Dr. Prabhakar A. Naik

(1944 to 2002)

It was in late 1960s that I first met Dr. Prabhakar A. Naik. We were sleeping on a ledge on the fort of Chanderi in the Western Ghats. Suddenly in the middle of the night few lights appeared and we were approached by a group of trekkers climbing the fort in the moonlit night. Vijay Kothari, who was with me, knew its leader who was introduced as Prabhakar Naik, a young budding medical student. He sat with us for a while, partake some food and soon they disappeared into the night again. After that initial introduction we continued to meet often through common friends and started enjoying the local hills. In 1970 we planned a major expedition to Bethartoli Himal peak in the Garhwal Himalaya and we were looking for a doctor to accompany the team. Naik fitted well, he joined us for this trip and we became good friends. He completed studies and became a paediatric doctor from a leading hospital in Mumbai and went on to study further to specialise in this subject. Being a national level swimmer he was evidently very fit and with his steady and simple approach to life, he was a great companion.

These were the early days of trekking and we were all young and boisterous. Prabhakar was part of our group and we continued going on several trips in the local hills though being a medical doctor, he found it difficult to join on all the Himalayan trips. Soon he was married, to Dr Sheela and was busy, both as a doctor and a family person with two boys, Vikram and Aditya. We kept meeting in Mumbai at music programs; lectures, talks and he helped with the administration of the Himalayan Club and even reading manuscripts for the Himalayan Journal.

Soon a leading pharmaceutical company based abroad employed him and he travelled to most parts of the world. Once he showed me a passport, which was almost as thick as a book with stamps of almost all nations in it. At heart he always remained Indian and a very simple person. He introduced several of his friends from medical fraternity and medical companies to pleasures of hills and they went off to the Western Ghats almost every weekend during season.

Three decades ago a computer was a bit of a novelty in Mumbai and as an editor I was finding it difficult to operate in the old style. It was Prabhakar who put his computer at my disposal and introduced me to this modern technology. After initial reluctance he broke through my defence and made me pick up this box without which now I cannot live. I owe it to him.

And suddenly there was news that Prabhakar was not well and suffering from prostrate cancer. He kept his spirits, and as we met he rarely talked about his illness. As a doctor he knew all about it. Many times we sat long afternoons chatting on different subjects. One day suddenly he interrupted a conversation about politics and said, ‘Will you do something for me?’ and my instant reaction was, ‘No, I won’t, I am not going to enter politics’. He looked aghast at me, ‘No, you won’t do it for me? You are the only person who will do it. My last wish is to spread my ashes in the Himalaya’. His comment troubled me but keeping a brave face I said, ‘Don’t worry, Prabhakar there is still long time. I am just going for a month to the Himalaya and we will chat again when I come back’. He looked little sadly at me and said, ‘I won’t be there when you come back’. I couldn’t bear this thought and walked out of the house just as he had walked into the darkness when we had first met.

I never saw him again. When I returned this gentleman, doctor, mountaineer and a person who had no vices in life was claimed by the disease. We will miss him. Dr. P. A. Naik leaves behind wife and two sons and lots of grieving friends. His ashes were spread in the Kumaun hills next year and he lives in front of Nanda Devi peak.

Harish Kapadia