The Nanda Devi AffairThere is a kind of brotherhood between man and mountains.... The inescapable logic of desire leaves the mountain traveller no choice but to plan his next expedition to the very peak that may have just rejected vociferously the most singleminded of advances.' In his thirty-year sojourn in India, Bill Aitken has had two serious affairs"one, essentially spiritual in nature, with the country's rivers, the other more earthy and passionate, with her mountains. In this sequel to his first book for Penguin, Seven Sacred Rivers, he talks of his second great obsession"Nanda Devi, patron Goddess of Kumaon and Garhwal. Spanning more than a decade, from the Seventies to the Eighties, Aitken's attempts to explore the sanctuary of this most beautiful of Himalayan peaks were not, he admits, those of a professional mountaineer, but of a romantic. Accordingly, what he gives us is, in his own words, -neither a book about Himalayan climbing nor a treatise on hill theology but a diary of mountain relish.' Aitken's deep-seated study of the cult of the Goddess and the folklore and customs of the Kumaon Himalayas is chequered with deliciously acerbic asides on bumptious bureaucrats, the bane of Indian mountaineering, while the true nature lover's concern for the environment is manifest in his anger over the destruction wrought by political motivations and the ambitions of so-called professional mountaineers. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 5
Page 21
... Bhotia valley of Milam where the twin peaks rise in majestic symmetry . From Almora the main peak overshines the eastern summit not just by altitude but from its sturdier formation . Some Almora pundits hold that the hump of the main ...
... Bhotia valley of Milam where the twin peaks rise in majestic symmetry . From Almora the main peak overshines the eastern summit not just by altitude but from its sturdier formation . Some Almora pundits hold that the hump of the main ...
Page 26
... Bhotia and other tribals who hover between Hindu censure and Buddhist acceptance . The absence of rice in their diet indicates a deficiency in holiness . The higher up the hill one travels the more difficult it is to subdue the ...
... Bhotia and other tribals who hover between Hindu censure and Buddhist acceptance . The absence of rice in their diet indicates a deficiency in holiness . The higher up the hill one travels the more difficult it is to subdue the ...
Page 58
... Bhotia mastiffs who from habit trailed after their Lata masters had caused the bharal to withdraw from their traditional grazing meadows , now no longer safe from man . Crop protection guns were brought in to take advantage of the ...
... Bhotia mastiffs who from habit trailed after their Lata masters had caused the bharal to withdraw from their traditional grazing meadows , now no longer safe from man . Crop protection guns were brought in to take advantage of the ...
Contents
The Moving Mountain | 1 |
Vital Statistics | 11 |
Beru Pakho | 20 |
Copyright | |
17 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Almora altitude animal ascent Badri Badrinath Bal Singh base camp beauty Bedni Bhagawati bharal Bhotia birch British buggials bungalow cave Changabang chowkidar climb climbers clouds cold crossing deity Delhi descent Devi's devotees Dharansi Dibrugheta Dumyat Everest expedition forest Ganga Garhwal glacier goats Goddess Gopal gorge Govind hill Himalayas Hindu Hom Kund honour Indian inner sanctuary Joshimath jungle Kalanka Karnaprayag Kausani Krur Kuari Kumaon Kundan lake Lata Kharak Latu load main peak meadows mist monsoon mood morning motor road mountain Mussoorie Nanda Devi Nanda Ghunti Nanda Kot Nandakini Nathu Nauti never night one's party passed path pilgrim pilgrimage porters Pratap rain Raj Jat Rhamani ridge Rishi river rock route Rup Kund sacred season seemed sheep shepherd Shipton Shiva shrine slope snow leopard Sriyantra steep stumbled summit Sutol Tapovan temple tent trail Trisul turned Uttarakhand valley village weather women worship Yashu