This Mountaineer Won't Leave Nepal Until Every Last Indian Has Been Rescued

Umesh Zirpe, a noted mountaineer and Himalaya expert, has survived many a calamity on his expeditions in the past. On Saturday morning, when devastation struck this mountain country, Zirpe was driving to the airport to check on flight details of a team of mountaineers, who had completed yet another voyage, when he suddenly felt his car shake up. For a split second as Zirpe was about to consider a flat tyre, he saw houses around him collapse like a pack of cards, reduced to dust instantly.

girpremi

Minutes later, volunteers from his organisation Giripremi back in Pune, were set in motion to begin preparations for rescue operations. On Sunday, Zirpe and 12 other mountaineers from Pune who were on an expedition, reached Kathmandu airport safely, to take a flight back home, but Zirpe has decided to stay back.

"There are many people from Maharashtra stuck in various parts of Nepal. The situation is very critical. The roads are full of debris and those who have survived the calamity are shattered. Right now, they are in need of three things ¡ª moral support, blood and money. After seeing the devastation all around me, I have decided to stay put and help others."

Zirpe led the Pune-based team, which had conquered Mount Everest in 2012; subsequently, he had taken a team of mountaineers to the Everest base camp. Today, he feels that he and his volunteers are fortunate to be of help. "While in the car, when we learnt that an earthquake of such a huge magnitude had hit this region, the driver just left the vehicle and ran in the middle of the road in sheer panic," narrated Zirpe over acrackling phone line from Kathmandu on Sunday evening. "It was the ugliest scene ever. People have lost their homes and are now completely shattered."

Zirpe put down his impromptu decision to the long association he has had with Nepal ¡ª the many friendships he has struck here over the years and the local organisations that have helped him through many mountaineering expeditions. "Now, when they are facing a crisis, I thought we should help them. Apart from Nepali nationals, there are several Maharashtrians who are stuck here and I feel I am obliged to help them."

He visited a local hospital on Sunday to seek names and other details of people from Maharashtra who are admitted for treatment. "The Nepalese government will require manpower to help survivors and I have asked members of Giripremi to be on the standby as volunteers," Zirpe said.

AMONG THE DEAD AND DEBRIS

Ashish Rajput, a Solapur-based professor, stuck in the calamity-hit region, feels he is living an experience nothing short of a nightmare. As he travelled from Kathmandu to Sunauli border, with 38 others who were on a trip to Nepal, in order to board a Mumbai-bound train, the only images being presented to him are those of dead people and debris.

"When the quake struck, we had just emerged from the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, after a darshan. Soon we saw the situation getting out of hand, and so decided to go to our next destination on Sunauli border. This devastation will be etched in our memory for ever. The agony and grief in the eyes of survivors on the scene is unbearable," said Rajput on the phone. "All of us just want to return home. But are these the memories we deserve to carry for life?" The group will now board the train on Tuesday.

Additional input by Sandip Kolhatkar | Originally published in the Pune Mirror