After great toil, I made my first successful ascent of the Everest.
I started late, to reach the summit late in the evening, but safely made my way back, that too in a record time. Let me clarify that this was only on paper, of me charting my way through 290 pages of Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" (which documents the fateful night of May 10, 1996 when 12 people died up there). I'd started with this book twice, only to abandon my progress midway, due to the forces of social and professional calling. Each of the previous times, I had company, with whom I could discuss this book, but things didn't work out. This time, I upped my madness, and went solo, climbing through the daunting walls of words much like ascending directly up the Hornbein Coulouir (which is - arguably - the most difficult route to the Everest summit, btw). Finishing the book in 3 days, I also set a personal best of any of the legendary 250+ pg novels I'd set out reading.
This feat comes to my rescue (or distraction?) after the angry Saturday, when I laid out my take on the expectations and 'appropriateness of the moment' that surrounded me to the point of suffocation. My intentions and directions refuse to synchronize with the world's, and it is very annoying, almost like being condemned to death. I could turn to my other heroes like Ilya Ilich or Ignatius, but at their side, life isn't the same exciting as with my new heroes Rob Hall/Scott Fischer/Anatoli Boukreev (and to some extent John Krakauer himself, Neil Beidleman, and Dr. Seaborn Beck Weathers). Ilya please don't judge me wrongly here.
I am hoping that Deepak would (re)send me The Climb soon, an account of the same Everest disaster as perceived by Anatoli Boukreev, a guide in a team parallel to Krakauer's, which Boukreev kinda set to write in the face of Krakauer's skewed version of events that put him (B) in a bad light. I had just started with this book when it was deported to Poland against my wishes. That B writes from a guide's perspective and a champion climber's experience, had me hooked as soon as I started with it. Before details from Krakauer's turn dim in my recollection, I would much like to get my hands on Boukreev's version of events, to compare the two. They say that either of the guys attack the other in their version, but reading Into Thin Air, I could only wonder where is the malicious tone that people talk of - the book was cautiously written, and sticks to being factual.
After my flirtation with existentialist/absurdist literature, I now have moved into the survival genre. "The Climb" incoming or not, I next have Nando Parrado's "Miracle in the Andes" in my wishlist. To follow is Ricky Megee's "Left for Dead in the Outback". Too bad people aren't reading me or my mind around my birthdays. Knock knock.
Widget by Css Reflex | TutZone
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment