 |
|
MY STORY I was born in a small but beautiful mountain village of Nakuri near Uttarkashi in Garhwal, with the gurgling playful Bhagirathi river flowing nearby. My parents were hard working and extremely self contained couple. Even though our family was poor, barely managing with the essentials my father taught us how to live and maintain dignity & self respect - the most treasured family value till today. At the same time my parents also practiced "kindness is the essence of all religion". They were large hearted & invited village folks passing by to have tea & gave grains to the Sadhus & Pandits who came to the house. This characteristic has been ingrained in me particularly, so deeply, that, I am able to reach out to others & make a difference in their lives - whether it is my home environment or in the society or at work place. I was the third child in the family - girl, boy, girl, girl & boy in that order, and quite a rebel. I developed a tendency to ask questions and not be satisfied with the customary way of life as metted out to the girl child. When I found my elder brother Bachan encouraging the youngest brother Raju, to take up mountaineering I thought to myself why not me? I found that the brothers were always getting preferential treatment & all opportunities/ options were open for them. This made me even more determined to not only do what the boys were allowed to do, but do it better.
During my school & college days in the mountains, my love for the Outdoors & Sports was very natural. I excelled in all the sports that I took up, winning several prizes & proudly bringing them home. Slowly but surely I started getting recognition because of my sporting prowess. One achievement led to another, building my confidence & self esteem gradually. I was good in organizing outdoor activities too & would take a lot of trouble to involve young people in such activities. These leadership/ organizational skills were something inborn in me just waiting to be unleashed at a given opportunity. This came later on after Everest, when Tata Steel made me the Chief of all its adventure programmes and created a whole new Department in the Steel Company for Adventure Sports. Even after my MA & B.Ed, I did not hesitate to help out with household work, bringing Firewood or Grass from high up in the mountains. This was indeed a rare gift I received from my parents, who taught me the true meaning of 'Education'. Till today I feel the same way and am always happy and fulfilled after a good days work whether at home or at work or in the Society. Being an educated unemployed, was the severest of test for me. This however did not stop me. This however did not stop me from dreaming - about flying in aeroplanes, going around in cars & meeting important people. At last, when the opportunity came, perhaps due to some divine blessing, I took up the Basic Mountaineering Course in Uttarkashi. My performance in the course even surprised me, and the Vice Principal a renowned mountaineer Col. Premchand emphatically pronounced me as an Everest material i.e. one fit to be included in an Everest Expedition. There was no looking back for me from such a performance. I completed my Advance Mountaineering Course too with flying colors. This was a period of self discovery for me, Where I rediscovered my true potential and my inborn talent. My selection for the Indian Everest Expedition was done over a two year period, in which pre-Everest selection expeditions was organized to two different Himalayan Peaks in Garhwal. I performed extremely well in both of them. When the panel of selection committee members of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation New Delhi, sat down to select the Indian Everest team, my name was the only one on the list of all the panel members. It was a unanimous decision. After the selection I continued with my preparation of keeping expedtion fit and becoming a competent climber by devising my own novel method. Our household work required us to bring loads of grass or firewood from the higher reaches. I would carry loads of stone from my house in Nakuri to higher up in the mountains. I would choose steeper & more difficult trails and deliberately go over boulders or climb steep rock faces to acquire better balance and get over the fear of heights. I would dump the stone up there & bring back firewood or grass. On seeing me carrying the stones my father would jokingly tell others "you know Bachendri is carrying the stones, perhaps she is building a house for herself high up in the mountains". This way I combined household work with the fitness regimen, which proved to be a boon for me later on. I was happy with the manner in which my mountaineering career was shaping but it did not solve my or my family's economic problems. Then, in February 1983, Brig. Gyan Singh, Director of the National Adventure Foundation (NAF) came to Uttarkashi to run an adventure course for teachers at the NIM and selected seven local, educated women, including me for scholarship. I confided in this eminent but understanding senior mountaineer and told him that my parents were pressing me to get married to reduce the financial burden on the family. I asked him to find a way for those who were poor to earn a living, using our interest and skill in mountaineering. Next morning Brig. Gyan Singh asked us to fill in the application forms to start the "Bhagirathi Seven-Sisters Adventure Club". Explaining that this would be a unique organization of girls and women to help other girls find adventure, he promised that the scheme would take care of the monetary worries of trained girls and women. Our morale raised sky-high, we got down to training in earnest. Each of the "Seven-Sisters" earned a good report. Brig. Gyan Singh said that our performance was much better than that of the men. By the end of our Stay the Brigadier had become like a father to us, and, at my suggestion, we began to address him as "Chhote Chacha". When Chhote Chacha left Uttarkashi on 28 February, 1983 we were in tears. But he promised to return in three months to help us run our own adventure programmes. The Brigadier arrived as promised on 1 June. He brought 25 sets of camping and trekking equipment for us to run two adventure courses for girls. With the army's help he also arranged that a tented camp be put up at Tekhla.
Using the excuse of catching up with his paper work, Chhote Chacha asked us to handle the second course entirely ourselves. I was rather nervous at first, but with responsibility came confidence and everything went off well. When the children told Chhote Cacha what fun they had on their treks with "Bachendri Didi" I experienced a great sense of satisfaction and achievement. Towards the middle of July 1983, Brig. Gyan Singh took the well-known mountaineer Chandra Prabha Aitwal (Chandra Didi to me), Vijaya Pant and me to Delhi. By this time Chandra Didi had been elected chairperson and I vice-chairperson of the "Bhagirathi Seven-Sisters Adventure Club". In the capital, Chhote Chacha had organized a television interview for us in the popular Ghar-Bahar programme. We were also interviewed by three national dailies. The write-ups with our photographs appeared the following morning, and when we were shopping in Janpath, we were stopped by several young people who asked, "Didn't I see you on TV?" or "Are you the ladies whose pictures I saw in the newspaper?" Our small club, the Bhagirathi Seven-Sisters Adventure Club, had already started making waves in the capital. The Indian Everest Expedition in 1984 was the first mixed expedition and its prime aim was to provide opportunity to Indian women to face the challenge of climbing Mt. Everest. There were seven women including myself in the team. This was my first major expedition as against other members most of them who were seasoned mountaineers. The mixed team created its own inherent problems, where likes and dislikes developed & the energy of some members getting sometimes diverted to non productive use. Being a greenhorn mountaineer, my concern was only on the climbing, which in itself was a daily struggle between life & death. However, I had to have my share of the above bitter experience during the crucial stage of the Summit attempt. Everest also put my skill & determination to the severest of tests. On the Buddha Purnima of 15-16 May, 1984, I was at Camp III, in a colorful nylon tented camp perched on the ice-crusted steep slope of Lhotse. There were ten others in the camp. Lopsang Tshering shared my tent. ND Sherpa, and eight tough high-altitude Sherpa porters were in other tents. I was sleeping soundly when around 12.30 am I was shaken awake by a hard object hitting me on the back of my head and simultaneously by a loud explosion. Then I felt a cold, extremely heavy mass creeping over my body and crushing me. I could hardly breathe.
Lopsang was able to tear his way out of our tent with his Swiss knife and immediately began frantically to try and rescue me. Delay would have meant sure death. Heaving and pushing away the large ice slabs, he dug out the hardened snow around me and succeeded in pulling me out of the ice grave. No tent had been left standing except the kitchen shelter. Lopsang and I clambered there and found ND talking on the walkie-talkie with the leader at Camp II. ND Sherpa said he had broken some ribs. One Sherpa had fractured his leg and there were quite a few other injuries. Groans of pain and cries for help were audible from all sides. But ND assured the leader at Camp II that all was not lost. The expedition still had a lot of fight in it. By now most of us had gathered in or near the kitchen tent. From my first-aid pouch, I gave everyone painkiller tablets and prepared hot drinks. Being useful helped disperse the clouds of gloom and depression that enveloped me. The leader promised to send rescue parties without delay. Dr. Minoo Mehta, Major Kiran Kurnar, Major Jai Bahuguna and Magan Bissa, hearing the conversation on their walkie-talkie at Camp I, set off immediately while it was still night. From Camp II too a rescue team of four and the Camp II cook moved into action. Well before dawn we began to dig out our equipment. I was terribly worried about the image of Goddess Durga which I had in my rucksack. Every morning and evening I took it out and drew inspiration and strength from it. So my first act on finding my rucksack was to thrust my hand into the side pocket. To my relief my fingers encountered the ice cold metallic image. I held the holy image tightly and placing it on my forehead, felt that I had everything I wanted. I had Shakti in my arms. The Shakti, which had saved my life a few hours earlier and the Shakti which, I was now sure, would lead me onwards and upwards. The experience of the night had drained all fear out of me. The rescue teams arrived soon after and by 8 a.m. on 16 May we were nearly all at Camp II. The Sherpa with the fractured leg was brought down on an improvised stretcher. In our leader Col. Khullar's words, "It was a remarkable feat of high altitude rescue work". The bump at the back of my head had now begun to throb. I felt uncomfortable but kept it to myself, occasionally pressing the bump with my palm.
On 22nd May the regrouped Summit team set off for South Col at 26000 feet. Camp IV was situated in South Col, which was also to be the Summit Camp. I was the only woman in the Summit team based on my fitness and performance. The Leader pinned all the hope of the Expedition on me, as this was the 4th Indian Everest Expedition organized particularly for providing opportunity to Indian Women to reach the Summit. I had already discovered my inner strength and I was determined to give everything I had. I was among the first to arrive at South Col. I knew that other members were still climbing up the steep slopes from Camp III to Camp IV. My concern for them made me brew tea, which I carried with me some distance down the slopes in a thermos flask to refresh oncoming members. Such gestures in the mountains means a lot to the climbers and make all the difference to them lin boosting their morale & performance. Later on I however found that this show of concern developed into something unpleasant, simply because I was a woman climber. This hurt some of the male egos as they were not able to do what I did. I made it very clear that I was a mountaineer first, and like every mountaineer it was ones duty to help fellow mountaineers in whatever way possible. I got up early next morning at 4 a.m. It was the 23rd of May 1984 and quite calm outside. I had an uncomfortable nights sleep thinking about the journey to the top. I melted snow made tea and had a light breakfast of few biscuits and half a slab of chocolate. I was excited wit the thought of going higher, to heights I had never been before. Huddled inside my tent, I put on my climbing gears with great difficulty. The rarefied lair, with less oxygen made mind & body co-ordination very difficult. This is because blood carries less oxygen depriving the body and brain of less food. The brain's efficiency in giving commands becomes less resulting in slow and uncoordinated body action. At 18000' the oxygen content in the atmosphere is half of that at seal level. Therefore at 26000 ft. where I spent the night in my tent the oxygen content was even less. At such heights body deteriorates very fast and the maximum that one can stay alive at South Col (26000 ft) is only a few days. Beyond this the survival time becomes even less. That is why it is said that at South Col & beyond it is not a question of climbing but a question of surviving - from the height, cold up to minus 30 to 40 degree Celsius, walking with load on steep ice walls at a knife's edge and braving icy cold winds blowing sometime at nearly 100 km per hour.
Ang Dorjee was going to climb without oxygen. But because of this, his feet would get very cold. He had carried this problem with him from his earlier attempt. He thus wanted to avoid long exposure at heights. He had therefore to either get to the peak and back to the South Col the same day or abandon the attempt. He was keen to start immediately and asked if I would like to go with him. This was to be his second time on Everest without oxygen. He had already climbed Everest once without oxygen in 1982. Going to the top from South Col and back in a day would be strenuous and tough and there was the risk of Ang Dorjee turning back if his feet got too cold. I, however decided to take the risk and match the climbing speed of Ang Dorjee as I felt confident in my stamina & climbing capability. I told Ang Dorjee that I was ready and at 6.20 a.m both of us set out from the South Col. This is considered to be a very late start on Mt. Everest but the weather was good, fitness extremely good and luck was favouring us for the climb. It was a perfect day. There was a gentle breeze but the cold was intense. The steep frozen slopes were as hard and brittle as sheets of glass. We had to use the ice-axe and I had to kick really hard to get the front teeth of the crampone to bite into the frozen surface. I took every step very deliberately on the dangerous stretches. Ang Dorjee set a steady pace, but I had no difficulty keeping up with him. In less than two hours we reached the Summit Camp. Ang Dorjee looked back and asked if I was tired. I replied, "No", to his surprise and delight. He told me that the earlier summit party had taken four hours to reach the Summit Camp and added that if we could keep our present pace, we would be on the summit by 1 p.m. Lhatoo was following us and caught up with us when we rested below the South Summit. After drinking some tea we moved on. He had brought a nylon rope so Apg Dorjee and I roped up while he walked in the middle, holding the rope with one hand, more for balance than security. Beyond the South Summit the breeze increased. At that height the eddies of strong winds whipped up the powder snow, reducing visibility to nil. On many occasions, I had to get into a crouching position with my back to the onslaught of the icy wind saturated with fine particles of bone-dry powder snow.
We trudged in the heavy powder snow for some time. Then the gradient started easing off noticeably. A few steps later I saw that after only a couple of meters there was no upward climb. The slope plunged steeply down. My heart stood still. It dawned on me that success was within reach. And at 1.07 p.m. on 23 May, 1984, I stood on top of Everest, the first Indian woman to have done so. There was hardly enough place for two to stand side by side on top of the Everest cone. Thousands of meters of near vertical drop on all sides made safety our foremost consideration and we first anchored ourselves securely by digging our ice-axes into the snow. That done, I sank on my knees, and putting my forehead on the sow, kissed Sagarmath's crown. Without getting up, I took out the image of Durga Ma and my Hanuman Chalisa from my rucksack and after a short prayer, placed them in the snow. At this moment of joy my thoughts went to my father and mother who taught us the value of struggle and the value of efforts. As I rose, I bowed in respect to Ang Dorjee, my rope-leader, who had encouraged and led me to my goal. I also congratulated him for his second ascent of Everest without oxygen. He embraced me and whispered in my ear, "you climb good-very happy, Didi". A little later Sonam Pulzor arrived and began taking photographs. By then the news of the "four atop Everest" was given to our leader. The walkie-talkie was then passed on to me. Col. Khullar was delighted with our success. After congratulating me he said, "I would also like to congratulate your parents for your unique achievement". He added that the country was proud of me and that I would return to a world which would be quite different from the one I had left behind. We summiteers embraced and thumped one another's backs. Nepalese, Indian and, for my sake, the "Seven-Sisters" and TISCO flags were hoisted and photographed. We spent 43 minutes on the summit. The towering giants Lhotse, Nuptse and Makalu were dwarfed by our mountain. I collected a few samples of stone from a bare patch near the peak. We started our down hill journey at 1.55 p.m. I knew I would have to be specially careful during the return trip, for more accidents occurred on descending than when climbing up. But I was; unaware of one fundamental hazard. I took off my snow goggles on the snowless and dark rocky patches assuming that snow blindness was only caused by the glare of the sun's rays reflected from the snow and, besides, the atmosphere was hazy. Snow blindness however, is due to strong unfiltered rays (ultraviolet) at high altitudes and has nothing to do with the snow or the glare. I paid a heavy price for my ignorance. Both my eyes were affected and I suffered intense pain. On Our return to the camp I had to take a sleeping-pill-the only one I had during my Stay on Everest.
Then he went up to help Lhatoo and Pulzor and gave them hot drinks. Pulzor had no oxygen mask so Bissa gave him his own. Lhatoo reached the South Col at 6 p.m. While Bissa brought PuIzor to safety on his rope at 7 p.m. Ang Dorjee and I had arrived at the South Col at 5 p.m. Everyone complimented us for doing the South Col-Summit-South Col trip in only 10 hours 40 minutes, including the halt at the top. As I was entering my tent I overheard Major KI Kumar talking to Col. Khullar on the wireless. "Believe it or not, Sir, "he said excitedly, "Bachendri is already back in just three hours. And, she looks as fresh as she was when she started climbing up this morning". On returning triumphant from Everest, there was whirl wing of activities, attending receptions, dinners, meeting dignitaries & other protocols. My Company Tata Steel had provided a car at my disposal & arranged Stay in a 5 Star Hotel. All my visits to different parts of the country was lined up through India Airlines Jet. Among others, the very important people I met were the President of India, Mr. J. R. D. Tata, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi & Mrs. Indira Gandhi She fondly looked at me and said "We want hundreds of Bachendri's in this country". She exhorted me to promote the adventure sport spirit in the rural women too, who do hard work but do not relate to it in a sporting manner. I had already made up my mind after climbing Everest to make it my life's mission to promote the spirit of adventure & enterprise among Youth & Women. Smt. Indira Gandhi strengthened my resolution even more.
I was lucky to be working in Tata Steel who empowered me in every way, enabling me to reach out to the masses. The Govt. of India, Dept. of YA & Sports, also was encouraging me all the way and giving help & assistance in whatever way approached. The Leadership qualities that was inherent in me since childhood, was allowed to blossom by Tata Steel. I was given all opportunity to organize and lead expeditions to various Himalayan Peaks, which I did very safely & successfully. Fully developed & matured as a Leader, I decided to pursue my mission - of taking an all woman team back to Everest to enable other women reach the same height which I had the privilege of reaching in 1984. After leading two pre-Everest selection expeditions through IMF, lin which young & deserving women (some from rural areas), were provided training too, the final team of INWEE'93 16 women climbers was formed. Of the 16, 6 women were from Uttarkashi including 3 from my village in Nakuri itself. This time there was no resistance from the family or people about village women taking up mountaineering as a Sport, even though it meant going to the highest mountain in the world with inherent risks & hazards.
I led 2 more major expeditions thereafter and each time new women were included thereby providing opportunity to other women to also show what they were capable of. One was a river rafting voyage in the Ganges from Hardwar to Kolkata by 18 women in 3 rubber rafts covering 2155 Km in 39 days. The other was the Indian Women's First Trans Himalayan Journey by 9 Women. This was also a landmark expedition & the first success by an all women team. The entire length of Himalaya approx 4,500 Km was traversed on foot from Arunachal (in the East) to Indira Col the Northern most tip of India through Siachen Glacier (in the West) which is the highest battle field in the World. Over 40 high mountain passes were negotiated and the journey took 7 long months to complete. We became the first civilians to enter Siachen & were lucky enough to escape the shelling from the enemy from across the border. My main aim & objective of organizing such path breaking adventure expeditions was to bring out the high potential that women have within them. To show a different personality & character altogether, where women are in the forefront of organizing & leading even under difficult situations, who have great vision and undertake challenges & adversity in a sporting way, tackle & solve difficult situations, show man management, risk management, time management skills and bring out the WOMAN POWER in them, which indeed they have. I firmly believe that a country's image or status could be built around a woman's performance. If women are shown in poor light, it in fact reflects poorly on the country. If women are healthy, resourceful and resilient, so will be a country, and progress that much more faster. Opportunities should not be provided in the form of exploitation. To extol unorganized women labor as providing opportunities to women has no meaning when such women live below poverty, get exploited and are bereft of any dignified living. All opportunity has been provided to me by Tata Steel to build an adventure culture in the Society so that we breed young people with grit, guts & gumption. I am continuing with my efforts of building personality & character, especially among children, as they are our future torchbearers. My varied experiences and continuous upgradation help me in educating people on the values of life and a positive attitude by citing own examples of struggle, strive & success. At a personal level I feel I have been very successful as a human being. The happiness which I derive from my work, I am able to share with other people in a way which is useful, meaningful and shows caring. To me this is the true measure of SELF WORTH and that is "all the benefits that others have derived from your success". - Bachendri Pal |
|
The general thinking of the mountain people was that, mountaineering as a sport was not for them. They considered themselves to be born mountaineers, as they had to go up & down mountain slopes for daily livelihood & even for routine work. On the other hand, as a student, I would get very curious by seeing foreign people carrying a backpack pass by my village. I would wonder where they were going. I would even invite them to my house and talk to them to know more about their travels. The full significance of this I was to learn later on when I started working. The foreigners took the trouble to come all the way to the Himalaya in order to educate themselves on the social cultural & scientific aspects as well as to seek peace in nature's gigantic scheme of things.
The first group from Jamshedpur had 13 girls. The second party from Meghalaya had 15 lively Khasi girls from Shillong. The groups were made up to 20 for each course by taking local girls on scholarship. I was made director of the course and Vijaya Pant deputy-director. Jobs like quarter-master and medical assistant were allotted in turn to the other "Seven-Sisters". We were paid an honorarium for our work on the courses.
What had happened? A tall serac (ice tower) on the Lhotse glacier directly above our camp had cracked, crashed down and developed into a massive avalanche. This enormous mass of ice blocks, crushed ice and frozen snow thundering down the near vertical slope at the speed of an express train, devastated our camp which was directly in its path. Practically everyone was hurt. It was a miracle no one was killed.
On the one hand when the male members decided to return to Base Camp either due to injury or shock, on the other, when the Leader asked me, being the only woman member in that Summit team, whether I would like to give the Summit another try, I said "Yes Sir, I will". In fact after over coming the incident I became more confident. This decision was the turning point of my success story. I thought to myself, there I can be nothing worse than the ultimate truth. God has saved my life & perhaps it is a message for me to keep my destiny with Everest. In fact, strangely I felt recharged and developed new strength within me. It was at that time when I realized the woman power, the power to keep my destiny with Everest on 22nd May the regrouped Summit team set off.
After putting on my climbing gears I came out of my tent at 5.30 a.m. I found Ang Dorjee the Sherpa Sirdar standing outside. No one else was about. There was also a doubt in my mind about the mentality of other male climbers. Certain incidences in the expedition made me realize, that if I am to reach the top, I will have to take the bold initiative and go for the Summit believing in my own climbing skills and strength, which in fact I had shown throughout. I was therefore ready physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually too. I had carried with me a small idol of Durga to place on the Summit. Durga is a symbol of SHAKTEE and in such difficult places one does tend to look unto the divine.
It was terrifying to stand erect on a knife-edge ridge, with a sheer drop on either side. I had to dig my ice-axe deep and secure myself by attaching the waist-strap to the ice-axe head. There was some tricky climbing between the South Summit and what is popularly known as Hillary's Step. Ang Dorjee and Lhatoo were already over it, but I was still negotiating its vertical face when Ang Dorjee gesticulated towards the top. I was thrilled. The goal was near. With renewed vigor I was on top of the step in seconds. The sun had made the snow soft and climbing was easier here than it had been earlier.
Though Ang Dorjee moved fast, I found I was reasonably sure-footed in downhill climbing, even at the veteran Sherpa's pace. When we were still some distance from the South Col, to my astonishment, I saw Magan Bissa coming up. It was dangerous to be one the exposed south-east ridge in the evening when the temperature dropped sharply, besides the usual dangers of height and environment. Bissa's rucksack was filled with oxygen cylinders and thermos flasks. He congratulated us and gave us some hot drinks and juice.
My journey to the top of Everest was an opening... a path braking event for other women. My parents, my family relations, the mountain people it all also identified with the achievement and all of a sudden they realized the significance & importance of mountaineering as a sport and as a career. They all saw for themselves the tremendous respect and recognition showered by the people & the Govt. of India. Smt. Indira Gandhi who visited Uttarkashi subsequently in 1984 after Everest, proudly reminded the people of Garhwal what they & particularly the women were capable of doing. She described me as the daughter of the Himalaya, bringing laurels to womanhood & to the country. My heart was overwhelmed on hearing the pride with which she had spoken out.
However, I was dismayed to find resistance from some frustrated male mountaineer, on the all woman Everest Expedition. Being a male dominated sport, they did not want women to enter their domain, particularly for leading & organizing, and showed a complete lack of respect for not only women's capabilities but also their ambitions. I became even more determined not to be defeated by this fraternity and their negative behavior. Therefore I had to climb many mountains in Delhi before I could reach the Base Camp of Mt. Everest, leading the Indo-Nepalese Women's Everest Expedition. This expedition went; on to create 7 (seven) World records and has become a benchmark in there realms of Indian Mountaineering. 18 persons reached the Summit including 7 Women. Indian now has the highest number of Women Everest Summitters i.e. 8 in all.