THE HIMALAYAN CLUB NEWSLETTER

“It has long been felt that Members deserve by some means or other to be kept fully in touch with the Club’s activities and with mountaineering events in which they are interested. A small attempt was made to meet this need by the inclusion of the President’s  (HC) Notes and News in the Annual Reports of the past two years but even that hardly served to record current events.

The Committee has therefore decided to issue from time to time a Newsletter of which this is the first. At least that is the intention and pious hope; whether it is continued depends on the approval of the Members and more importantly on the energies and spare time of the Committee. Members can assist by keeping the Honorary Secretary informed about the Club and Himalayan matters in their part of the world.”

With this simple note, the first ever Newsletter of the Himalayan Club was published in August 1951. Consisting of four pages, it covered news from various sections of the Club and travel in the Himalaya. This pioneering issue covered ‘Current Events’, ‘Club News’, ‘Sectional News’ (Bombay and Karachi), and had a ‘Travel Section’ which included news on Sikkim, the Central Himalaya, and West Pakistan. There was a note on how to obtain maps, about the Himalayan Journal and an appeal for any papers regarding the foundation of the Club in 1928. And so it began and expanded over the years. The founding father of the Newsletter (NL) may not have visualised the form it has taken today!

The man responsible for this was Charles E.J. Crawford, who was the President of the Himalayan Club. In fact he continued to publish the Newsletters till 1962, bringing out 19 issues, for it was published sometimes twice a year. To his effort we owe a record of the Club and mountaineering activities. Recently, I had the pleasure of talking with Charles Crawford who lives in Bath, England. Though frail in health, he warmly remembered the Club and his association with it and the Newsletter.

Issue no. 6 contained news about the first ascent of Everest. ‘This news which came to us appropriately on Coronation Day has been enthusiastically acclaimed in this country as well as in Britain, a great achievement, the result of superb planning and team work of the highest degree plus luck of the weather’. The person responsible for the event, Sir John Hunt recalled the events following that historic day in the Newsletter. Everest team members and the leader gave talks to the Club’s Calcutta Section on 24 June 1953 and to the Delhi Section on 28 June 1953. About 90 persons attended the talk at Delhi. We are told that these were the first talks delivered by the successful team.

A list of Sherpas recommended by the Club is published in the NL 11. One is struck by the famous names in that list and their collective experience forms the mountaineering history of that time. Without those gallant Sherpas, the history of mountaineering would have been different.

With changing times most of the founding fathers and early members left India. The first ever ‘Reunion of the Himalayan Club members’ was held in London on Friday 10th March 1961, ably organised by V.S. Risoe and T.H. Braham, the latter unfor-tunately being unable to attend having taken up a post in Pakistan.

More than 60 members and their guests were present including two Founder Members (Mr. Arthur Moore and Mr. E.O. Shebbeare), three past Presidents, some past members of the Club Committee, and two early members of the Mountain Club of India.

Memories of the Himalaya were revived by the showing of two short films on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.

The next Reunion was planned two years later and the tradition continues till today. The last reunion was held in London on 29 April 1996 and this Newsletter covered the event with photographs.

1963 was the time for change of hands. Soli Mehta took over as the ‘Compiler’ of the Newsletter from issue no. 20. (Till the mid-1980s the term ‘Compiler’ was used, until Bill Aitken suggested that it appeared as if the editor had piles! Since then it is ‘Editor’, who edits the NL!). Travelling between Bombay, Calcutta, Sudan and the rest of the world, he maintained the momentum in his characteristic style.

About this time each year, a sense of inadequacy and a fear of ‘letting down the team’ grips the compiler. Last minute help (as in the normal cowboy films) always arrives and another Newsletter is issued. (NL 26).

My induction into the team with Soli in 1979 was also as one of the cowboys lassoed in to help. Soli Mehta by then had published 13 NLs and was on his way to Nigeria on a long posting. He had done a wonderful job for 17 years, built a good team of correspondents and enlarged the scope of coverage. I wrote in my editorial in NL 33, my first independent issue:

It is hard to continue a tradition, but my task is made easy by the routine he (Soli) set up, the goodwill he created, the files and guidance he offered. I am indeed indebted to him. Soli had nursed it for 18 years and I am literally holding his proud baby.

The baby began to grow and demanded attention. In 1984 a Consolidated Index to the Himalayan Club Newsletters 1-37, was begun by Genevieve deSa. This made all the references in the NL available and increased its reference value. The task was continued by Parul Shah who completed the balance consolidated index and today she has compiled an updated index to Nos. 1 to 50. My thanks to these pretty ladies!

With the passage of time more and more computer references were available. Hence we thought of changing the style of the NL. Instead of covering the range exhaustively it was decided to cover the Indian Himalaya in detail (‘Because we are here’) and cover only the exceptional expeditions from rest of the range. A new look, well-printed NL 38 was issued in 1985 where I wrote that, ‘if all this appears like old wine in a new bottle, it is only hoped that the wine is mature, to your taste and the bottle a collector’s item!’.

It was not wine but tea, and lots of it, that nurtured the editors. Muslim Contractor who joined me from 1988 (NL 41) was a devotee of the brew. He wrote an article in praise of the brew in the issue to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the Club.

Fits One to a ‘T’

The importance of tea to mountaineering is a subject that needs to be broached if for nothing else, then merely for the reason that most climbers drink it.

He then recalled importance of tea in training, sorting porter troubles, on rest days and in medical kits. But the best was yet to come.

Once we were accused of indulging in the ‘Colonial habits’ by an erstwhile hard-core and now arm-chair (at the ripe old age of 28) climber who found tea despicable. . . . A British friend recently referred to Indian tea as a ‘hideous concoction’ and thus revealed how much taste he had yet to acquire. A popular story in Darjeeling tells of the late Tenzing’s enthusiasm in this matter. In an interview on American television, he emotionally declared: ‘On Everest, Hillary drink tea, I drink tea. Tea very good, coffee no good’. His hosts (the Tea Board) were very impressed.

Muslim ended with a story which we two had shared.

After every trip, one feels dissatisfied with the paltry portions served by tea shops after getting used to gulping a half-litre at a time in the mountains. Initially a baseless modesty used to prevent one from repeatedly seeking another round. I ceased to be embarrassed after the incident at Bindakoti in Kumaon when, after our porter brought us our eleventh round, the bemused proprietor came to see his clientele for himself and wondered who we were. Devotees, surely.

The issue contained a photo of editors keeping fit by drinking tea and made Soli Mehta write in the editorial: ‘Good reading to you—“let nothing come between you and the flavour of Newsletter”’ But in 1989 Soli passed away suddenly and prematurely. K.N. Naoroji, President wrote a warm tribute to him and it was my sad duty to do the same in the editorial. But to me it was his humour that rang true.

The Survey of India and the Chinese Government changed names of many peaks and places. This was enough for Soli to add a funny note in the Newsletter 42. Try this:

S (as in Soli) or Sh (as in Shimla) = X (Chinese, as in   Xixabangma)

Ch = Q (Chinese, as in Qomolungma)

t = d (Chinese, as in Chengdu)

Sholi’s Shayings

Xoli Mehda xad on a xofa xipping his whixkey and xoda in the Xeraton Hodel in Ximla. With him was Harix Kapadia on an eaxy qair xmoking a qeroot and munqing qips in domado xauce. Xuddenly a Qinese xoldier xaw them and warned them nod do wride xuch xtupid things—xee whad J mean?

On his death as a tribute, I could only mention from ‘Soli’s Sayings’ —‘Newsledder will miss you , XOLI MEHDA!’

The Newsletter continued its journey. We introduced a coloured cover, made our coverage selective but wide, and covered several related topics. Sections like: ‘Pillars of the Himalayan Club’, ‘Environment’, ‘Anything Goes’ and many others were introduced. We received several letters, feedback and generous support. Aamir Ali from Geneva guided us, specially on environmental matters. Joseph Nyka and the editors of High, Himavanta and Indian Mountaineer allowed us to borrow from their magazines. H. Adams Carter was always around with information till his death. Hon. Local Secretaries of the Club, specially W.M.M. Deacock (Australia), Nazir Sabir (Pakistan), Elizabeth Hawley (Nepal) and others continue with information and advice.

By late 1996 Muslim decided to head for greener pastures to Canada and thus there were changes in the editorial team. My co-editors now are two young mountaineers. Monesh Devjani has been assisting the Himalayan Journal for two years and now he joins the NL team. He has the sharp eye of a financial consultant, which is his profession. Rajesh Gadgil, a new entrant to the world of letters has artistic talent and the capacity to learn the ropes fast. Their youthful exuberance was evident as we produced this 50th issue as a tribute to a long-standing tradition. Over the decades, the Newsletter has been produced by enthusiasts like them. Devotees surely.

To them, and all our readers and correspondents I can only say, like Soli would have, lots of strength to your writing elbow and may your tribe increase!