The club is essentially no more than its members. We have no patrons, no Godfathers, nor do we have any constituency outside our own membership. The club is what we do and what we make of it. We can and do take justifiable pride in our achievements. We must also, equally, take the responsibilities for any shortcomings we recognize.
The Himalaya is not, of course, what it was in 1928, not politically, not in terms of exploration, not in terms of mountaineering, not in terms of people’s attitudes, and, sadly, not even in terms of snow and ice, rock and forest. So the club cannot remain what it was in the past, even in the recent past. Like everything, we must adapt and evolve. I know this has engaged many of us, and several thoughts and ideas have emerged on how we should move forward. Yesterday, at the managing committee meeting we had a good discussion on these topics. We will address them collectively and shape our future.
I'd like to touch on some of them. But before that, I’d like to acknowledge the fine work that has been put in by all the office bearers of the Club in recent months and years, which has been an extremely productive period for the Club. In particular, I would on behalf of us all record our deep gratitude to those who are passing the stewardship of the Club to new hands.
I do wish Dr. Manohar Gill had been able to join us at this AGM. He presided over one of the most significant events in the Club’s history, the establishment of our own headquarters. Dr. Gill played no small role in this, especially in finding resources to bring it about, and in the clubs many other activities. To him goes our tremendous gratitude. Meher Mehta departs one of the vice presidencies after a dynamic tenure, and we thankfully acknowledge his role in guiding the Kolkota section of the club to new heights. He has inspired the club's revival in a city where it was long headquartered.
To the new office bearers of the club, I extend a warm welcome and look forward to working with them.
As I said just now, our founders had great hopes from the institution they established. How are we to keep that hope alive? Our discussions on how the club should go forward in the years to come have only just begun and we welcome suggestions and ideas from all our members.
The Himalayan Club's mandate is a wide one, with prime importance given to climbing and exploration. But it includes extending knowledge of the mountain ranges through science, art and literature. Our core competence is and should remain climbing and exploring the mountains and many of us are thinking of ways of how this can be better encouraged on a larger scale, not only in our own country but with our neighbours as well. We are thinking of how our membership can be increased and how we can cooperate with other, like-minded climbing clubs.
Yet, the time has also come to think more purposefully about the latter part of our mandate. In the early years of the last century, there was little awareness and perhaps no pressing need to pay attention to the mountain environment. We know now that if we don't protect it aggressively, we may have little left to explore and climb. We also are today more acutely aware of the needs of the Himalayan communities, the people who inhabit the mountains who in the past provided essential services of load carrying and access, but today demand and require our attention in other ways. They made our activities possible and we owe them an obligation.
We should, therefore, consider being a more diversified NGO which takes the lead in bringing about greater awareness on these issues and functions as a nodal point, working with others, in trying to influence public policy and thinking on problems we know are already difficult to handle. We are not flush with funds and we don't have material things to offer. We will be limited by what our members volunteer to do. But we do have skills and knowledge in our ranks, and hopefully the ability to influence policy and network with others, including decision-makers in authority.
Let me say again: we should remain primarily focused on our main activities of climbing and exploration. We should aspire to be a treasure house of information, with the best possible website -- which we will soon have -- providing support, advice and encouragement, serving our members in the best possible way. The Himalayan Journal, and now its recent extension in the form of an online newsletter, is an outstanding example of what we can do well.
At the same time, we should consider proactively expanding our horizons into areas that have to do with conservation and public policy, and see how we can help enrich or ameliorate the lives of mountain communities. If our thoughts on our future taken in some of these ideas, we might be furthering the hope of our founders that great things do, indeed, ensue from our activities.
In the immediate future, however, we have our work cut out for us. Next year, in February 2008, the Himalayan Club will be 80 years old. In keeping with contemporary attitudes, I don’t think I'm wrong in believing that today’s 80 is like yesterday’s 50 if not younger! We are a young institution and will remain so if we periodically rejuvenate ourselves. Let's not forget that our anniversary coincides almost to the year with the 150th year of the founding of an even older institution, the Alpine Club, which manages to remain ever youthful even as the years pass.
As an international association, the Himalayan Club will celebrate its anniversary with an international event. We will flesh out our programme in the coming weeks. It will almost certainly take in a get-together around an appropriate theme and hopefully an excursion or two into the high hills. Personally, I would love to see the more active among us mark the year with some impressive exploration and ascents.
We have had a very pleasant morning, with fascinating accounts of remarkable climbing and exploration. I look forward to more get-togethers and to working and interacting with all our members. Thank you.
