Ratheesh KrishnaVadhyar (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ratheesh) wrote,@ 2008-02-26 21:56:00 |
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View from the Summit
View from the Summit, the remarkable autobiography by legendary explorer Sir Edmund Hillary, starts with narrating his 1953 Himalayan expedition that culminated in the ascent to the summit of Mount Everest along with Tenzing Norgay, his comrade. After narrating the exciting moment that changed his life, and the celebrations that followed, Hillary does a flashback to take a brief look at his childhood at a remote New Zealand village. His disciplinarian and rather unkind father was doing bee-keeping business, in which Hillary and his brother also made many contributions. His mother was a more organized person, and wanted Hillary to go for studies. Hillary was a shy and silent boy at the school, not acquiring any close friends at any point of time (He writes that he had grown so shy that later his future mother-in-law had to propose on behalf of him to his girlfriend). Hillary gives a candid narrative about his lonely childhood and about his slightly strained relationship with his father, and I was sad that this section was too short.
Hillary then describes how he started developing a love for mountains, and narrates his initial mountaineering experiments in New Zealand, and later his multiple adventures to the Himalayas. The next section is about Hillary's expedition to the South Pole, when he lead a team of tractors over Antarctica for several hundred miles to the Pole. After that, Hillary spent a few years in the US, doing quality inspection of tents at a tent-making company as a part-time job. During this period, he traveled all over the US with family, and spent several weeks camping at different places in Alaska and Canada. Hillary then goes on to narrate his various adventures at India and Nepal, in one of which he and team ventured by speed boats over Ganga from the oceans to her source in the mountains. Later Hillary traveled to the North Pole (this time by air). As an elderly man, Hillary gets a chance to get associated with India closely again, when he serves as the High Commissioner of New Zealand.
With my limited GK, I had known Hillary as an explorer alone, but in his autobiography I could see that in his mind he had an equal or more important place for his humanitarian efforts in the Himalayas than the mountains themselves. The Sherpas were close to his heart, and his dedicated efforts for the welfare of the people at remote Himalayan villages, starting schools and hospitals for them, establishing water supply, etc. often rivaled the initiatives by the Nepalese Government itself, it appears.
Hillary is frank and sincere while writing about his life and adventures - He doesn't hesitate to admit that he had a secret feeling of satisfaction to hear that his comrades of the first assault party to Everest failed to reach the summit, leaving some job to do for himself and Tenzing. He also doesn't conceal his slight irritation over the episode in which Tenzing was projected as the first man to set foot on Everest. His passion for giving technical details makes the chapters on Polar Expedition look a bit like a trip-log, but it is never dry as he also brings up the characters lively, with their ego and competition in profession and all (He notes that the expedition almost looked like two expeditions, with Bunny Fuchs, the lead, starting to the Pole from one end, and Hillary and team starting from the other end and reaching the Pole a few days earlier than Bunny). When he writes about the sad predicament of the dogs that were part of the Polar expedition, and about his reluctant hunting expeditions at North America, we see a sensitive but strong man who is not afraid of admitting his mistakes. The more emotional and warm side of the explorer is revealed when he talks about his bidding farewell to family before his 18-month trip to the Pole, and about his infrequent radio conversations with them later on. Hillary looks more humane than ever when he mentions about the depressive years after the death of his wife and daughter.
Reading through Hillary's autobiography was a memorable experience. As I went through the pages of the book, I could clearly visualize the life of the great explorer as in a film - Starting as a modest bee-keeper, going on for explorations in the Himalayas on foot, going to the South Pole, traveling to various countries and experiencing many delightful and tough phases of life. We could sense the passage of time itself in a way it would have appeared in a classic period drama, as we see many people coming and passing through Hillary's life, age catching up with him and he slowly giving up his high altitude adventures. It becomes more apparent when we read the last few chapters, where he narrates his attending the funeral of Tenzing, and his visit to the South Pole at the age of seventy eight, remembering his days as a young explorer. When I finished reading the book, I could just say, "Oh! What a life!", and could just thank the great man for this excellent memoir that he wrote during the last years of his life.
View from the Summit, the remarkable autobiography by legendary explorer Sir Edmund Hillary, starts with narrating his 1953 Himalayan expedition that culminated in the ascent to the summit of Mount Everest along with Tenzing Norgay, his comrade. After narrating the exciting moment that changed his life, and the celebrations that followed, Hillary does a flashback to take a brief look at his childhood at a remote New Zealand village. His disciplinarian and rather unkind father was doing bee-keeping business, in which Hillary and his brother also made many contributions. His mother was a more organized person, and wanted Hillary to go for studies. Hillary was a shy and silent boy at the school, not acquiring any close friends at any point of time (He writes that he had grown so shy that later his future mother-in-law had to propose on behalf of him to his girlfriend). Hillary gives a candid narrative about his lonely childhood and about his slightly strained relationship with his father, and I was sad that this section was too short.
Hillary then describes how he started developing a love for mountains, and narrates his initial mountaineering experiments in New Zealand, and later his multiple adventures to the Himalayas. The next section is about Hillary's expedition to the South Pole, when he lead a team of tractors over Antarctica for several hundred miles to the Pole. After that, Hillary spent a few years in the US, doing quality inspection of tents at a tent-making company as a part-time job. During this period, he traveled all over the US with family, and spent several weeks camping at different places in Alaska and Canada. Hillary then goes on to narrate his various adventures at India and Nepal, in one of which he and team ventured by speed boats over Ganga from the oceans to her source in the mountains. Later Hillary traveled to the North Pole (this time by air). As an elderly man, Hillary gets a chance to get associated with India closely again, when he serves as the High Commissioner of New Zealand.
With my limited GK, I had known Hillary as an explorer alone, but in his autobiography I could see that in his mind he had an equal or more important place for his humanitarian efforts in the Himalayas than the mountains themselves. The Sherpas were close to his heart, and his dedicated efforts for the welfare of the people at remote Himalayan villages, starting schools and hospitals for them, establishing water supply, etc. often rivaled the initiatives by the Nepalese Government itself, it appears.
Hillary is frank and sincere while writing about his life and adventures - He doesn't hesitate to admit that he had a secret feeling of satisfaction to hear that his comrades of the first assault party to Everest failed to reach the summit, leaving some job to do for himself and Tenzing. He also doesn't conceal his slight irritation over the episode in which Tenzing was projected as the first man to set foot on Everest. His passion for giving technical details makes the chapters on Polar Expedition look a bit like a trip-log, but it is never dry as he also brings up the characters lively, with their ego and competition in profession and all (He notes that the expedition almost looked like two expeditions, with Bunny Fuchs, the lead, starting to the Pole from one end, and Hillary and team starting from the other end and reaching the Pole a few days earlier than Bunny). When he writes about the sad predicament of the dogs that were part of the Polar expedition, and about his reluctant hunting expeditions at North America, we see a sensitive but strong man who is not afraid of admitting his mistakes. The more emotional and warm side of the explorer is revealed when he talks about his bidding farewell to family before his 18-month trip to the Pole, and about his infrequent radio conversations with them later on. Hillary looks more humane than ever when he mentions about the depressive years after the death of his wife and daughter.
Reading through Hillary's autobiography was a memorable experience. As I went through the pages of the book, I could clearly visualize the life of the great explorer as in a film - Starting as a modest bee-keeper, going on for explorations in the Himalayas on foot, going to the South Pole, traveling to various countries and experiencing many delightful and tough phases of life. We could sense the passage of time itself in a way it would have appeared in a classic period drama, as we see many people coming and passing through Hillary's life, age catching up with him and he slowly giving up his high altitude adventures. It becomes more apparent when we read the last few chapters, where he narrates his attending the funeral of Tenzing, and his visit to the South Pole at the age of seventy eight, remembering his days as a young explorer. When I finished reading the book, I could just say, "Oh! What a life!", and could just thank the great man for this excellent memoir that he wrote during the last years of his life.
