Answer the following questions.
(i) What are the three qualities that played a major role in the author’s climb?
(ii) Why is adventure, which is risky, also pleasurable?
(iii) What was it about Mount Everest that the author found irresistible?
(iv) One does not do it (climb a high peak) for fame alone. What does one do it for, really?
(v) “He becomes conscious in a special manner of his own smallness in this large universe.” This awareness defines an emotion mentioned in the first paragraph. Which is the emotion?
(vi) What were the “symbols of reverence” left by members of the team on Everest?
(vii) What, according to the writer, did his experience as an Everester teach him?
Show solutionHide solution
(i) The three qualities that played a major role in the author’s climb are endurance, persistence and willpower.
(ii) Although adventure is risky, it is pleasurable too. This implies that climbing a mountain is a great challenge filled with difficulties, but overcoming those hurdles boosts the confidence, endurance and willpower of the climber. The author gives the example of the mighty Mount Everest; reaching its summit is an achievement in itself. There is a great sense of exhilaration, joy and fulfillment to being able to scale such greater heights. There is a feeling of victory and happiness. Hence, the experience is not merely physical. It is indeed both emotional and spiritual.
(iii) Being one of the mightiest and highest mountains in the world, Mount Everest has its own special charm and beauty. The author found it irresistible due to its beauty, ruggedness and the obstacles that he encountered while climbing to its summit. Every ounce of his energy was utilized in climbing the mountain covered with rock and ice. One who decides to climb Everest cannot give up his/her dream by returning half way even when one’s life is at stake. This is because when a person climbs to the summit of a mountain, one is filled with a great sense of exhilaration, joy and fulfillment for being able to scale such greater heights. This gives him/her a sense of extreme joy and happiness and a feeling of victory and satisfaction. These were some of the reasons why the author found the Mount Everest to be extremely irresistible.
(iv) Climbing a mountain and reaching its peak successfully requires endurance, persistence and willpower. Therefore, the experience is not merely physical. It is indeed both emotional and spiritual. It satisfies a climber’s eternal love for adventure which gives one a sense of fulfillment, satisfaction and a deep urge to rise over and above the surroundings.
(v) “He becomes conscious in a special manner of his own smallness in this large universe.” This awareness defines an emotion of humility in a person.
(vi) The author left on Mount Everest a picture of Guru Nanak. Rawat left a picture of Goddess Durga. Phu Dorji left a relic of the Buddha, and Edmund Hillary had buried a cross under a cairn (a heap of rocks and stones) in the snow. These were not merely symbols of conquest but of reverence.
(vii) As an Everester, the author experienced a great sense of fulfilment and satisfaction. It encouraged him to face the ordeals of life in a determined manner. It taught him that the conquest of the internal summit is also equally important compared to climbing a mountain. He realised that it will give him a better and fuller knowledge about himself which no one else other than him can scale to meet his true self.