By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : Last nostalgic tributes are pouring in from Nepal’s mountaineering community as the hardy Sherpas, Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary’s closest companions, tearfully remember the New Zealander who gave them the precious gifts of education, health and livelihood.
“We Sherpas pray that Hillary is reborn,” 81-year-old Chhiring Dorjee Sherpa said.
Sherpa, a pioneer schoolteacher in mountainous northern Nepal, was one of the first to meet Hillary when the latter came to Nepal in 1953 for a reconnaissance before attempting Mt Everest.
“His contribution for taking Nepal, Sagarmatha (the Sherpas’ name for Mt Everest) and the Sherpas to the international level is incomparable. All of us today are treading the path to the summit that was shown by Tenzing and Hillary,” Chhiring said.
The funeral of the 88-year-old mountaineering legend, who died of a heart attack last week, was held in Auckland, New Zealand, Tuesday morning.
Nepal’s Sherpas, tourism entrepreneurs and other Hillary fans will be holding a memorial meet in Kathmandu Tuesday afternoon called by Nepal Tourism Board.
As the world remembered anew the adventurous spirit of Hillary, Chhiring remembered how he had sought to bring education to the remote Sherpa villages of Nepal.
“He built desks and benches for primary schools with his own hand,” Chhiring said in a moving farewell to his mentor in the Kantipur daily Tuesday.
“He would always discuss their education with me. Master Chhiring Dorjee, he told me, Sherpas’ eyes have opened a little bit now but they are yet to be opened fully.”
Before his Everest expedition in May 1953 with Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, Hillary stayed in Namche village for over a week, studying the way to the Everest that was still unconquered by man.
Chhiring had just opened a school in the village and Hillary expressed concern at the lack of benches.
“In this cold place, how can the pupils sit on the floor?” he told the village master.
In 1961, eight years after having created mountaineering history, Hillary returned to the region to offer a thanksgiving by founding a primary school in Khumjung village.
Later, after his relentless effort, the school expanded to become a secondary school.
“Hillary, who was constantly thinking of (how to improve the Sherpas’ conditions vis a vis) education, health, drinking water access and forestry is with us no more,” Chhiring said.
“In my 81 years, I have not met a more talented man like him. Nor do I hope of meeting anyone like him ever,” he added.