Batsa stands in the foyer watching his father pack. He can see himself in the gold-framed looking-glass on the wall beyond, the crisp school uniform and shined shoes looking out of place on his sturdy frame. As always he admires his father’s precise movements as he stows the complex array of mountaineering equipment into the various rucksacks and bivy bags––crampons, tri-cams, chocks and leaders.
Da Jangbu Sherpa looks up at his son, sees the boy’s expression of disquiet, or perhaps of longing. He smiles, the deep crow’s feet puckering around his eyes. “Don’t worry, Batsa,” he says. “This will make thirty-three ascents, and I grow more cautious every year. This expedition has no first-timers, either.”
“It’s not that, father. I just wish I could go with you.”
“Sixty-eight days is far too much school to miss,” he says, inspecting his chest harness. “Besides, you know I only do this so you won’t have to.”
Note:
Nepal has eight of the 10 highest mountains in the world. Mountaineering, a form of extreme tourism, has grown to the point where the Sherpas – the ethnic group who mostly live in the unfertile mountains and became load carriers for foreign mountaineers – now run their own businesses, contracting much of the heavy work to other Nepali ethnic groups. Sherpas are said to earn between seven and 10 times the average Nepalese wage. Many are able to send their children to the best schools. They aspire to become doctors, engineers or airline pilots.
But development has come at a huge price. The air pollution and traffic jams of Kathmandu are among the worst in the world, the cities are chaotic, unemployment is massive, and the predominantly rural population remains mostly locked in subsistence farming. In addition, Nepal is on the frontline of climate change and is highly vulnerable to flash floods, landslides and droughts. As elsewhere in the Himalayas, the most vulnerable people are affected the most.
The title, थोरै मान्छेले मात्र तिम्रो दुःख बुझ्छन्, बाँकी सबैले त कहानी सुन्न मनपराउछन् is a Nepali proverb that says “People pretend to care about your troubles, but they really just like listening to a story.”
I like your way of showing the bond of love between father and son. Da Jangbu Sherpa hopes for a better life for his son – but his son wants to follow in dad’s footsteps. A happy story, with a touch of unease lest Da Jangbu Sherpa should lose his life in the mountains.
Thanks! I hope nothing happens to the Sherpa, especially since it’s a real person!
Loved every word of this, both the story and the revealing information that followed it. The rich details brought this to life.
Thanks! A few years ago I did a climbing story for a contest, so I wanted to do something different for this one.
An informative tale of a dynasty in the making, with or without the schooling. The background detail was nicely put together. Thanks.
Wonderfully done, Josh. Most fathers would do what they can to ensure their children have better lives than they do.
Must be crazy how busy it has become – a once peaceful village…
Ouch. What a proverb.
I like the way you incorporated the mirror shot (It is used so often, and so self-consciously, in many of the costume dramas I like to watch, that the sport of spotting should be a drinking game). Here, however, it seems natural. Drink!
Enjoyed the ironic father-son dynamic here, the father misunderstanding his son’s long face as concern for his safety, and the boy longing for the very thing, that his father strives to protect him from.
I also liked the puckering wrinkles around the old man’s eyes. Your use of technical tool words of the trade adds authenticity as does the title.
Thanks for the close reading!
Title intrigued me. Beautiful story with informative note .