The man responsible for this was Charles E.J. Crawford, who was the President of the Himalayan Club. In fact he continued to publish the Newsletters till 1962, bringing out 19 issues, for it was published sometimes twice a year. To his energies we owe a record of the Club and mountaineering activities. Recently from London,  I had the pleasure of talking  with Charles Crawford who lives in Bath,. Though frail in health, he warmly remembered the Club and his association with the Club and the Newsletter.

Issue no. 6  contained news about the first ascent of Everest. ‘This news which came to us appropriately on  Coronation day has been enthusiastically acclaimed in this country as well as in Britain, a great achievement, the result of superb planning and team work of the highest degree plus luck  of the weather’. The person responsible Sir John Hunt recalls  the events following that historic day in the current Newsletter. Everest team members and leader gave talks  to the Club’s Calcutta Section on 24th June  1953 and to the Delhi Section on 28th June 1953. About 90 persons attended the talk at Delhi. We are told that these were the first talks delivered by the successful team.

A list of Sherpas recommended by the Club is published in the NL 11. One is struck by the famous names amongst the  list and their experiences listed is almost  the mountaineering history of that time. This historical list is a tribute to this gallent band of Sherpas. Without them the history of mountaineering would have been different.

With changing times most of the founding fathers and early members were leaving India. It was thought to organise a reunion of the Club members in Britain. The first ever ‘Reunion of the Himalayan Club members’ was held in London on 10th March 1961.

The Club Reunion referred to previously was held in London on Friday, 10th March 1961, ably organised by V.S.Risoe and T.H.Braham, the latter unfortunately being unable to attend having taken up a post in Pakistan.

More than 60 members and their guests were present including two Founder Members (Mr. Arthur Moore and Mr. E.O. Shebbeare), three past Presidents and other past members of the Club Committee, and two original members of the Mountain Club of India.

Memories of the Himalayas were revived  by the showing of two short films of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.

The next Reunion was planned two years later and the tradition continues till today. The last reunion was held in London on 29th April 1996 and this Newsletter covers the event with photographs.

1963 was the time for change of hands. Soli Mehta took over as the ‘Compiler’ of the Newsletter from issue no.20. (Till the mid 1980s the term ‘Compiler’ was used, until Bill Aitken suggested that it appeared as if the editor had piles ! Since then it is ‘Editor’, who edits the NL !). Travelling between Bombay, Calcutta, Sudan and the rest of the world he maintained the momentum in his characteristic style.

About this time each year, a sense of  inadequacy and a fear of ‘letting down the team’ grips the compiler. Last minute help (as in the normal cowboy films)  always arrives and another Newsletter is issued. (NL 26).

My induction into the team with Soli in 1979 was also as one of the cowboys lassoed in to help. Soli Mehta by then had published 13 NLs and was on his way to Nigeria for a long posting. Soli had done a wonderful job for  17 years, built a good team of correspondents and enlarged the scope of coverage. I wrote in my editorial in NL 33, my first independent issue:

It is hard to continue a tradition, but my task is made easy by the routine he (Soli) set up, the goodwill he created, the files and guidance he offered. I am indeed indebted to him. Soli had nursed it for 18 years and I am literally holding his proud baby.

The baby started to grow and demand attention. In 1984  a Consolidated Index to the Himalayan Club Newsletters 1-37, was prepared by Genevieve deSa. This made all the references in the NL available and increased its reference value. This task was continued by Parul  Shah by completing the balance consolidated Index and today she has complied an updated index to Nos. 1 to 50. My thanks to these pretty ladies ! 

With the passage of time more and more computer references were available. Hence we thought of changing the style of the NL. Instead of covering the range exhaustively it was decided to cover the Indian Himalaya exhaustively (‘Because we are here’) and cover only the exceptional expeditions from rest of the range. A new look, well-printed NL 38 was issued in  1985  where I wrote that, ‘And finally if all this appears like old wine in a new bottle, it is only hoped that wine is mature and to your taste and the bottle a collector’s item!’.

But it was not wine but tea, and lots of it, that nurtured the editors.  Muslim Contractor who joined me from 1988 (NL 41) was a devotee of the brew. He wrote an article in praise of the brew in the issue to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the Club.

Fits One to A ‘T’

The importance of tea to  mountaineering is a subject that needs to be broached if for nothing else, then merely for the reason that most climbers drink it.

He then recalled  importance of tea in training, sorting porter troubles, on rest days and in medical kit. But the best was yet to come.

Once we were accused on indulging in the ‘Colonial habits’ by an erstwhile hard-core and now arm-chair (at the ripe old age of 28) climber who found tea despicable. ... A British friend recently referred to Indian tea as a ‘hideous concoction’ and thus revealed how much taste  he had yet to acquire. A popular story in Darjeeling tells of the late Tenzing’s enthusiasm in this matter. In an interview on American television, he emotionally declared : ‘On Everest, Hillary drink tea, I drink tea. Tea very good, coffee no good’. His hosts (the Tea Board) were very impressed.

He ended with a story which we two had shared.

After every trip, one feels dissatisfied with the paltry portions served by tea shops after getting used  to gulping  a half-litre at a time in the mountains. Initially a baseless modesty used to prevent one  from repeatedly seeking another round. I ceased to be embarrassed after the incident at Bindakoti in Kumaon when, after our porter brought us our eleventh round, the bemused proprietor  came to see his clientele for himself and wondered who we were. Devotees, surely.

 The issue contained a photo of editors keeping fit by drinking tea and made Soli Mehta write in the editorial: ‘Good reading to you -- “let nothing come between you and the flavour of Newsletter” ’ But  in 1989 Soli passed away suddenly and prematurely. K.N.Naoroji, President wrote a warm tribute to him and it was my sad duty to pay tribute to him in the editorial. But it was his humour that rang true, and I had to mention from

‘ “Sholi’s Sayings” -- Newsletter will miss you , XOLI MEHTA !’(see No.42, p. 57 for the original full note).

The Newsletter continued its journey. We introduced a coloured cover, made our coverage selective but wide and covered several related topics. Sections like : ‘Pillars of the Himalayan Club’, ‘Environment’, ‘Anything Goes’  and  many others were introduced.  We received several letters, feedback and generous support. Aamir Ali from Geneva guided us, specially about the environmental matters. Joseph Nyka and the editors of High, Himavanta and Indian Mountaineer allowed us to borrow from their magazines. H. Adams Carter was always around with information till his death.  Hon.Local Secretaries of the Club, specially W.M.M.Deacock (Australia), Nazir Sabir (Pakistan), Elizabeth Hawley (Nepal) and others continue with information and advice.

By late 1996 Muslim decided to head for the greener pastures to Canada and thus there were changes in the editorial team. My co-editors now are two young mountaineers. Monesh Devjani had been assisting the Himalayan Journal for two years and now he joins the NL team.  Recently, Huzefa Electriwala has been working on the NL as well.  Their youthful exuberance was evident  as we produced the 54th issue as a tribute to a tradition. Over the decades,the Newsletter has been produced by enthusiasts like them. Devotees surely.

To them, and all our readers and correspondents I can only say, like Soli would have,  lots of strength to your  writing elbow and may your tribe increase! 

HARISH KAPADIA