping inside Alaka- The capital of Yaksha
Where one feels like being in heaven climbing at whose pea;
That brilliant Himalaya of ours
With property and splendor is great

M.B.B. Shah (Late King of Nepal)
Does not the Earth hold another beauty of pure nature?
Accumulation of all, garnered beauty
Poured unto this Rara, a chemistry
Bedecked with garland of Snow Mountains
Peaceful verdant green in natural life,
In our Nepal of sun and moon banner,
In free reflection
In the himalaya
In Nepal
Unto lovely Rara

Herbert Tichy
in Cho Oyu: Gnade der Gotter
The endless blue sky feel steeply all around us
Like a ball,
To have reached the peak was glorious
But the nearness of the sky was overpowering

Folk song of Nepal
Rhododendron flowers on the other side;
Dwarf mushrooms on the Deurali pass,
Eat not the mushrooms raw, roast it;
And eat not alone, share it.
George Band
in Kangchenjunga: The Untrodden Peak
George says that a lot of people have asked him “wasn’t there a great temptation to go those last few feet?”; and the answer is “no”. For one thing, he says, “ I was too tired to want to take another step. But apart from that I’m glad we left no footmark on the top. I think we all felt the same. Had it not been for our promise, we should have gone to the top, without doubt; but as it was, keeping the promise cost us no regret.
The gesture seemed fitting enough.

Temba Tsheri Sherpa
(Youngest Everest summiteers on May 23, 2001 at the age of 15 years 18 days.)
I felt great pleasure at that moment. On the way to the summit I feared I might not make it and there was a sort of nervousness. Despite having lost five of my fingers last year, I was overjoyed to become the youngest person ever to be able to reach the highest peak and hoist the national flag. At that moment I remembered my father, mother and all my well-wishes

Jean Franco
in Makalu: The happy mountains
When in mid-May we stood on the fragile snow cone that tops the giant Makalu, a little surprised that it was already at our feet, the sky was bright blue, the wind carried to us the air of 8,000m and in the distances, beyond an infinite area of cloud, the great summits of the earth were witnessed of our miracle. Below us other men had suffered; many had failed, all had believed. That we were there was all the more thanks for them! Their lessons were our opportunity, their surroundings were debt, and acknowledgement was our first thought.

Ernst Reiss
in Lhotse 1956
I was completely out of breath. Pressed hard up against the slope,
I paused while one of the heavier guests passed over.
Fritz had now come up to my strake together we surveyed the
Savage ice towers and cornices of one of the highest
And most difficult summits of the world,
Lhotse, 8516m. We were there! It was 3 pm (18th May 1965).

Maurice Herzog
in Annapurna 1950
Annapurna, to which we had gone empty handed, was a treasure on which we should live the rest of our days. With this realization we turn the page: a new life begins. There are other Annapurnas in the lives of men.

Tibetan proverb
One remains unsatisfied after eating a mountain, unquenched after drinking an ocean

Lhakpa Sherpa
(Lhakpa Sherpa is first woman mountaineer to have climbed Chomolungma (aka Mt. Everest) three times. Her first Everest climb was in 2000 with the first and only all-women Sherpa team).
It felt very difficult. I was very happy to be there. On one side I could see Nepal and on the other side Tibet. It was an extraordinary experience. It was a unique feeling. It’s a different world altogether. I also felt that though Nepal is considered poor it is rich in natural splendour because of such beautiful Himalayan peaks.

Reinhold Messner
(The most famous climber in the world Reinhold Messner has been climbing since he was five years old.)”
In the last camp near the summit, I had a very strange vision of all the human parts I am made of. It is very difficult to keep the vision, but I know that it could see a round picture with many pictures inside – not only of may body, but of my whole being. There was a lot of what my life has been, what I did these last years, like seeing my life and my body and my soul and my feelings inside a mandala. But I was not even sure if it was only mine or generally human, yours or anybody’s, just a human being’s. It was very, very strange.

Tenzing Norgay Sherpa
(On may 29, 1953, he and Sir Edmund Hilary, set foot on the Summit of the Everest, the highest point on earth)
My first thought was about the sky. I felt a deep gratefulness to God that after my earlier six failed attempts I have accomplished my wish.

Sir Edmund Hilary
(On may 29, 1953, he and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, set foot on the Summit of the Everest, the highest point on earth)
We were at the right place at the right time. These words best describes how Tenzing and I happened to be standing on top of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.

George Mallory
(In May 1999, the body of Magdalense scholar George Mallory was discovered on the mountain on which he and Sandy Irvine disappeared in 1924).
When asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, Mallory gave an off-hand answer that has become the most famous and commonly cited reason for climbing a mountain: “Because it is there.”

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