Going to visit Nasim Akhtor on one of the coldest days of the new year gives it a significance I had not thought of till I was sitting in her warm and cosy living room, with its tasteful velvet sofas, a chaise lounge, pictures on the walls and a beautiful antique Kashmiri jug of burnished silver gleaming in a corner. As expected, she is not wearing socks, nor too many warm clothes either, while I was bundled up like a bear, and shivering in spite of it. Warm and smiling, she had me seated and promptly switched on the heater, more for my benefit than hers. When I looked at her, I knew it was easy to slot her as an outgoing, single school teacher, someone who was house-proud, liked everything in its place, frankly speaking her mind, absorbed in the womanly interests like cooking, crocheting, gardening perhaps, and dressing up. She did not at all look sad to be single, or melancholy at the absence of a spouse or children.

But Nasim Akhtor is far from an ordinary lady. She is the one who broke tradition, the iron hold of her community, to venture into a field that called for almost superhuman courage and endurance. Her memories are not of meals cooked and flowers embroidered, but of tramping through a blizzard in zero visibility, dangling from a sheer rock face tethered to a slender nylon rope, her crampons digging into unyielding ice, the ominous rumble of an avalanche, the terrifying depths of a crevasse, the lungs screaming for air, every muscle of the body aching and sore, and then, the last triumphant step on the summit, the stunning view of range upon range of mountains lit up by a rising sun, a silence so perfect it was like a symphony. Nasim has experienced all this, victory and heartbreak, elation and despair. This little tete a tete in her pretty sitting room is only a lull between her struggle to strive, to conquer. Her place is truly there, among the snow and whistling winds. The mountains have long ceased to intimidate her. But, she continues to be inspired by them.

When did it begin, this wanderlust, answering the call of the mountains? “I was born in Guwahati”, she says. “My parents were Majida Begum and Abdul Haque. I lost my father, an army contractor, when I was only two. My mother had to bring up three daughters, I was the youngest, and a son single-handedly. I admire my mother not only for the courageous way she took up her responsibilities, but also the staunch support she gave me when I ventured into this field. She had faith in my dream and encouraged me to cross all the boundaries society and our faith imposed on me.”

Nasim was different from other girls of her age. Unlike her sister, she had no interest in playing with dolls or dressing up in pretty frocks, trinkets and ribbons. She did not like sour fruits, and was teased about being like a boy. She was a hyperactive tomboy, chasing balls, climbing trees, and fishing in the shallow ponds near her home. The Guwahati of her girlhood was a thinly populated, open spaced rustic place where Nature waited just outdoors and Nasim insists on saying, “I was born in Guwahati village.”

All that running around was mainly a preparation for the real thing. In school, the Ulubari High School, her favourite subject was, not surprisingly, geography. It was a subject which whetted her appetite for knowing about the world. She was intrigued by the chequered maps, the endless shift of climates and water currents, the people, crops, forests, plains and mountains of different lands. All that was vague, intangible and imagined became real before her fascinated eyes, arousing a restlessness to venture beyond the four walls of her home. Then began her college life in Handique Girls’ College. By that time, she was climbing the hills around the city, enjoying the physical exertion and sense of accomplishment when she reached the top.

Then, in 1972, she went trekking to Sandakphu, in Darjeeling, with a team led by the legendary Rohini Bhuyan, who had first brought mountaineering to Assam. It was a team of twenty-six members, and only five were women. It was then that she met Tenzing Norgay, who had climbed the Everest with Edmund Hillary. “He told me the Himalayas would be the love of my life. I came to understand his words only later. Everything about that trip was magical – the drifting powdery snow, the dilapidated house where we took shelter for the night. It was then I felt that first hypnotic spell the Himalayas cast on me. I began to write letters to Baba, the Himalayas becoming a God to me, someone who solved my dilemmas, gave me the courage to go on, who, with His permanence and vastness, revealed to me what was petty and fleeting in life. That is why mountaineering is much more than a sport. It is nothing short of a pilgrimage.

“Now, convinced of my true calling, I enrolled for a basic and advanced course in climbing at the Western Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (WHMI) at Manali. I learned how to walk on snow wearing crampons, climb down from a vertical cliff top, emergency steps to take in the advent of an avalanche, how to set up and dismantle a tent, how to use an oxygen tent and a hundred other tasks.

“When I came back, I discovered that all around me, people were laughing at my pursuit of this goal. They just did not know what to make of me. But my brother, sisters and mother stood solidly behind me, protecting me from all that scorn and animosity. My mother said that there were lots of examples in history that people opposed anyone who tried to do something new. She said I needed strength to overcome all challenges and ignore all that criticism. Interestingly, my mother was also familiar with all the climbing gear and equipment I used and could identify each item by name. She had a premonition and told me that if anything happened to her while I was doing something related to my climbing, I was to go on as if nothing had happened. And on the day of Idd, when recruits were to report for a national rock climbing meet in Guwahati, she passed away.

“I continued to test my limits, climbing in Kashmir, Garhwal, Kumaon, Nepal. But then, I realised I also needed to bring more women into this field. I encouraged many to train and in 1986, a team of seven women, myself included, went on an expedition to Leh. We climbed the 21,132 ft Kangyisay Peak. We were the first all-women team there. Very few Indians visited Leh, and there we were, climbing a mountain. The army gave us free rations, the Air Force gave us walkie talkie sets and sent a helicopter to the base camp. Mountaineer Magan Bisha said he was eager to meet me as I had persuaded the armed forces to grant us all these concessions. We were warmly felicitated and interviewed on radio.”

In 1987, Nasim led a group of eight Assamese girls to the White Needle Peak of the Kashmiri Himalayas (22,000 ft). From Kargil, the girls went to the Zangskar range, travelling in trucks, staying in tents and crossing rivers on horseback. The stunning landscape and Nature’s fury left a lasting impact.

Many such feats followed and Nasim gained respect and recognition at the national level. She became the first NE member of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation in 1993. In 1998, she became one among the thirteen governing council members for ten years. Talks are on to set up two mountaineering institutes, one by the Army and one by DoNER.

Today, Nasim is upbeat about an Everest expedition she will lead in March 2011. Selections will begin in June this year. Men and women have already undergone training to gear up for this challenge. They will be sent to Kanchenjunga first to acclimatise themselves. Some team members include experienced climbers like Colonel Neeraj Rana, Lavraj Dharmashutra, Kushang Sherpa, Tempa and Pranoy Bordoloi.

At an age when most women would choose to put their feet up and live a life of quiet leisure, Nasim readies for yet another challenge, tuning her mind and body like an instrument before a performance. She does yoga, eats the right foods and believes that a never say die spirit is what keeps her going. Like Aideo Handique of Joymati, who could not get a groom because of her acting in films, Nasim, too, has to lead a single life. But she is very much a mother, a deeply caring one at that, to a number of girls who live and study at her home. She yearns to go back to her beloved mountains and nothing can stand in the way. It is not just her calling, but her salvation as well.

email: indrani.raimedhi@gmail.com

Indrani Raimedhi