Kathmandu

In 60 Parachute Field Hospital there is a saying, “Be careful what you wish for, because you end up getting an overdose of what you want.”

As a young probationer I found the achievements of Major N Linyu very inspiring. She went out to explore new lands, with toil and self-sacrifice fitted to herself to become a champion in the field of mountaineering, and became the first Army Medical Corps officer to summit Mt Everest. To imitate her was my dream.

But little did I know that after years of training in the Himalayas, my dream would turn into a nightmare and I would nearly die in it.

On the evening of May 15, 2015, I squeezed under a dome tent with a dozen other climbers. We all were keyed up for our journey back to Kathmandu from the Everest Base Camp. We sat on torn mattresses facing each other under the tent. We sat there for what seemed like years.

My feelings are mixed and complex as always. This feels like the mission that I always knew I was going to do, ever since leaving the Base Camp. But I couldn’t enter a building without noting its exits and potential shelter points. The local markets down narrow ramshackle brick lanes in Namche Bazaar were reduced to a narrow strip of rubble. I loved those markets — the noise, the spices, the smells, and the women in bright saris squatting amidst their produce, grinning their gap toothed, paan stained smiles at me whilst trying to marry me off to their daughters.

The amazing thing is that the country has a spirit that very quickly gets under your skin. The people were friendly and welcoming, and everywhere I looked, I witnessed examples of human courage beyond imagination. They were sticking together through what has been the most devastating earthquake in a hundred years.

For me, Everest is no more just the highest mountain in the world; it is about the resilient doctors and locals who worked side by side enduring every single obstacle that came their way. Volunteering for such missions has its moments, but it’s those moments that make life worth living.

(Dr Goel is an Indian Army Major, Team Doctor of The Indian Army Mt Everest Massif Expedition 2015)