New Delhi, May 4
Opting for relief work as
against traditional celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the
first successful Indian expedition to Mount Everest in 1965, the "living
members" of the Indian team of mountaineers have decided to help the
quake-affected people in Nepal.
Captain M.S. Kohli, who led
India's first successful expedition to Mount Everest in May 1965, told
IANS in an interview that "the members had planned to celebrate the
occasion in a big way, but now we have decided to help the quake victims
in whatever way we can".
"Instead of cancelling the celebrations
we have renamed them "Nepal Trauma Functions"," Kohli said, adding that
there would be meetings in various parts of the country to raise funds
and the money would be utilised to help the affected people.
Elaborating
how he along with his team mates plan to make a difference in the lives
of the Nepal quake victims, Kohli said that apart from funds collection
they would call for volunteers to go to Nepal to help and interact with
the affected people.
"Relief and rescue operations are being
carried out by various agencies from across the world and they are doing
a good job," Kohli said, adding that theirs would be a "different
help".
"Our teams would meet the affected one-on-one...we would
try and provide them the mental strength required after such tragedies
to go on with life," he said.
On being asked whether all the
living members of the 1965 team would be involved in the Nepal Trauma
Functions, Kohli said that out of the total 19 members of the team, only
nine are alive and out of them two-three are very old and it would have
to be seen if they are fit enough to travel.
Kohli told IANS
that they plan to organise the trauma functions soon after the rescue
work is over and the Indian authorities involved there give the green
signal.
He said that his team would interact only with the victims in Nepal and not those affected in India.
"Our
help would be Nepal-centric as there is a huge loss of life and
property there," he said, adding that it's not that they are not
bothered about Indians but the situation here is not that bad and can be
handled well by the local authorities.
Asked whether he thought
people would stop going to the mountains after the avalanche on Everest,
Kohli said an avalanche happens once in a while but there is always a
danger to your life up there.
"I don't think the avalanche of
April 25 would have any negative effect on mountaineers...they would
continue to be attracted towards high peaks from where one sees a
totally different world" he said.
On why people, despite knowing
the dangers involved in scaling heights, continue to do so, Kohli said,
"it's a feeling of being attracted to heights".
"It's a special pull which attracts you" he said, adding that when you come back from there you are a changed person.
"You become new. Your total experience is so magical, so mesmerizing that you can't describe things in words," he said.
"You get to see something that could not be seen by travelling jets...it's an out of the world experience," he said.
Kohli,
one of only three people in the world who has spent two consecutive
nights at a height of 28,000 feet, also expressed happiness over how
awareness about keeping the Himalayas clean was spreading.
"It's showing results and it's good for the mountains," he said.
(Sushil Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])
