Download or read book The Nanda Devi Affair written by Bill Aitken and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 1994 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author's travel impressions of Uttar Khand Region and Hindu shrines in the region.
Download or read book Nanda Devi written by John Roskelley and published by The Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 2000-09-01 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1976, John Roskelley joined an expedition to climb Nanda Devi, a 26,645-foot peak in India's remote northwest frontier. What unfolded during this climb was a story of strong emotion, conflicting ambitions, death and victory, desire and regret. This is the story of Willi Unsoeld, the expedition leader who supported the participation of his young daughter, who was named after the mountain they were climbing.
Download or read book Footloose in the Himalaya written by Bill Aitken and published by Orient Blackswan. This book was released on 2003 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Aitken, Travel In The Himalaya Is As Much About The Spirit As About Landscapes, Leeches, And Aching Knees. His Intimate Knowledge Of The Himalaya, Absorbed Through A Lifetime Makes This Volume More A Native`S Account Than A Traveller`S.
Download or read book Nanda Devi written by Eric Shipton and published by Vertebrate Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-15 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'When a man is conscious of the urge to explore, not all the arduous journeyings, the troubles that will beset him and the lack of material gains from his investigations will stop him.' Nanda Devi is one of the most inaccessible mountains in the Himalaya. It is surrounded by a huge ring of peaks, among them some of the highest mountains in the Indian Himalaya. For fifty years the finest mountaineers of the early twentieth century had repeatedly tried and failed to reach the foot of the mountain. Then, in 1934, Eric Shipton and H. W. Tilman found a way in. Their 1934 expedition is regarded as the epitome of adventurous mountain exploration. With their three tough and enthusiastic Sherpa companions Angtharkay, Kusang and Pasang, they solved the problem of access to the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. They crossed difficult cols, made first ascents and explored remote, uninhabited valleys, all of which is recounted in Shipton's wonderfully vivid Nanda Devi - a true evocation of Shipton's enduring spirit of adventure and one of the most inspirational travel books ever written.
Download or read book Nanda Devi Affair written by Bill Aitken and published by Prhi. This book was released on 2000-10-14 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a kind of brotherhood between man and mountains.... The inescapable logic of desire leaves the mountain traveller no choice but to plan his next expedition to the very peak that may have just rejected vociferously the most singleminded of advances.' In his thirty-year sojourn in India, Bill Aitken has had two serious affairs"one, essentially spiritual in nature, with the country's rivers, the other more earthy and passionate, with her mountains. In this sequel to his first book for Penguin, Seven Sacred Rivers, he talks of his second great obsession"Nanda Devi, patron Goddess of Kumaon and Garhwal. Spanning more than a decade, from the Seventies to the Eighties, Aitken's attempts to explore the sanctuary of this most beautiful of Himalayan peaks were not, he admits, those of a professional mountaineer, but of a romantic. Accordingly, what he gives us is, in his own words, -neither a book about Himalayan climbing nor a treatise on hill theology but a diary of mountain relish.' Aitken's deep-seated study of the cult of the Goddess and the folklore and customs of the Kumaon Himalayas is chequered with deliciously acerbic asides on bumptious bureaucrats, the bane of Indian mountaineering, while the true nature lover's concern for the environment is manifest in his anger over the destruction wrought by political motivations and the ambitions of so-called professional mountaineers.
Download or read book Nanda Devi written by Hugh Thomson and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2010-12-16 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of an amazing journey to one of the remotest, most mysterious places on earth Until 1934 the Nanda Devi Sanctuary had never been visited by human beings. Surrounded by 20,000 foot peaks which effectively seal off the mountain at their centre it is virtually impenetrable. But in 1934 Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman solved the problem in the first of their great Himalayan expeditions by forcing a way up the river gorge. The onset of war meant that the Sanctuary remained un-visited for many years and it was then closed to travellers for political reasons. After a brief period in the seventies when it was opened for expeditions the Indian Government again closed the Sanctuary. In 2000 the Sanctuary was entered for one single visit. Hugh Thomson was offered a place on this unique expedition led by Eric Shipton's son, John Shipton and the great Indian mountaineer, Colonel Kumar. This journey forms the basis of the book. Woven through it are all the amazing stories that surround the mountain - a powerful blend of myths and politics.
Download or read book Spies in the Himalayas written by M. S. Kohli and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spies in the Himalayas chronicles for the first time the details of these expeditions sanctioned by U.S. and Indian intelligence, telling the story of clandestine climbs and hair-raising exploits. Led by legendary Indian mountaineer Mohan S. Kohli, conqueror of Everest, the mission was beset by hazardous climbs, weather delays, aborted attempts, and even missing radioactive materials that may or may not still pose contamination threat to Indian rivers.
Download or read book Rage of the River written by Hridayesh Joshi and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2016-06-09 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 17 June 2013, a normally calm Mandakini came crashing down from the hills in Uttarakhand and destroyed everything in its path: houses, bridges, dams and the town of Kedarnath. Thousands of people perished and lakhs lost their livelihood. Three years after the disaster, stories from the valley-of pain and sorrow, the state government's indifference and the corporate goof-ups, and the courage and heroism shown by the locals in the face of an absolute catastrophe-still remain largely unheard of. While the government continues to remain in denial and chooses to ignore the environmental issues in Uttarakhand, the ravaged Kedarnath valley continues to haunt us-though the temple has been restored, given its religious importance and centrality to the local economy. NDTV journalist Hridayesh Joshi covered the floods in 2013, exposing the government's apathy and inefficiency. He was the first journalist to reach Kedarnath after the disaster and brought to light the stories from the mostremote parts of the state: areas cut off from the rest of the world. Woven into this haunting narrative is also the remarkable history of the ordinary people's struggle to save the state's ecology. Rage of the River is a riveting commentary on the socio-environmental landscape of Uttarakhand and is filled with vivid imagery of the calamity.
Download or read book Sri Sathya Sai Baba written by Bill Aitken and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2006-07 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed travel writer and self-described 'spiritual nomad', Bill Aitken tells us why so many - royalty, wealthy industrialists, influential politicians, as well as the poor - flock to Puttaparthi. Sai Baba's message, he reveals, can be summed up in one word: love. It is as simple as it is profound, not unlike how his devotees see the Sai himself - the embodiment of deep spirituality wedded to simplicity, elegance and grace. Yet, the Sai phenomenon is less about producing vibhuti from thin air and more about modern-day miracles - miracles like free schools and universities, super-speciality hospitals which provide free treatment to all and revolutionary projects like the one which has brought drinking water to a million villagers in drought-prone Rayalseema. Aitken's study is neither a hagiographic exercise in myth-making nor a dry, objective account of the Sai's life. While never shy of expressing his deep love and reverence for Sai Baba, he squarely confronts the controversies and criticisms which inevitably dog those who claim acquaintance with the holy.
Download or read book Bhushan Banmali written by Gulzar and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2017-01-19 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gulzar reminisces about an old school poet - an eccentric man named Bhushan Banmali. Bhushan had a wife and a mother but at heart he was a nomad, and one day when their tug-of-war over him got too much, he packed his bags and moved in with Gulzar himself! Suddenly Gulzar found himself at parties full of rum and fried fish and kebabs, overflowing with poetry from dawn to dusk. One day Gulzar and Bhushan pack their bags to go to the mountains, and freezing and tired, they manage to find a spark of generosity to keep their cold nights hilariously warm. Taken from Gulzar's life, these stories will enthrall any fan with a universally heartwarming touch.
Download or read book Becoming a Mountain written by Stephen Alter and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailed as a "wondrous book" by Gretel Ehrlich, and winner of the Kekoo Naoroji Book Award for Himalayan Literature—a journey of healing that becomes a pilgrimage for the soul. Stephen Alter was raised by American missionary parents in the hill station of Mussoorie, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where he and his wife, Ameeta, now live. Their idyllic existence was brutally interrupted when four armed intruders invaded their house and viciously attacked them, leaving them for dead. The violent assault and the trauma of almost dying left him questioning assumptions he had lived by since childhood. For the first time, he encountered the face of evil and the terror of the unknown. He felt like a foreigner in the land of his birth. This book is his account of a series of treks he took in the high Himalayas following his convalescence—to Bandar Punch (the monkey’s tail), Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India, and Mt. Kailash in Tibet. He set himself this goal to prove that he had healed mentally as well as physically and to re-knit his connection to his homeland. Undertaken out of sorrow, the treks become a moving soul journey, a way to rediscover mountains in his inner landscape. Weaving together observations of the natural world, Himalayan history, folklore and mythology, as well as encounters with other pilgrims along the way, Stephen Alter has given us a moving meditation on the solace of high places, and on the hidden meanings and enduring mystery of mountains.
Download or read book Walking The Himalayas written by Levison Wood and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2016-05-24 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following his trek along the length of the Nile River, explorer Levison Wood takes on his greatest challenge yet: navigating the treacherous foothills of the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range. Praised by Bear Grylls, Levison Wood has been called "the toughest man on TV" (The Times UK). Now, following in the footsteps of the great explorers, Levison recounts the beauty and danger he found along the Silk Road route of Afghanistan, the Line of Control between Pakistan and India, the disputed territories of Kashmir and the earth-quake ravaged lands of Nepal. Over the course of six months, Wood and his trusted guides trek 1,700 gruelling miles across the roof of the world. Packed with action and emotion, Walking the Himalayas is the story of one intrepid man's travels in a world poised on the edge of tremendous change.
Download or read book Dearest George written by Alicia Souza and published by Penguin Enterprise. This book was released on 2020-02-17 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yes. I admit. I'm in love. (Ugh!) But let's be realistic- I'm married and when that happens, realism sets in pretty quick. Those recurring used socks on the floor make sure of it! But I'm in love with being in love. The comfort of their human-ness, the warmth of their voice and even the sweatiness of hand-holding of someone you adore. Dearest George hopefully captures that. The everyday kinda love an infinite number of kisses, huge doses of longing when they're away, just a wee bit of creepy stalking, lots of chips eating (one needs special nutrition) & the occasional banter about who made the first move. He DID. (I need this in print so this debate ends once & for all.) PS: He'll tell you some story about a bus and all. DO NOT listen. Close your ears and hum. Trust me.
Download or read book Fallen Giants written by Maurice Isserman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first comprehensive history of Himalayan mountaineering in 50 years, the authors offer detailed, original accounts of the most significant climbs since the 1890s, and they compellingly evoke the social and cultural worlds that gave rise to those expeditions.
Download or read book The Valley of Flowers written by Frank Smythe and published by Vertebrate Publishing. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his delightful The Valley of Flowers, mountaineer Frank Smythe takes you on a botanical expedition to the Garhwal Himalaya. Alongside the author, scale the steep craggy mountains and bathe in crystal clear pools; breathe in the scented foothills of the Himalaya and their carpets of peonies, roses, rhododendrons and gentian. Experience 'the keen, biting air of the heights and the soft, scented air of the valleys'. Climber and adventurer Smythe journeys through the Himalaya's Byundar Pass, climbs the Mana Peak, descends into the Byundar Valley, and comes terrifyingly close to an encounter with The Abominable Snowman. The Valley of Flowers is a pleasurable escape for any climber, walker, mountain lover or gardener, or indeed anyone who needs reminding of the beauty and serenity of the natural world.
Download or read book THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS written by PKS and published by Notion Press. This book was released on 2020-12-10 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Call of the Mountains is a collection of the author’s adventures and encounters with people, fauna, culture and ideas as they persist amongst the rough and at times hostile mountainous terrains of the Indian Himalayas. “…Amongst the rolling forested hills – plying the terrain over the many ridges and ravines – one could run into sambhar, kakar, wild pigs, and even now, sometimes a stray leopard or two. I had plenty of time at hand, no schedule to keep in the world, and my mind had spiralled down to a quiet, to a stillness, to a sort of singularity with being; when all of a sudden, inexplicable and without any perceptible sensory input that I can recall being aware of, I got a very strong feeling that something was watching me, and that I was not alone...” – ‘Snake’ “…Amongst the clump of trees that lay at the base of the hill, crouching low, almost on its belly, and with its right paw extended but airborne in line with its whiskered cheeks, was a spotted leopard. It stood in that bent-down position, its shoulder bones sticking out, neck extended, and its head inches above the ground; its left hind leg was extended behind it, and its right paw was frozen in mid-air. Absolutely still in that position, it was staring intently at a spot I could not see...” – ‘A Leopard on the Prowl’ The Call of the Mountains Close your eyes and in your mind If you can feel the cold chill of morning dew If you can hear the rush of water and smell the pines Then it is calling out to you too “Charming, entertaining & intelligent - A full bodied Mountain Wine!” - The Himalayan Commission
Download or read book Devi written by Mr̥ṇāla Pāṇḍe and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 1996 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Writer and journalist Mrinal Pande sees in strong passionate women who defy the strictures of a male-dominated world, shades of the Goddess. There were many such women in her life, women who succeeded beyond the expectations of men. First, there was her forceful mother, the writer Shivani. Then came Badi Amma, the most colourful woman in this book, her domineering, intellectual aunt. There were the friends who silently lived lives of emotional deprivation till they opted out of the world altogether. There were women who made the news--among them prostitutes, activists and reformers. And there were also the women who preyed on men, in conscious contempt of their vulnerability in the grip of sexual passion. In all these women, the writer sees the original Devi, created by the Gods to quell the forces of evil that they had themselves failed to contain, but quickly dismissed by them once victory was theirs. But the Devi keeps coming back in a myriad manifestations of herself, sorrowing, vengeful, but always the prime mover in the lives of men through the ages...
