Exploring the Highlands of Himalaya

EXPLORING THE HIGHLANDS OF HIMALAYA. By Harish Kapadia. Pp.248, 81 photos, 29 maps and sketches, 2006. (Indus Publishing, New Delhi, Rs 650).

Any reviewer of a Himalayan guidebook by Harish Kapadia faces the pleasant prospect of being made privy to first hand information on little known areas thanks to the author’s enthusiastic concern to record the entire scene. Kapadia’s extensive coverage however is a privilege he has earned the hard and costly way. So costly in fact that this book is dedicated to his younger son who as a newly recruited Indian Army officer, heroically sacrificed his life defending his motherland. Despite this personal tragedy. Harish retains a characteristic imperturbability that conceals a mix of tough climbing leader and genial companion. My lasting memory of Harish’s winning persona, that combines self-discipline with a rare sense of the humane, is how when descending from Pinnath in our unkempt state he stopped at the first isolated Kumauni homestead and chatted up an exceedingly apprehensive old lady sitting at her door. Within minutes this chubby alien figure from Mumbai had her eating out of his hand. And even better for those of us lean and hungry followers, Harish’s magical charm soon had us eating out of hers!

Exploring the Highlands of the Himalaya with its cover shot of Kedarnath dham’s scintillating surround of greenery contrasting with the back cover image of Korzok gompa taken against the austere serenity of Tso Moriri lake, reveals both the varied wonder of Himalayan options and Kapadia’s reaction to the dazzling shade card on view. The illustrations are superb and make up for the somewhat generalised treatment of the layout and lifestyles found along the range. It is a daunting assignment to cover the entire spectrum of Himalayan human aspirations where regional imperatives can vary quite violently according to the interplay of history and geography, religion and politics. Even as I write the world’s only Hindu kingdom in Nepal is being dismantled for a secular alternative. Notwithstanding Sir Chris Bonington’s warm foreword recommending the comprehensive nature of this work, some infelicitous phrasing obscures some meanings, as for example in suggesting Garhwal was a British creation or that the water of the Yamuna is held in as high esteem as that of the Ganga. Perhaps the problem lies in finding an editor presumptuous enough to think he can advise the editor of the world’s not only most prestigious journal on the Himalaya but its most readable.

Students of the Da Vinci code of symbolism might read into the front and back cover photographs evidence of the unspoken aloofness that distances the Hindu from the Buddhist sphere (though as in Lahaul some villagers have acquired a dual identity, albeit from motives of economic advantage.) Kapadia makes no bones about his Hindu preferences but like most explorers he is an original who defies the easy pigeonholing of type most of us feel comfortable with. From a conventional Gujarati business background Harish’s adventurous instincts have taken him beyond the traditional trading routes (across the seven seas) and made him an unrivalled master of the Himalayan field. If on occasion his interpretation of the sociological realities (like the conversion within living memory of Kumaun’s Bhotias by the medieval brahmanical convenience of categorizing these Tibetan borderers as ‘lapsed Rajputs’) is simplistic, his open mindedness is revealed in naming his two sons after Sherpas. The very fact that his late son Nawang should have joined the Gurkhas is evidence of the eclectic nature of the Kapadia exploratory genes. His concern to establish a Peace Park in the killing snowfields of Siachen reminds us of the benevolent individualism of another Himalayan explorer Sir Francis Younghusband. When the latter remarried in his old age, it was to an English woman whose son had been shot by a German officer. After the war she had traced the enemy officer responsible and adopted him as her own son.

The chapters move from Arunachal to the Eastern Karakoram and are enlivened by sketches made by Geeta Kapadia (the author’s wife) plus quotations to prove Harish’s good literary taste. Even better confirmation of this is for each chapter to be concluded by passages from the classic explorers of each region along with their bio data. A third of the book is devoted to informative appendices including the current fashion of acknowledging religious tours as a draw to the less athletic admirers of the range. The maze of rules for foreigners applying for permission to climb is enquired into but omit the secret of how to avoid a heart attack. (Go for a bypass operation via a joint expedition with Sri Kapadia!) Obviously in a sweeping survey of this nature much is left out and some critics might deplore the making much of the mythological travels of the Hindu philosopher Shankaracharya to the exclusion of the later well-attested traverses of the Himalaya by the Buddhist monk Atisa Dipankar. However we cannot rule out the possibility that Harish’s involvement with the range may be a result of purva sanskaras (journeys in a former life) and therefore ‘he kens what he is talking about!’

To counter the plethora of accolades his long mountaineering career has earned him and ensure his indestructible Tilly sunhat is never dislodged by any incipient halo, there are those unerring snipers (like the editor of the stimulating monthly Himavanta) who help maintain the balance in the friendly rivalry between claims to further Himalayan lore. One extraordinary omission in this compendium of useful information is acknowledgment of the existence of lively local climbing clubs in the subcontinent outside the aegis of officialdom. In including a chronological table Harish has valued the painstaking pioneering work of Shambhu Nath Das in this field.

Most non-Indian readers are alive to another creative aspect of Harish, his idiosyncratic English usage that can be alarming to the grammatically inflexible if hilarious to others. In an earlier self-devouring googly of reverse spin Harish had written ‘I suffered injuries that nearly crippled me and sadly lost few friends.’ (Cheer up, Harish, next time you may have the satisfaction of losing more!) The counterproductive perils of being literal in English are best illustrated by two famous notices in an East European hotel. The first outside the restaurant read ‘Our motto: Serve you right’ and the second announced that the lift was out of order: ‘The management regrets that its customers are unbearable!’ It follows that the use of ‘highlands’ in the title may prove perplexing to those unfamiliar with the author’s republican treatment of the Queen’s English. If as claimed the book is a look at the human element rather than the peaks, then ‘lowlands’ or ‘midlands’ might have been more apposite.

In a manual of this nature substance is more valuable than style, and in Exploring the Highlands of Himalaya, Harish has sought to encompass in a single volume a resume of the entire physical and social spectrum of this formidable, fascinating and fast-changing terrain. It is unique in that for the first time the guide happens to have walked to all the places and met all the people he writes about. (The subjectivity will obviously benefit in later editions from inputs of other observers)
Meanwhile Harish has produced a handbook to treasure, both human and statistical, a rare compilation of hard won information that in our age of easy transport options is unlikely ever to be equalled. Readers will bless the author for providing a sympathetic introductory overview of the physical challenges and the redoubtable character of the villagers found along the range. It is essential background reading for any student of the Himalaya.

Bill Aitken