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| Steno on the Summit |
| Prerna Raturi / Kolkata Aug 22, 2010, 00:01 IST |
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A typist with Punjab National Bank is part of the first civilian team from West Bengal to scale Mt Everest.
You’d probably not notice this soft-spoken Bengali on a crowded Metro train or at his workplace — Punjab National Bank at Brabourne Street. But still, there is a new-found respect that Basant Singha Roy senses. For Roy is part of the first civilian team that scaled the world’s highest peak on May 17. Roy had joined the Mountaineers’ Association of Krishnangar in 1987 because someone told him the club offered a scope for photography. So began a lifelong passion.
“We had been ready to attempt Everest for 10 years but money was an issue,” says Roy, who earns Rs 30,000 a month. The club approached the state government, took loans, accepted help from local clubs and Roy himself dipped into his provident fund, to put together a sum of Rs 35 lakh. “Then the Chinese government didn’t allow us visas because we are government employees,” says Roy. This meant the five-member team would have to climb from the Nepal side — which was more expensive. As a result the team had to be whittled down to only two. The club still owes Rs 12 lakh to their agency in Nepal. And though state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has felicitated the team and the government has promised to help, Roy’s not celebrating yet: “I’ll be relieved when the cheque is in the bank.”
His memorable moment? It was six in the morning and they had been climbing for 10 hours. “It was becoming more difficult with each step. Suddenly, I noticed the shadow of Everest in the rarified skies!” Roy even has a picture to prove it.
But after that sublime experience, how does he drag himself back to work ? “I love going back to that because I have this,” he says, pointing to his rundown table.
(Prerna Raturi is a Kolkata-based freelance writer)
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