A story of Cowards, the Courageous and the Comrades

Thank you DW for setting an example of ethical journalism.

You have very diligently done what the mainstream media failed to do.And you have done so without fear or favour or bias.

For those of us for whom the tragedy on Everest had a personal connotation,the wounds have not yet healed and are still painful.

Your reportage at last brings to light the actual events,and provides some solace,because the truth howsoever unpalatable has a medicinal  value.But the side effect of this particular medicine is anger and disgust.

Your subtitle "Betrayal , Bravery and Brotherhood" is very apt.

BETRAYAL:  These four climbers were betrayed in life as they were in death.
Betrayed in life by those who were paid a princely sum to take care of them.
Betrayed in death,and even when close to death,with unsubstantiated, unconfirmed, speculative and insulting sensationalism.

BRAVERY:   Sunita's brave fight against deadly odds seems to escape everyones attention.A woman, alone, struggling to come down from the top, or close to the top, of Everest, sans oxygen, sans water, sans food, sans help.That was bravery ; strangely ignored by the mainstream media.
Congratulations Sunita, you are a brave lass.

BROTHERHOOD:   Since the advent of mountaineering  the "ROPE"  signified the very ethos of trust and comradeship.It was never an inert object , but a living  bond connecting two climbers who trusted each other , trusted enough to place ones life in the hands of the other. The legendary Dr.Charles Houston ,after his epic K2 expedition, coined the phrase ,
"Brotherhood of the Rope". 
In this age of "guided ascents" where "glamour" and "awards" are the motivating force for many a  "climber", it is so heart-warming to see the tradition of the "Brotherhood" being upheld.

My sincere gratitude and warmest wishes to the members of the NCC TEAM, IMG TEAM  and Mr.L.J.Binns, for their unstinted efforts in trying to save Paresh and Subhas, and successfully rescuing Sunita.
I wont be surprised,and not a little pleased,if his Queen includes Mr.Binns in her list of Birthday Honours.

Strangers became friends and saviour, but, friends became strangers, who just took a few photographs and ran away. Can such "friends" ever be trusted with a belay??????

The Authorities in Nepal have labelled this a "man made disaster". Have these same authorities done a fact-finding exercise to fix responsbility ,ascertain dereliction of duty and take punitive and remedial measures.

Your article concludes with Mr. Pottinger stating,"....their deaths could have been prevented".

I too feel the same, but with a much heavier and angrier heart, because this is verily a story of  "Cowardice, Courage and Comradeship".

The only comment posted,after this article was published,came from Mr.Satyarup Siddhanta,and it's tone, tenor and content begs a reply.

He says that the events were "a mystery to him" till he read this article.

I find this even more mysterious .More than seven months have passed since Everest.If he really wanted to know,all he had to do was call up Sunita; even more so since he too was a member of a team of four ,from Bengal, who were climbing on the same day and all four were well acquainted with her.

This brings me to Mr. Siddhanta's second point,"ruthlessness on the mountain, which devastated him".

I am even more devastated by the ruthlessness in the plains,when a concerted effort was made to

      1. vilify Sunita and prove her to be a liar      
      2.  blame those who perished, saying they were unfit to climb Everest
      3.  exonerate the Sherpas/Agency from any misconduct

without personally verifying the facts from the sole survivor Sunita.

Just hope the new generation of climbers have some better"climbers" to trust with a belay.

Rupak Bhattacharya

Doctor

rupakb55@gmail.com

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