IN MEMORIAM

THE HIMALAYAN CLUB OBITUARY

1. Dr J. B. AUDEN
2. PAUL BAUER*
3. GORDON OSMASTON
4. YUKIO MITA
5. COUNTESS DOROTHEA GRAVINA
6. ERWIN SCHNEIDER
7. A. B. GHOSHAL

Class of membership and year of election

 

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BORN IN YORK, England, on 14 December 1903, John Bicknel Auden graduated from Cambridge University. He joined the Geological Survey as Assistant Superintendent in November l')26, being the last European to be appointed to the permanent cadre of Survey. He was engaged in the initial years of his service in the re-survey of the Ranigunj coalfield but from 1929 was detailed for field work during the winter seasons in the Vindhyas and in the summer lor the detailed surveys of the outer Himalaya. Based on his field work, lie brought out later a Memoir on the Vindhya formations. The Himalaya (I.limed his special interest and attention for ten years and besides the official surveys undertaken he participated in six expeditions to the high r.inges between the Karakoram and Sikkim thus usefully utilising his I uropeans furlough. The results of his findings were described in a series of papers on the Himalayan structure and glaciation. He was one of the founder members of the Himalayan Club established in 1928. In 1937, he joined the Shaksgam expedition under the leadership of Eric Shipton and for four months worked in the mostly unexplored glaciers and watersheds of the high Karakoram and Aghil ranges with the K2 (8611 m) as the only fixed point. A keen seismologist, he is one of the authors of the Survey's Memoir on the Bihar-Nepal Earthquake of 1934. He was elected to the Indian National Science Academy in 1938.

The Second World War brought an end to his work in the high mountain^' and from 1939 his attention was devoted to mineral enquiries, water supply problems and engineering geology. Obtaining the pilot's 'A' license in 1939 he made reconnaissance flights over the then unmapped areas near Rohtas in connection with pyrite mineralisation in the Bijaigarh Shales. He was the Petrologist of the Survey in 1940 and in 1944-45 remained in charge of the mica-production section in Rajasthan. He was elected President of the Geological Institute of Presidency College, Calcutta in 1940. He was a part-time Professor at the Presidency College, Calcutta between 1940-42. He became a Superintending Geologist in 1945.

Since his return in 1945, after a five-month study tour of the Bureau of Reclamation and Tennessee Valley Authority in U.S.A., he took over charge of the then newly created Engineering Geology and Groundwater Division of the Survey to investigate and report on the various water supply proposals to civil and military establishments, townships and municipalities as well as on the feasibility of major dam projects proposed by both the State and Central Governments. Between 1945 and 1951, he had investiqated almost all the major dam sites, hydro - electric projects, irrigation works and water supply problems throughout the country including the multi-purpose projects such as the D.V.C, Hirakud, Bhakra, Beas, Rihand, Narmada, Tapi, Koyna, Vaitarna, Mattupatty, etc. He carried out investigations for suitable dam sites across the Kosi and Kali Gandaki rivers in Nepal, the Ganga, Yamuna, Satluj, Beas, Jhelum, Teesta and other major Himalayan rivers. His groundwater studies in the arid western Rajasthan, Kachchh and Quetta are noteworthy and paved the way for modern geohydrological studies by the department. By his original contributions he was an acknowledged authority in India on engineering geology and groundwater.

He was awarded the Sc. D. Degree of Cambridge University in 1947. He-became the Deputy Director in charge of Mineral Development in 1949-50. He was unanimously elected President of the Geology and Geography Section of the 38th Indian Science Congress Session in 1951. He left the Survey to better his prospects in 1953 and after serving for 18 months in Sudan, joined and served the Burma Oil Company, London, for the next five years.

In 1960, he was invited to join the Land and Water Resources Division of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organisation in Rome and served as their expert in Afghanistan between 1960-62 and then on upto 1969 made several trips to India, Ceylon, Nepal, Afghanistan besides working In Turkey, Crete, Nigeria, Congo-Brazzaville, Argentina, Uruguay, Panama and South Korea. In 1967, he represented the Royal Geographical Society, London, at the centenary celebration in Rome of the the Italian Geographical Society. On his retirement from the F.A.O., ha served for two years the Geological Society of London as its Vice-President and the Geological Society of India as its Foreign ' Secretary.

His scientific papers cover a broad spectrum and include original contributions on the Himalaya, Vindhyas, dykes of Western India, ur-Satpura hypothesis glaciation, engineering geology, groundwater, cement and puzzolans, etc. More recent publications include those oh tlie geology of Afghanistan and on seismicity in Maharashtra with I.E. Gubin.

He had married Sheila Bonnerjee, daughter of the Calcutta barrister R C. Bonnerjee and granddaughter of W.C. Bonnerjee, the founder President of the Indian National Congress and leaves behind two daughters Rita and Anita. His brother W. H. Auden was a noted poet.

A dedicated scientist Dr Auden was also a writer of distinction and a lover of fine arts including painting, music and literature.

Dr Auden passed away at London on 21 January 1991, aged 87 years. He was cremated on the 29th after a Mass at Westminster Cathedral. As per his wishes, the ashes will be immersed in the waters of the Ganges at Rishikesh on 14 December 1991.

Rita Auden

(Also see note at the end of the Article 6 in the present issue. — Ed.)

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PAUL BAUER is dead. The great Himalaya-Bauer is no longer with us. In 1987 I had the good fortune to become personally icquainted with him, as a guest in his house on the edge of Munich, when he was made an Honorary Member of the Austrian Alpine Club. Otherwise I would have said: 'What, was he still alive?' Somehow, ever since I started climbing, his name has had for me the aura of something ‘big’. Paul Bauer was then already a relic from that heroic ptrlod of discovery, when the Himalaya was still terra incognita and not yet the target by fand sundry. That makes it difficult to realize that this man was also our own contemporary!

*Paul Bauer was an Honorary Member of the Himalayan Club.

After a 93rd birthday celebrated in good spirits, and a short illness from which he appeared to have nearly recovered, Paul Bauer died peacefully on 8 January 1990 in Munich, in the circle of his family. This marked the departure from the scene of the Nestor and the last of the great German Himalaya pioneers.

Already in 1919, when he returned from captivity after the end of the First World War, Bauer was filled with the burning desire to venture into the mountains of the world and to open access to the high peaks of Asia for German mountaineers. In 1928 the Caucasus was for Paul Bauer the first attainable goal of this kind, just as it was for me 30 years later. Our tracks, though greatly separated in time, met on the NE ridge of Shkara. The Caucasus was his springboard for the Himalaya.

In 1929 and 1931 Paul Bauer led the two expeditions to Kangchenjunga which after heroic battles and difficult ice climbing reached heights of 7400 m and 7700 m on the NE spur (Camp XI. 7360 m).

In 1932, at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, Bauer received the Gold Medal of the literary competition for his book Um den Kantsch. In 1936 a small expedition to Sikkim led by him made the first ascent of Siniolchu (6879 m). In 1937 he led the recovery expedition to Nanga Parbat which dug out the seven mountaineers and nine Sherpas who had been buried by a huge ice avalanche in Camp IV, and in 1938 he was again active on Nanga Parbat as leader of an expedition.

The list of the names of his companions reads like a Who's Who of the leading German-Austrian mountaineers of that time : among them Eugen Allwein, Peter Aufschneiter, Fritz Bechtold, Adolf Gottner, Hans Hartmann, Karl Kraus, Hermann Schaller, Hias Rebitsch, Ludwig Schmaderer 'and Carlo Wien. Although the time was not yet ripe for an 8000 m summit, the experience gained by these expeditions formed the basis for the successes of the 'decade of the 8000-ers which started in 1950.

It would go far beyond the scope of an obituary to give the details of these Bauer expeditions; they can be found in his four books. His Himalayan expeditions are described together in the book Paul Bauer which was produced by our-member (of the Austrian Alpine Club) Gerhard Klamert and the German Himalaya Foundation on the occasion of the 90th birthday of the great man. Paul Bauer had in fact been, in 1936, one of the founding members of the Foundation.

In the Second World War Bauer was for much of the time Director of the Army Mountain Training School in Fulpmes, and in between he served as a Major in the fighting in the central and western Caucasus.

Paul Bauer, a notary by profession, had been a member of the Austrian Alpine Club since 1929, his final membership number being 19. On 12 February 1987 he was made an Honorary Member of the ilub. The same distinction was bestowed on him also by the AAVM Munich, his section of the DAV and the mountaineering club GORSKI of Warsaw. In England he was received by members of the royal family, and he nearly became vice-president of the Alpine Club, so steeped In tradition. All this underlines the international stature of the deceased. Together with his family, the Austrian Alpine Club and many mountaineers everywhere mourn the departure of a great pioneer of the Himalaya and an outstanding man.

Erich Vanis

(We thank Peter Rieder for permission to publish this translation of an obituary in the Osterreichische Alpenzeitung, March/April 1990, and Norman Dyhrenfurth for his assistance in the matter. Reprinted from the Alpine Journal with kind permission of the editor. )

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Born on 29 December 1896, Paul Bauer can rightly be considered as the main motivator of the German overseas activity before World War II. His years of Alpine climbing were rich in accomplishments, one of his partners was Wilo Welzenbach. But the closest to his heart were expeditions to Asian mountains.

In 1928 he held the first after World War I German expedition to the Caucasus, pioneering new routes on Dykhtau (5204 m) and Shkara (5204 m), establishing good contacts with the Soviets. In 1929 he was a leader of the German Kangchenjunga expedition which explored the east buttress, climbing to the height of 7200 m. Two years later he was again at the Ostsporn. His team lost two members but the top i4 the buttress (7700 m) was reached. In 1936 Paul Bauer was in this area once again; Siniolchu (6887 m) which was called by Freshfield I lie most beautiful mountain of the world', was climbed by Adolf. Gottner and Karl Wien.

In 1937 Dr Bauer flew to Gilgit and went to Nanga Parbat with the s.id funeral mission after the German tragedy. Next summer he was on Nanga Parbat again. His team found dead bodies of Willy Merkl find two Sherpas and reached the high point of 7300 m.

Paul Bauer was a thorough determined leader, of strong drives, who never settled for anything but the best. His expeditions were organised In the spirit of German nationalism, will of battle and self-sacrifice. As a successful jurist (notary) he had a busy life but never lost his links with mountaineering. He realised early the need for an institution promoting national mountaineering. Along with Fritz Bechtold he established in 1936 the German Himalaya Fund (Deutsche Himalaya-Stiftung) and after the war of 1939-45 was its president, during long years having a hold on the German overseas activity. It is impqssjble to think of Paul Bauer without remembering his wide writing work. Paul Bauer's books were reissued and translated into other languages. Some English editions are: The Himalayan Campaign (1937); Himalayan Quest (1938); Kangchenjunga Challenge (1955); The Siege of Nanga Parbat 1856-1953 (1956). His first book — In Kampf um den Himalaja — was awarded the world's most distinguished prizes the Olympic Gold Medal at Los Angeles. Dr Paul Bauer died at Neubiberg, Munchen on 8 January 1990.

J. Nyka

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GORDON OSMASTON, a founder member of the Himalayan Club, died on 31 October 1990 aged 92. He was born in India and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1916, winning the M.C. on active service in France. Posted to India in 1919, he was involved for two years in fighting on the Northwest Frontier, but then transferred to the Survey of India. After further training in India and England, he carried out surveys in remote and often mountainous parts of the Kashmir Himalaya, Burma, the Northwest Frontier, Assam and the Sind Desert, but the climax of his career as a working mountaineer was in the three years 1936-38 when he explored and mapped the Himalaya in Garhwal and Almora-districts of the U.P. Shipton and Tilman had made their exciting discovery of a route into the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in the previous year so Gordon persuaded Shipton to take him there to survey it in 1936. One of the Sherpas in the party was. a young man, Tenzing Bhutia (better known later as Tenzing Norgay), who accompanied Gordon on all his subsequent journeys over little known passes and glaciers, establishing survey stations at altitudes of up to 6000 m. They came to rely closely on each other's strengths and abilities, during their last field season together Tenzing collapsed with fever on the way down from the Unta Dhura pass to Milam, and Gordon had to carry him part of the way back. Twenty years later, after Tenzing had climbed Everest, they met again in John Hunt's garden in England.

After serving in Iraq during the 1939-45 war, he retired to the Lake District in England and started a fresh career as a schoolmaster, teaching boys not only maths but also the skills and pleasures of rock-climbing, fell-walking and sailing, till his second retirement at the still active age of 72.

Henry Osmaston

(Full tribute will appear in H.J. Vol. 48)

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YUKIO MITA who died on 11 February, 1991 at the age of 91, had been a Honorary Member of the Himalayan Club since 1989.

He was born in Yokohama on 31 March 1900.

While he was studying economics in Keio University, Tokyo, he joined the Keio University Alpine Club, and climbed Mt. Yarigatake and Mt. Hotaka in the Northern Japanese Alps in March 1924. It was the first successful winter ascent in these ranges.

In 1925, he joined as a member of the first Japanese expedition overseas, achieving the first ascent of Mt. Alberta (3619 m) in the Canadian Rockies, with Yuko Maki as the leader.

In 1926, after the graduated from Keio University, he joined Senda Shokai Co. Ltd., Singapore, because his interest to climb in Himalayan mountains in India was so strong that he selected his job in that area. Later he was transferred to its head-office in Calcutta, thus he worked and stayed in India until 1932.

In 1931, he travelled to Kulu area and went up to Rohtang pass in winter. After the Second World War, Nepal opened its borders. In 1953, at the age of 53, he led the first Japanese Manaslu expedition. This time, they reached 7750 m, as highest point reached by Japanese parties, and they found a good route to the summit of Manaslu (8154 m).

In 1963, he joined the Himalayan Club. In 1964 and until 1986, he served as a Honorary Local Secretary of the Himalayan Club for Japan.

In April 1968, he was elected to be the President of the Japanese Alpine Club and served till March 1973.

In May 1973, he gave a speech on 'History and today's situation iif mountain climbing in Japan' at the International Mountaineer's Meet in Darjeeling. In November 1973, he was elected as a Honorary Member of the Japanese Alpine Club. In September 1989, he was elected as an Honorary Member of the Himalayan Club.

While he was in his post of Honorary Local Secretary of the Himalayan Club for. Japan, he made efforts to bring success to the following expeditions :

Indian-Japanese Women's Expedition to Kailas, 5556 m, May 1968. Indian-Japanese Women's Expedition to Kamet, 7756 m, May 1976. Japanese Women's Expedition to Kedarnath Dome, 6831 m May 1980.

HIROYOSHl OHTSUKA

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IVOR RICHARD'S lines about the earlier Dorothea give an idea of the qualities they shared — unquenchable enjoyment of mountains and adventurous travel and refusal to be defeated by age :

Her climbing started at 4 years old, on the roof of her home in Yorkshire. In the 1920's she travelled in South and East Africa, and climbed Kilimanjaro, possibly the first ascent by a woman. From 1934-9 she lived in the Italian Tyrol and climbed and skied in the Alps, ski mountaineering with her uncle Binnie, a founder member of the Alpine Ski Club and with her husband, also a very competent skier.

At 50, in 1955, she joined a beginner's course in rock climbing with Gwen Moffat, who found her the oldest and keenest of the group, and probably the most competent. She joined the Ladies' Alpine Club that year and the Pinnacle Club the next. From that time she climbed and travelled compulsively. In 1956 she climbed in the Alps and Britain and did several guideless ascents with her son Chris, including the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa.

In 1959 she joined the Women's International Cho Oyu Expedition .md took over the leadership after the leader, Claude Kogan, Claudine Van der Straten and two Sherpas died in avalanches. She climbed to 7300 m on the rescue attempt.

In 1962 she led the Pinnacle Club Jagdula Expedition in West Nepal, which climbed an unnamed peak 6412 m (21,040 ft)¹ and Kagmara I, II and HI, all first ascents. She was on all the tops except the first, which she missed through temporary illness. Dawa Tenzing was the Sirdar on this his last expedition. Dorothea contributed generously to the fund set up to help him in illness and old age.

 

In 1963 she was President of the Pinnacle Club and rode out to the Alps on a moped for a PC/LAC Meet in Zinal. In 1966 some young tigers met her for the first time on an LAC Meet at Saas Fee and were impressed by her fast and competent climbing, particularly her lead on the north ridge of the Weissmies where she raced ahead of other parties. The verdict was : 'We were very proud of Dorothea'. She was unique loo in carrying a tent and firewood up to huts and camping outside. Those who drove with her found her fast driving more frightening than any climb but it never led to disaster.

1967 was a good year, with a traverse of the Weisshorn by the Schalligrat and the Peuteret with two bivouacs in bad weather.

In 1970 Dorothea travelled to South Africa to visit her aunt Marjorie, mostly by native bus and lorries. In 1971 she took a bus from Clapham Common to Agra — 'so much more amusing than flying' — and across Iran and Afghanistan to Kathmandu. She engaged two Sherpas to trek with her to Everest Base Camp. She went on to make a circuit of Annapurna and climb Dhampus peak — nearly 6000 m. She continued to South India, mostly by bus, then by cargo boat to Mombasa. She visited Tanzania, Zambia and the Victoria Falls, with some climbing on and around Table Mountain. She was back in Europe for the LAC Dolomite Meet, including the traverse of the Funffingerspitz.

In 1976 she was still climbing and camping at 71. She attended the ABM SAC Meet in 1989, her last Alpine Meet. In 1990 she bullied her doctor into giving her a certificate of fitness for an RGS cruise to the Antarctic. He was wrong — she had no time to make this trip before lie died.

Margaret Darvall

(Reprinted from the Alpine Journal with kind permission of the editor)

 

 

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AN UNUSUAL LIFE, unconventionally led, has ended. It was marked by outstanding achievements in the mountains of his home and of the world. We should remember it; it should be an example to fill the young with enthusiasm.

Erwin Schneider was born on 13 April 1906 in Joachimstal in Bohemia; he attended the modern secondary school in Salzburg, passed the school-leaving examination in 1924 and then began to study mining at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin. He graduated in 1934 as a qualified engineer.

While still at school he had carried out (from Salzburg) sensational climbs on the Untersberg, on the Bischofsmutze and in the Tennengebirge. He called them 'sins of his youth', but very likely these early exploits were already marked by the characteristics which enabled him to grow famous and old as a mountaineer : he was quick, incredibly tough and strong in performance, he was good in assessing risks, using, his head and his intuition, and he had the necessary pocketful of luck.

While still a student, Schneider participated in three big expeditions : in 1928, 22 years old, to the Pamir, where he climbed eight peaks of over 6000 m, finishing with the first ascent, together with E. Allwein and K. Wien, of Pik Lenin (7135 m); in 1930, under G. Dyhrenfurth, to Kangchenjunga, when he made the first ascent of four 7000ers and, with Jongsong (7449 m), the ascent of the highest peak climbed at that date; and, in 1932, in the Cordillera Blanca, he made the first ascents of seven peaks, including Huascaran (6768 m), the highest mountain of Peru. In 1934, on Nanga Parbat, he was extremely fit and performed outstandingly with Peter Aschenbrenner, but the summit was denied him. After his retur-n from this tragic expedition (three climbers and six porters lost their lives), he was treated with great injustice. He never recovered from this treatment, but maintained an iron silence. In all these expeditions he was present first of all as a climber, but in addition as assistant surveyor to help with the survey activities. In 1936, in the Cordillera Huayhuash (Peru), in addition to five first ascents, he carried out for the first time independent survey measurements and their evaluation.

In 1939, when Schneider was 33, he made a winter ascent of the Biancograt and suffered such severe frost damage to both feet (already damaged by frost on Pik Lenin) that all the toes and the bones of the middle foot had to be amputated. The doctors prophesied he would be limping on crutches for the rest of his life. Schneider answered with a ‘tired smile' and embarked upon his great period as daring skier and mountain surveyor.

 

During the Second World War, and the years immediately following It, he created the basis for the Alpenverein-Maps of the Otztal Alps rind the Arlberg region; and the photography of the Everest region in 1955 was his greatest achievement up to that time; the Everest map has become world-famous. Only he himself exceeded this achievement through his work as Director of the Survey Team of the German Research Enterprise Nepal-Himalaya (1959-1974), when about 11.000 km2 of mainly severe high-mountain country in E. Nepal was photographed and measured out for maps. The same period also saw his photographic and evaluation work for the three Alpenverein-Maps of the Wetterstein mountains, for the map of Mt Kenya (1963) and of Huascaran in the Cordillera Blanca (1964). His last project was put into practice in 1983 on the Lewis Glacier (Mt Kenya); this gave him the greatest pleasure on the occasion of his 77th birthday.

Erwin Schneider was a great all-round mountaineer, always according to the motto: 'the longer, the steeper, the better', which led to his exceptional achievements as a mountain surveyor. His maps formed the principal basis for the work of aeroplanes and satellites in the field today, not only for mountaineers but also for earth scientists of all kinds. This was his central aim : to contribute — through the combination of sports and survey activity — to the exploration of mountains, of the 'uneven territory'. That is what he lived for. He was unstintingly generous in handling on the benefit of his experience and, without reservation, he passed on his store of pictures and maps to anyone interested. He always generously supported the young, and often took them along to the greater ranges at his own cost. This sparked off the careers of many young mountaineers and explorers. With his style of life it was not always easy to live with him; he could be demanding, and it required skill and stubbornness to oppose his ideas and his iron will.

He refused all honours and invitations to make public appearances; but he appears to have accepted (as a recognition of his achievements) the designation excellent! in litteris granted by Innsbruck University (1959). and the title of Professor (1975) bestowed by the Federal President on the basis of a unanimous proposal from the Faculty of Philosophy. He retained his style of life to the end and in December 1986 had his 'last fling', making extensive surveying trips in Nepal. Although he was not supposed to go above 3000 m, on this occasion he flew with an Indian pilot, in an open plane without oxygen mask, up to over 7000 m towards Kangchenjunga. After 56 years he was delighted and moved to be able to see once more the camp-sites, routes and summits which had been the scene of his first arrival in Nepal in 1930 : the country which had become his second home. On his return he immediately made plans for a new flight to the Cordillera Blanca; but this was not to happen.

Erwin Schneider was granted a life that was fulfilled, enviably without routine and active to the end, a life which allowed him to pursue his interests and desires single-minded. His wife Adelheid made this possible. He died in Lech on 18 August 1987, in his 82nd year, 'Forget me' was one of his favourite leave-takings. Sorry, Erwin — that's not possible. 'End of the message' — that's better.

Dr Gernot Patzelt

(Translation of a biographical notice kindly communicated by Norman Dyhrenfurth.)

(Reprinted from The Alpine Journal, 1990-1991, with the kind permission of the editor).

 

 

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ASI GHOSHAL TOOK the charge of the Himalayan Club as the Hon. Local Secretary of Calcutta Section from Kamal Guha. At that time he ran the Club activities smoothly against many odds with the guidance of Jagdish Nanavati, Hon. Secretary of the Club.

Asi was a Life Member of the Club from 1971 and served on the Managing Committee from 1986 till death. He became treasurer in 1977 and continued till 1981. He acted as Hon. Local Secretary and equipment officer in 1976, for Calcutta Section. He was devoted to the Himalayan Club affairs and his absence will be much felt.

Asi was born on the 26 October 1945 at Calcutta. He finished his schooling from South Point School at Calcutta. He completed graduation in engineering from Jadavpur University, Calcutta in 1966. He joined Voltas Ltd. in 1967 and served there till his untimely death. He served at Calcutta, Bombay, Muscat and Sara in various senior technical management positions. Asi's love was for reading books specially on mountaineering photography and music. He travelled a lot and had personal contacts with many club members and mountaineers.

Asi was a keen trekker. He trekked to Guicha la in western Sikkim and the Donkhya la in north Sikkim, Beas Kund in Himachal Pradesh. Pindari in Kumaon Himalaya in U.P., Karcha complex area in Himachal Pradesh and many others. He tried to locate the old hut of the Himalayan Club and had a plan to renovate it. But it could not materialise due to reasons beyond his control.

He was associated with the Himalayan Association. Calcutta and in 1965 became a member. He took over as a liaison member and helped lo organise the Tirsuli expedition in 1965 under the leadership of K. P. Sharma and also the expedition which made the first ascent of Tirsuli in 1966 under the leadership of Chanchal Mitra organised by the I Himalayan Association. He was a member of the Hardeol expedition in 1967 organised by the Himalayan Association under the leadership of Chanchal Mitra. He was a member of the Mukerbeh expedition and member of the Nandakhat expedition to Kumaon.

He was a bachelor. He is survived by his retired father, younger sister, an architect, and his two brothers. At his sudden death, we have lost an energetic mountain lover and sincere friend. The Himalayan Club lost a very active and dependable member.

May his soul rest in Peace.

Nitai Ray

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In passing away of Asi Ghoshal the Himalayan Club has lost a devoted member whose void will be difficult to fill.

Ghoshal took over the office of Hon. Local Secretary, Calcutta in 1975. During his tenure, Ghoshal kept the Sectional Activities going and took steps to keep the Club's flag up at Calcutta from where in 1971 the Principal Office of the Club had to be shifted to Bombay for want of local infrastructure. Upon Ghoshal's transfer to Bombay he was inducted on the Committee and became Hon. Treasurer in 1977 and served as such till 1981 when he went abroad on duty. Upon his return, he was again inducted on the Committee in 1986 and in 1990 shouldered much of the duties of the Hon. Treasurer.

Ghoshal’ s commitment to the cause of the Club was intense. He would help in various chores at my office by periodically coming to attend Club papers and other matters.

He was a top executive engineer in a wellknown company making air-conditioners and had to travel a lot. Whenever he got the chance he visited the Himalaya — for climbing and trekking. He had a quiet bearing and was a bachelor at 45. He was an avid reader and attended drama whenever he found the time. A good and dependable comrade is lost by the Club at so young an age. It is persons like Ghoshal who make up the Himalayan Club for what it is.

Jagdish Nanavati

 

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