Sunday, November 22

Scribbling from my Himalayan diary...



“In a thousand ages of the gods, I could not tell thee of the glories of Himachal”. So confessed a Sanskrit poet at the dawn of Indian history... and he came closer than anyone else in capturing the spell of the Himalayas. The sea has had Conrad and Stevenson and Masefield, but the mountains continue to defy the written words. We have climbed their highest peaks and crossed their most difficult passes, but still they keep their secrets and their reserve; they remain remote, mysterious and spirit-haunted.

Ice-bound and quiet, vast and majestic, the Himalaya offered me a different panorama than the green, water filled paddy fields or the coconut groves of my homeland Kerala. But then, the long pyramidal summits which thrust themselves so majestically above the long white ridges make the most town-stupefied man like me, a Nature-lover. Mighty Himalayas are so grace filled and resplendent. They stand beckoning humanity for thousands of ages to adventure and persist. How can men fail? Why must his dreams weaken? Looking to this exquisite creation of the Master, can I lean to live..to live in Nature’s grasp? Sometimes I reflect the fact that poor is a man who finds no time to sit and wonder at the majesty of God’s creation. From a star-dust to the mountains,... from an embryo to a birth...then to the walk of life, I see the spirit of God calling me to commune and participate in HIS Creation.
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'Conquest of Everest'... Stamp and First Day Cover... 29-5-1953
Minature stamp sheet of 'Ascent of Mount Everest Golden Jubilee' ... 29-5-2003 from personal collection.
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