Meeting with Prof. Noel Odell

(1974)

For many years, in various books, I had read about Shipton, Tilman and Odell. They had become my heroes. And what does one do when there is a chance to meet one of them suddenly? Prof. Noel Odell was in Bombay on 14 November 1974 for the premier of a romantic Hindi film! I seized the opportunity to spend a day with him. It was like the pages of those books coming alive, for in this part of the world one doesn’t get a chance to exchange words with such giants, not in those days any way.

I contacted Prof. Odell at the Taj Mahal Hotel requesting an appointment for lunch next day. It was thrilling to hear the voice of this 84 year old veteran. With hesitation he said, ‘Well I don’t know my programme yet’. I said, ‘I have recently climbed in the Nanda Devi Sanctuary and would like to show you my pictures’. He immediately replied, ‘Then I shall certainly come’.

Next day at the appointed time I rang him up from the hotel lobby and waited eagerly, wondering how I would recognise him. One old gentleman came from the lift and sat opposite me, looking for someone. I inquired, if he was Professor Odell. ‘No, sorry I am neither a professor nor Odell’. Then I saw a tall figure walking up and there was no mistaking him. It was Prof. Odell, dressed in a cream coloured baggy pant and coat, bald and standing very erect. He didn’t look his age. We introduced ourselves and left for my house.

Odell spoke very softly and in a typical British style. During the day, along with a few friends we saw slides and talked endlessly on many subjects and persons.
Naturally, first it was about Nanda Devi and his expedition of 1936. The climb was tough but not impossible. They had, in fact, a tougher time in the Rishi gorge. Though Tilman had been there in 1934, he scarcely remembered the route. He inquired who else had been into the Sanctuary upto now and said that since his visit we were the first ones he had met who had been to the Sanctuary. He was to meet N. Gombu who had climbed Nanda Devi in the evening. In 1936 Shipton was on Everest thus missing the Nanda Devi trip. They had extreme bad weather on Everest. As the party was returning from the Sanctuary, Odell heard a voice along the Rishi. It was Shipton. Shipton said that he had been ‘just back’ from Everest, disappointed, and had received news that Tilman and Odell had climbed Nanda Devi, so he came here, with a geographical team, to congratulate them. ‘After all you climbed ‘my’ mountain!’ We talked at length about our 1974 Devtoli expedition to the Sanctuary, about changes in the region, the topography and what we did. I showed him the slides at leisure. He said with a smile, ‘Hope, you didn’t find our rubbish there’. They had seen lots of flowers and bharals in the Sanctuary.

Seeing the slides of Everest, from the south he remarked, ‘Well I remember all these mountains from the north. We used to travel for two months from Darjeeling to Rongbuk in Tibet to the base camp. In many dak bungalows en

route in Sikkim we would make entries with the names of all the team members. While returning names of those who had died were missing and that was always a sad moment for all of us. We didn’t have much equipment and there was a real danger that we may freeze to death even inside the tent and sleeping bags.’ About Irvine and Mallory being lost, he might have been in that party too but only because he was a geologist he remained down. He looked for them for three days before giving up. One of Odell’s friends who believes in communicating with departed spirits said that the spirit of Mallory says that they had reached the summit. But many things could have happened to them, what actually did is not known.

Odell had been the only person to receive the ‘Dr. Livingstone Gold Medal for Exploration’ while alive. He added with a chuckle, ‘They must be short of explorers then. I shall like to be re-incarnated in the Himalaya in my next life.’ His spirit was absolutely fit, though body was old now.

‘Why don’t you write your autobiography or a book?’
‘It is an art to write and compress so much wealth of experience in one little book. Moreover I am not, let’s say, a “public entertainer”. All my adventures were very personal for me and I want to treasure them for myself. I have always been too busy as a geologist, which is my first love, than to write about exploration’.
He had stayed for three years in Peshawar and started the Department of Geology there. He spoke proudly of his students and work. He had no time to do climbing in the Karakoram, though he saw it from the air. He had been to South Africa, New Zealand, New Guinea for climbing and to study geology. He had clicked about 10,000 pictures. He talked warmly about his companions, his work at Cambridge and his work with Tibetan children.

In the evening we went for the premier of the film. It was an exciting affair as we travelled in cars along with the stars. Suddenly, near the theatre, there were many people, pushing and shouting. The actors, followed by Nawang Gombu and Heinrich Harrer rushed in, expertly manoeuvring their way through the throng. I was on crutches, nursing an injury, and was left out with Odell. Looking on helplessly for a while, ultimately I told a police officer, ‘He is the chief guest, pointing to Odell. Immediately his men came to our aid with batons, pushed the crowd apart, and we walked in, ‘It is like the parting of the sea’, was Odell’s remark. As we entered, none in the crowd realised that this modest man was a real-life hero. During the show, he endlessly talked with Harrer after the formalities on the stage. As we departed, he said, ‘I hope you will be in the pink of condition when we meet again.’

Prof. Noel E. Odell’s signed photograph of Nanda Devi is something I will cherish for life. He was a legend in his life time, a person about whom one can read about but not meet often. For us, it was as if he came out of the pages of history, and then walked back into it. It was a unique experience to be with this great man. We kept some contact by occasional letters and it was a sad moment to learn about his death on 21 February 1987. I am sure he is re-incarnated, as he desired, in the Himalaya.