For me, when I first met him, Nawang Gombu was just an old time mountaineer who happened to climb the Everest twice, sat comfortably in the wooden office at the Himalayan mountaineering institute, Darjeeling and had a welcoming smile.
Then, to me like any other layman, Mountain meant Everest and mountaineer meant Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
On my next meet, this perception has changed drastically, as I shook hands, receiving my certificate from the man, I could well understand every freckle on his face and what would have gone into making of those hard lines, as had just about managed to complete my adventure course in mountaineering. “Ah! I see you have some much required talent for a budding mountaineer” Gombu had remarked, with a slight grin. My citation read, “Excelled in hat speech, debate and elocution”.
The two week course and the climb up from Jorthang to Darjeeling, nonstop in 6 hours had surely left a remarkable impression on my life and an amazing admiration for this mountaineer.
Nawang Gombu, the first man to scale Mt. Everest twice, died at his home in Darjeeling early on Sunday, 24th of April 2011, after a brief illness. He was 79.
He was not an attention seeker and thus went quietly into the night, when Sri Satya Sai Baba coincided to leave his body on the same very day; Satya Sai Baba hogged the limelight, which should have been equally if not more, due to the great soul of Nawang Gombu.
Born in 1936 in Minzu, Tibet, he was the son of Tenzing Norgay’s oldest sister, besides holding many records in mountaineering, scaling many peaks for the first and receiving many accolades globally, was a perfect human being, humble and inspiring to the core.
He was the youngest Sherpa in tenzing’s team which conquered the world’s highest peak and then went on to climb the Everest on different peak twice and many other peaks, no one had treaded before, he even took his grand children along on one of his achievements.
In the present day of mountaineering with most of the true essence gone and mountaineers fighting it out for money and fame, Gombu's message to all had been, "Mountains cannot be conquered, and mountaineering is like a pilgrimage. We have been paying our respects to the mountains for generations. For mountaineering to sustain as an adventure sport team spirit and love for the sport is the need of the day. Mountaineering can never be commercialized."
He has been an inspiration to me as a simpleton, an achiever and an outstanding human being. I am proud to have known him.
May his soul rest in peace.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Anna Hazare, JP, Mahatma, Corruption and Public Money
Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption is getting trendier on the net. Facebook status, tweets and rejoinders from active netizens seem to be hogging the limelight just after the cricket mania. Well, like cricket, fight against corruption is also getting to be a trend and a peer pressure agenda.
I had a chance to meet the man in the temple that he lived in Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Govt. of India. It was summer of 1991 and I along with a friend had gone to do some recce work in Ahmednagar, when we decided to see what this man was up to,
Taking on the most powerful Sharad Pawar by his horns in those times could make anyone feel inquisitive about his nerdness. But with little intellect that I had in those days, I could figure out, that this man was not afraid and was pure.
Anna sure did not do this for a few days of glory on the virtual world; he is like Jaiprakash Narain, who is a simpleton, focused to his cause and very down to earth. Unlike the mahatma, who had a global perspective and a flair to identify with smallest of local issues, Anna has always fought for local issues without a larger picture. All these men have one thing in common, credibility and integrity.
Though, this could be different, fight against corruption is no fight, it’s like fighting a shadow, everyone will join you, even the most corrupt. Jaiprakash fought against corruption of the congress party, his army men included, Laloo and Paswan and Mulyam and many more third front socialist. We all know what happened to them.
In this fight, if it reaches somewhere, of which it has the potential, will emerge a new class of pure citizens, who will be lured to rule from the front, maybe, the lokpal bill be amended and a few clean leaders from the dormant political front be a part of the punishing crew. In time the white khadi wearing new clan would put up statues of Anna and decide the fate of billions of rupees to be spent.
This has been the history forever. Anna might be the catalyst this time, like mahatma was to Nehru and Jinnah and JP were to laloo’s and Mulayam’s.
Along with this crusade what one needs is rational principled approach with a plan and a strategy. Gimmicks like indefinite fast is good to grab headlines and will also be forgotten when the IPL arrives.
The root cause of corruption is allowing public servants and legislators to disposal of public money and power, which in turn happen in the name of social good and equality and to eradicate poverty with social schemes like, free education, free health, free food, agro subsidy, MNREGA and other umpteen programs.
It is these social goods and goodies that Anna and JP and mahatma supported that lays a foundation for higher taxes, fiat money printing, government borrowings and all this in the hands of the corrupt and powerful.
Social good happens, it happens if you leave the society alone, if you let law and order prevail and contracts validate.
If corruption happens, it happens because your sheer basics are wrong. If a service is in short supply and there is a back door, is it not common sense and animal instinct to queue on the back door and fight on the front window?
Anna you are a nice man, and so are those 150 fasting with you, but don’t try to perfect a system which is wrong in the first place.
Mahatma fought against taxes, no tax on salt, as small an item as salt every common man could relate to, corruption I can’t relate to, in fact it helps me get my job done.
Taxes I hate! I will sit next to you if you take up a cause against taxes....Hungry till i Die!!
I had a chance to meet the man in the temple that he lived in Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Govt. of India. It was summer of 1991 and I along with a friend had gone to do some recce work in Ahmednagar, when we decided to see what this man was up to,
Taking on the most powerful Sharad Pawar by his horns in those times could make anyone feel inquisitive about his nerdness. But with little intellect that I had in those days, I could figure out, that this man was not afraid and was pure.
Anna sure did not do this for a few days of glory on the virtual world; he is like Jaiprakash Narain, who is a simpleton, focused to his cause and very down to earth. Unlike the mahatma, who had a global perspective and a flair to identify with smallest of local issues, Anna has always fought for local issues without a larger picture. All these men have one thing in common, credibility and integrity.
Though, this could be different, fight against corruption is no fight, it’s like fighting a shadow, everyone will join you, even the most corrupt. Jaiprakash fought against corruption of the congress party, his army men included, Laloo and Paswan and Mulyam and many more third front socialist. We all know what happened to them.
In this fight, if it reaches somewhere, of which it has the potential, will emerge a new class of pure citizens, who will be lured to rule from the front, maybe, the lokpal bill be amended and a few clean leaders from the dormant political front be a part of the punishing crew. In time the white khadi wearing new clan would put up statues of Anna and decide the fate of billions of rupees to be spent.
This has been the history forever. Anna might be the catalyst this time, like mahatma was to Nehru and Jinnah and JP were to laloo’s and Mulayam’s.
Along with this crusade what one needs is rational principled approach with a plan and a strategy. Gimmicks like indefinite fast is good to grab headlines and will also be forgotten when the IPL arrives.
The root cause of corruption is allowing public servants and legislators to disposal of public money and power, which in turn happen in the name of social good and equality and to eradicate poverty with social schemes like, free education, free health, free food, agro subsidy, MNREGA and other umpteen programs.
It is these social goods and goodies that Anna and JP and mahatma supported that lays a foundation for higher taxes, fiat money printing, government borrowings and all this in the hands of the corrupt and powerful.
Social good happens, it happens if you leave the society alone, if you let law and order prevail and contracts validate.
If corruption happens, it happens because your sheer basics are wrong. If a service is in short supply and there is a back door, is it not common sense and animal instinct to queue on the back door and fight on the front window?
Anna you are a nice man, and so are those 150 fasting with you, but don’t try to perfect a system which is wrong in the first place.
Mahatma fought against taxes, no tax on salt, as small an item as salt every common man could relate to, corruption I can’t relate to, in fact it helps me get my job done.
Taxes I hate! I will sit next to you if you take up a cause against taxes....Hungry till i Die!!
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