IN MEMORIAM

1. LIEUTENANT COLONEL JAMES OWEN MERION ROBERTS, LVO, MBE, MC
2. BERNARD PIERRE
3. Lt. Col. CONRAD REGINALD COOKE, OBE
4. ICHIRO YOSHIZAWA
5. UMA PROSAD MOOKERJEE
6. SAMBHU NATH DAS
7. PROFESSOR HIROTOSHI FUKUDA
8. DICK BANKS
9. HUKAM SINGH
10. From Gurdial Singh Collection.
11. THE HIMALAYAN CLUB OBITUARY

 

 

 

Jimmy Roberts who died in Pokhara on 1 November 1997 aged 81 was not only a very able and distinguished soldier and great friend of so many officers and soldiers in the Brigade of Gurkhas but was very widely known and admired outside military circles too. His life-long love of mountaineering, Gurkhas, photography, ornithology and conservation of wild life all focused on Nepal and it was there that he spent the second half of his life. He never married, and his wish to be cremated in Pokhara, in sight of the spectacular Machhapuchhare, and for his ashes to be scattered on the waters of the Seti khola summed up his devotion to his adopted country and its people.

Jimmy was born on 21 September 1916, the only son of Henry and Helen Roberts. His father was Headmaster of a school in Gujarat, and Jimmy spent his early years in India. Later he went to the King's School Canterbury and the Royal Military College Sandhurst.

After being gazetted 2nd Lieutenant Unattached List Indian Army on 27 August 1936, Jimmy joined the 1st Battalion The East Yorkshire Regiment in India. A year later, in November 1937, he was appointed to the 1st Gurkha Rifles. He served with the 1st Battalion on the North West Frontier before the war and was Adjutant to the Regimental Centre in Dharmsala from 1940 to 1941. When 153 Gurkha Parachute Battalion was being raised in October 1941 Jimmy was among the first to join, and he remained with it in India and Burma until after the war. He carried out the first operational mission of 153 Battalion, being parachuted into north Burma with a few men to seek information about the Japanese in the Myitkynia and Fort Hertz areas. This earned him the Military Cross which he was awarded in September 1942. In March 1944 he commanded A Company at the Battle of Sangshak where he led a counter attack to push the Japanese off the perimeter. For several unfortunate reasons there was very little official recognition of any gallantry in that desperate and influential battle and Jimmy was among the many who got nothing; not that he would ever complain. It was said that at this time he kept all his climbing gear for use in better times in a tin trunk labelled 'A Company Sports Kit'. For his services in Burma Jimmy was mentioned in despatches in June 1946.

In December 1947 he transferred to the 2nd Gurkhas, joining the Regimental Centre at Dehra Dun as Second-in-Command. After the move to Malaya he was posted to the 1st Battalion, joining in Singapore in June 1948. He spent the next seven years, until October 1955 mostly at Second-in-Command but with a short spell as a company commander, and officiating as Commanding Officer on numerous occasions, the longest being from December 1951 to 1 May 1952. He proved to be extremely talented and efficient at all these jobs; he was clever, expressed himself clearly and honestly, often bluntly, and he was a forceful leader. He was mentioned in despatches in May 1953 and made MBE in May 1955 in recognition of his services during the Malayan Emergency, but it was the regiment's loss that he was never made Commandant of one of the battalions.

In October 1955 Jimmy was appointed Deputy Recruiting Officer at Lehra and on 10 October 1958 he became Military Attache, Kathmandu, and Temporary Lieutenant Colonel. There were two highlights of his tour of duty there. The first of these was the King of Nepal's visit to the United Kingdom in October 1960. Jimmy accompanied the Royal party and was awarded the Order of Gorkha Dakshin Bahu (3rd Class) for his services. The second was Her Majesty The Queen's visit to Nepal in February 1961 when he was made MVO (4th Class, later converted to LVO) for his work in helping with the arrangements, and accompanying the Queen on her visit to Pokhara. He handed over as Military Attache to Charles Wylie in October 1961 and retired in May 1962 with an Honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

By then Jimmy had decided to live and work in Nepal, and using his unique knowledge of the Himalaya combined with his skills as a leader and administrator and his long experience with Nepali people, he invented 'trekking' as a tourist attraction. He started up the company, 'Mountain Travel Nepal', which remains the major successful operator in a field which has grown to some 350 trekking agencies which together make a big contribution to Nepal's economy.

Jim Edwards (Hon. Member GBA), owner of the Tiger Mountain Group in Nepal which owns the Tiger Tops operations as well as Mountain Travel, knew Jimmy since 1962 and worked and served with him since 1974. Jim Edwards states that apart from Jimmy's organisational ability, his care and love of the Sherpas, his moral fibre, unyielding honesty and volcanic temper, when aroused, Jimmy Roberts had a great sense of humour. Even in the most dramatic situations, Jimmy could see the funny side and very often leaving others around him at a loss as to why he was laughing or smiling.

For many years Jimmy's greatest love was climbing. As a young man he climbed in the Lake District, the Alps, Norway and Austria. In 1938 he joined the Masherbrum expedition and recalled the horrors of helping to bandage blackened stumps of fingers lost to frostbite. The war put a stop to serious climbing, although during one short leave, Jimmy managed a spell in Sikkim. After the war he devoted almost all his leaves to mountaineering, on one occasion the Karakoram, and once spending two months with Charles Wylie climbing many peaks in the Alps. In 1950 he climbed with Tilman in the Annapurna massif. He was on the Himalayan Committee's shortlist to lead the 1953 Everest expedition and although not chosen, he willingly organised the collection and carriage — by 70 porters — of the delayed supply of the oxygen cylinders and associated equipment from Kathmandu to the base camp. When they arrived John Hunt invited him to join the expedition but Jimmy declined and went off instead to explore the high country south of Everest. In doing so, he made the first ascent of Mera, 'rather over 21,000 feet and not difficult', he said. In November 1954 he made another first ascent, this time of Putha Hiunchuli, 23,750 ft. and in 1957 he led the expedition which got off to 150 ft below the summit of Machhapuchhare (22,960 ft.). Charles Wylie said that was a more difficult climb than Everest. On the mountain Roger Chorley (now Lord Chorley) was struck down with what was later diagnosed as polio, and Jimmy personally escorted him, carried in a basket on a man's back from the mountain to hospital in Pokhara and then returned to the expedition. It was typical of Jimmy's care and consideration for others. By 1960 Jimmy had become a great Himalayan mountaineer and knowledge of the hills was unsurpassed and legendary. That year he led the British, India, Nepalese Services Expedition which climbed Annapurna II. In 1967 the Royal Geographical Society awarded him an Honorary Fellowship in recognition of his services to Himalayan exploration, and for some years he was local secretary of the Himalayan Club.

Jimmy was cremated with Buddhist rites on 2 November and then on the 5 November the cortege moved from the Mountain Travel office to the Seti river just north of the British Gurkhas Recruiting Post in Pokhara. Among those attending this farewell were several dozen Sherpas families, Sherpas guides and of course his loyal staff headed by Bobby Gurung his adopted son, many who had been with Jimmy for more than 30 years.

Lt. Col. Willie Bickett read the obituary followed by speeches from the British Defence Attache Col. Sandy Blackett, the British Ambassador, Jim Edwards, and several of his oldest friends. Then Jimmy's ashes and Buddhist offerings were confined to the Seti river, by Bobby Gurung. Two buglers sounded the Last Post followed by two minutes silence and Reveille which brought the moving Memorial Service to a close.

For the last few years of his life Jimmy suffered from painful arthritis, hip operations and several other afflictions but he gave them little attention and hated medical treatment. He suffered in silence and became something of a recluse, living a spartan life. But he continued his association with 'Mountain Travel Nepal', and to run his pheasant and wildfowl farm near the lake in Pokhara where he never failed to give his friends and visitors a warm welcome. And there he died, a man of charm and ability, kindly and generous, honest and outspoken, shy, modest, brave and tough. We mourn his passing but in Virgil's words — meminisse juvabit — we shall delight in remembering.

Field Marshall Sir John Chapple

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During his years of army service, Jimmy Roberts acquired an international reputation as a mountaineer in unexplored areas of the Karakoram and Himalayan ranges. This period of his life included membership in an unsuccessful expedition to the Karakorum's unclimbed Masherbrum (7821 m) in 1938 and regimental climbs in Kulu and Spiti in 1939. He was asked to join a British expedition to Everest in 1940, but of course the war prevented it from taking place (but he did manage an attempt up to 6100 m on Kangchenjunga in 1942).

In 1950 he joined one of the first teams permitted by Nepalese authorities to explore and climb within Nepal, a British party led by Bill Tilman on the northern side of the Annapurna range. In 1953 he delivered late-arriving oxygen supplies to base camp for the historic British Everest expedition and then went on to nearby Mera Peak (6654 m) to make its first ascent. (He returned to Everest on three other expeditions after his retirement from the army, in 1963 as the only non-American member of a highly successful team, and in the early 1970s.)

In 1957 he led the almost-successful climb of Machhapuchhare, the fishtail peak that dominates Pokhara's landscape and which he took as his favourite mountain. He was perhaps proudest of his 1954 ascent of Putha Hiunchuli, a 7246-metre mountain west of the Dhaulagiris, on which he led a small four-man exploratory team in an alpine-style climb in the first attempt by anyone to scale the mountain; he and Ang Nyima Sherpa were the successful summiters.

Elizabeth Hawley

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Bernard Pierre was born on 27 July 1920 in the best French society. Doctor in economy, he held a trading office at the Paris Stock Exchange. But after WWII, he was strongly attracted by mountaineering and exploration. When he met the most famous French guides, Lionnel Terray, Louis Lachenal (1st on the summit of Annapurna with Herzog in May 1950), Gaston Rebuffat, Jean Franco, he dedicated his life to mountaineering and exploration. He achieved (in the years 1946/50) some very hard climbs, such as : second ascent of Piz Badile north face, a famous vertical face near Saint Moritz in Switzerland (1st ascended by Cassin in 1937), the Dru north face and many hard routes in Hoggar (Algeria).

The first expedition he organised was to the Peruvian Andes: to the Salcantay, 6271 m, a difficult unclimbed mountain in Cordillera Vilcabamba in 1952. He reached the summit with Madame Claude Kogan, a small woman, but one of the best alpinist of that period, (Claude Kogan perished later on as leader of a woman expedition to Cho Oyu in 1959).

He met Marcel Kurz, the famous Swiss geographer and a spesialist of the Himalaya. Kurz said: 'there is a 7000 m virgin peak in Kashmir, Nun Kun. It will be exploration.' In fact, Kun had been climbed in 1913 by Piacenza. Nun more difficult, remained virgin after 3 unsuccesfull British attemps, in 1934 (Harrisson and Waller), in 1937 (Waller), and in 1946 (Berry). The project was set up for summer of 1953. Expedition team included Bernard Pierre (leader), Claude Kogan, Pierre Vittoz who was a Swiss priest at Leh, Michel Desorbay, doctor Guillemin, and two Indian LO and climbers: Lieutenant Jayal, and Captain Johorey. A little Sherpa team was managed by Ang Tharkay.

Camp 3 was established at 6400 m the 21 August 1953, on the west ridge. On 23 August, they were forced to go down due to bad weather; during the descent, 3 people including Pierre were injured in a big avalanche. On 27 August, Pierre climbed again to Camp 3 whith Claude Kogan, Pierre Vittoz, and Sherpa Pemba Norbu.

Camp 3 had been devasted by an avalanche and they organised a new camp . On 28 August, en route to the summit. Bernard Pierre, still suffered from his injury and was forced to stop at 6800 m.

Vittoz and Kogan continued the ascent of the west ridge, with difficult ice and snow cornices, and reached the summit on 28 August 1953 at 3 p.m.

On return, the French Ambassador in Delhi proposed to Pierre to meet Pandit Nehru : 'He his a mountaineer, and his family is from Kashmir' he said. Hence Pierre met Nehru, young Indira Gandhi, and boy Rajiv.

Pierre related about his expedition in a famous book 'A mountain named Nun Kun', which was translated in 9 languages and received world success and literature prizes.

He organised some other mountaineering expeditions to Iran, Ruwenzori (Kenya) and Caucasus. He dedicated himself to exploration all over the world, and became a specialist of the great rivers: Nile, Mississipi, Ganga, and others. He has probably the only man to have visited 5 sources of the Nile : 3 sources of the White Nile, and the 2 sources of the Blue Nile.

He published 19 books, and produced many films. His major books are : Face a l' Everest (1953, with Eric Shipton), Salcantay, geant des Andes (in french, 1953), A mountain named Nun Kun (1954) and The Nile (1974)

His culture and experience made him a famous lecturer. He was member of the elitist French 'Groupe de Haute Montagne', and Past President of the Society of the French Explorers, Honorary member of the Alpine Club, the American Alpine Club, and the Himalayan Club.

Bernard Pierre was greatly attached to his wife Roselyne, who was also extremely active in the same field. She died two years before him.

Bernard Pierre will be remembered as a very fine person, considerate to others, a real gentleman, and an authentic humanist as in the olden days.

Bernard Pierre was a grand Monsieur.

Bernard Odier

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Reggie Cooke was a man of many parts. A Civil engineer who specialised in communications, he played an important part with the Indian Posts and Telegraphs in developing telephone and radio links throughout northern India, Assam and Burma. In 1940 he joined up and served in the Indian Army for two years, in Headquarters XV Corps in Burma and later as Officer Commanding a battalion of the Indian Signals Corps. He retired after 25 years' service in India, following a brief assignment as Chief Engineer in the new Pakistan Government.

In his leisure time, Reggie took advantage of his family's long-standing links with India, where he was born in Mussoorie in 1901, enjoying those generous periods of furlough between the wars to roam in the forests and hill country of Kashmir, Assam and Sikkim. Big game hunting was a conventional sport for privileged Europeans, and Reggie duly bagged two tigers (which he later regretted). A keen motor-cyclist, he displayed his spirit of daring by driving his machine in the hair-raising 'Wall of Death' at a local fair while on leave in the UK. Acting as a member of the crew in his uncle's yacht in the annual Round- the-Island race from Cowes, he dived overboard during a storm when the boat sprang a leak (and eventually sank) to investigate damage to the hull. The crew were rescued by the local lifeboat in dramatic circumstances.

Reggie learned to fly light aircraft when stationed in Calcutta; while on home leave he bought a DH Gypsy Moth plane and shipped it to India after some hazardous flights in England with his wife Margaret as his passenger. Such was the young Reggie: enterprising, adventurous and fearless.

But there were other sides to this talented man. He shared with my wife and myself a fascination with the numerous and varied bird and butterfly populations in SE Asia. Unknown to each other, he and I had made large collections of butterflies which, after the war, were set out for us in display cabinets. Reggie was inventive, resourceful and clever with his hands. Using his wife's sewing machine, he made various articles of clothing for his expeditions. He designed cylindrical aluminium shields to conserve the heat in Primus stoves: a design which he supplied for the 1953 Everest expedition.

It was Cooke's adventurous spirit which led him, despite a lack of previous experience in mountaineering, to team up with a young gunner officer, Wigram Mattys, to attempt the ascent of Kolahoi (5425 m) in the Kashmir Alps in 1926. They followed the route pioneered by Neve and Mason 15 years earlier, along the easy east ridge; it was typical of Reggie's enthusiasm to have a go at another 'risk' sport.

His ambition to reach for greater heights was fired by that first experience; a trek in Sikkim opened his eyes to the magnificent massif of Kangchenjunga. The twin summits of Kabru, in particular, caught his eye. 'Was this first view of eternal snows a vision into the future?' he wrote. It seems to have been the case for, in 1935, he climbed the north summit of Kabru solo, his Swiss companion Gustav Schoberth succumbing to altitude sickness at their top camp. His team of Sherpas included the famed Angtharkay with whom Cooke formed an abiding friendship. It has been claimed that W. W. Graham may have first climbed Kabru (7338 m) in 1883, but Cooke is generally credited with the first ascent. He was wrong, however, in claiming that he had established a height record which stood for 18 years. Kamet (7756 m) had already been climbed in 1931, and three other peaks higher than Kabru were climbed before 1953: Nanda Devi (7816 m) in 1936, Tent Peak (7365 m) in 1939, and Annapurna (8091 m) in 1950. After this achievement, Reggie's ambitions soared even higher. Despite his limited mountaineering experience he turned his attention to Kangchenjunga itself. It was at this stage that he and I met, through the good offices of Joan Townend, honorary secretary of the Himalayan Club in Calcutta. We had both been attracted by the southern buttresses of Kangchenjunga's peak I, which presents an obvious challenge to climbers who view the great peak from Darjeeling. But I considered that the sheer scale of the mountain wall which rises from the Talung glacier would be too great an undertaking for so small an expedition as ours. On reflection, we preferred to prospect the approach to the north col of Kangchenjunga from the upper reaches of the zemu glacier; this would provide a greater choice of other climbs and would, incidentally, be a more appropriate area for my wife who was a novice at the time.

It was undoubtedly Cooke's greatest mountaineering feat when he, with Pasang Kikuli and Dawa Thondup, climbed the formidable wall leading to the north col to within 2-300 ft of its crest. He was only deterred from completing the climb by the bombardment of loose lumps of ice and stones which were swept down the final ice slope, propelled by the west wind.

A no less daring, if different exploit was Reggie's return to Darjeeling over the Simvu la with three of our Sherpas. They forced their way down the Passanram gorge to reach the Teesta, after a week's desperate struggle through dense jungle. The party was probably saved from starvation by the fortuitous discovery of a dead wild pig which had recently fallen from a crag.

In his book Dust and Snow, Cooke made no mention of our last expedition, early in 1940, when he and I, with our wives Margaret and Joy, set up camp in the Perek chu, planning to climb Forked Peak and Pandim. We had already carried stores for a bivouac to within 1000 ft of the summit of the former mountain, and viewed a promising route on Pandim, when I received a peremptory summons to return to Darjeeling for a posting to Europe. This was Cooke's last expedition and, so far as I am aware, he never climbed again. He was elected to the Alpine Club in 1939, allowed his membership to lapse in 1941; but he rejoined in 1946.

John Hunt

 

 

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Ichiro Yoshizawa, a member of the Himalayan Club since 1965 and also an Hon. Member of the Japanese Alpine Club, succumbed to illness and suddenly passed away on 22 January 1998 at the age of 94. He had been in good health and continued to work on his historigraphic studies of the Himalaya and Central Asia until November last year, but then had a slight cerebral infection and was hospitalised. His health improved, but then he suddenly choked to death on a piece of food which lodged in his windpipe. His funeral was held on 26 January with Buddhist rites, and many friends including Harish Kapadia attended.

Yoshizawa started mountaineering in 1922 when he entered Tokyo Commercial College (present Hitotsubashi University) and founded its mountaineering club with his friends. He was most active in mountaineering in the 1920's and 1930's when mountaineering was still in the infant stage in Japan. He actively participated in pioneering works then, and made several first ascents in valley climbs and ski ascents of high mountains which were peculiar to Japanese mountaineering scenes.

It was in 1961 that his dream to climb high mountains with glaciers outside Japan came true. He chose the Andes as his target with information provided by his longtime friend, Nicolas B. Clinch and others, and led the 7-member Hitotsubashi University Andes Expedition which was successful in climbing 17 peaks including 11 first ascents in Cordillera Blanca (Peru), Cordillera Apolobamba (Bolivia) and Cordillera Pupuya (Bolivia).

He himself achieved the first ascent of Cacahuaicho (5450 m) in Cordillera Apolobamba.

He devoted his life to the development of Japanese mountaineering and exploration in various fields. He served as the Vice President of the Japanese Alpine Club from 1968 to 1972, and was elected as an Honorary Member of JAC in 1977.

In 1970, taking a hint from Austria's HKT (Hindu Kush Tagung), he established the Japan Hindu Kush Karakorum Conference (JHKT), with some of his friends, for the purpose of exchanging information and deepening knowledge of the area. It is very active still.

In 1974, he visited Venezuela, Columbia, Peru and Bolivia as the General Manager of the Japanese Inner Amazon Exproling Expedition. In 1977, he served as the General Leader of the Japanese K2 Expedition organised by the Japan Mountaineering Association. Under his leadership, it succeeded in the 2nd and 3rd ascent of K2 from southeast ridge. He stayed at the base camp (5200 m) for 20 days despite his age of 74. It was memorable that he had built up a worldwide network of correspondents with whom he regularly swapped information and contributed to Japanese mountaineering by voluntarily playing a role of a liaison on international basis. He represented Japan at the UIAA General Meeting two times in 1968 (London) and in 1977 (Mexico City). He was always keen in introducing overseas current information into Japan, and at the same time made efforts to report Japanese mountaineering activities to international community. His article 'Mountaineering in Japan' (AJ 1974) is one such examples. He was also a member of the Alpine Club, the American Alpine Club and the Canadian Alpine Club.

He had a large personal library and loved to read and to study. He wrote many books including his autobiography Yama-e (1980, Bungei-Shunjuusha Publishing Co.), and also introduced many fine books on mountaineering translated into Japanese. They include Edward Whymper, by F. S. Smythe, 'The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus, by Lord G. N. Curzon, Ney Elias, by G. Morgan and Nothing Venture, Nothing Win by Sir. E. Hillary. He will be sorely missed not only by the Japanese but by friends in many countries.

Hiroshi Nakajima

 

 

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He was born on 12 October 1902. As it was the Bijoya Dashomi day, his father Sir Asutosh Mookerjee used to call him Biju and so did the seniors. He was the third among four borthers and his elders were Justice Rama Prosad and Shyama Prosad Mookerjee. So he was called Sejka (third uncle) by his juniors. Gradually he becames Sejka to three generations of mountain lovers. To the people of the Himalayan regions, particularly of Garhwal and Himachal he was Prosadji.

He studied in Mitra Institution, Presidency College and Calcutta University. He passed BA (Hons)in English (stood first) and MA in Ancient Indian History and Culture with Fine Arts as a special paper. Finally he did LLB in keeping with the traditions of his family. He obtained first class in all these examinations and also received Manekji Rustamji Gold Medal and Duff Scholarship.

Then he worked as a lecture in University Law College and practiced as an advocate in the Calcutta High Court. His hobbies were painting, photography, tennis, football and vocal music. His forte were sketches and Rabindra Sangeet. He was even a referee in first division football matches in Calcutta.

During his rich and eventful life he was closely associated with the stalwarts of his age like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, Dwijendra Lal Roy and Sarat Chandra Chatterjee.

Soon after his entry in the literary world, he emerged as the editor of the popular Bengali monthly Bango Bani, published from his residence. He showed exemplary courage to serialise Pather Dabi, the classic master piece of Sarat Chandra, in this journal. It was banned as soon as it was published as a book.

He visited the Himalaya for the first time in 1928, when he took his mother Jogmaya Debi to Kedar-Badri. It was a love at the first sight. He followed it up with at least 50 Himalayan treks.

Charmed by the Himalaya, he began to translate its grandeur in his inimitable Bengali prose. Beginning with Gangabotaran in 1953, he wrote more than 26 travelogues, mostly on the Himalaya.

These became rare assets of Bengali literature and inspired Bengalees to go deeper into Himalaya and other little known areas.

On 12 March 1960, he founded Himalayan Association (then Himalayan Institute) and was its first President. But he had to resign within a few months after an unfortunate incident.

Sejka became a life member of the Himalayan Club in 1944 and its Honorary member in 1990.

During his last Himalayan trek to Panch Kedar in 1980, I was lucky to have met him on the way. I was with a different group. But while at Tungnath, I stayed with him for most of the time. People flocked to see him. But what did they see? Sejka pumping his stove furiously and then handing over a mug of tea to me. All were shocked, except of course myself and Sejka.

He carried camera with him till about 1970. But his excellence as a photographer was a closely guarded secret. His readers were not aware that he could capture the spirit of the Himalaya in pictures also. This was revealed during the closing stages of his life, when he became keen about their proper preservation and storage. Photographic Archives of India came forward and held an exhibition. A few of them were published under the title A Himalayan Album on 28 May 1994.

He was ailing for a long time. Only about 15 days before his demise, he had to be shifted to the intensive care unit for haemorrhage in the brain. He passed away there on 12 October 1997, which was his 96th birthday. It marked the end of an era.

K. K. Guha

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He was the son of Sukhlal Das and was born in his maternal uncle's place in Bangladesh on 20 September 1920. After spending his school days in Jessore, he graduated from Asutosh College. Then he joined Calcutta Port Trust. After retirement he suffered a prolonged illness and passed away on 25 August 1997.

He had the first glimpse of the Himalaya in 1953 from Kashmir. But his interest was then confined to Tagore and Bengali culture, which led him frequently to the National Library.

His first article appeared in Porichoy in 1961. His first Book Notun Manob Samaj was published in 1966. It included an article on Rahul Sankrityayana, giving his life sketch and a list of his books. While working on it, his interest turned to Himalaya and he completed a Basic Course from NIM in the same year. This was followed by his traveloque on Amarnath in 1968.

In the seventies, he became more serious about Himalayan trekking and trekked extensively from Kashmir to Bhutan. Simultaneously he joined several expeditions and delved deep into various Himalayan mysteries and controversies. His well researched write ups on these subjects began to appear in many Bengali and English periodicals. In 1970, he visited Nanda Devi — Trisul region and came out with an article on the mystery of Rupkund. He trekked in the Tons valley in 1972 and wrote Durjodhan Draupodir Deshe, the best Bengali book so far, on the inhabitants of this region. He joined expeditions to Kalindi, Trisul, Kedarnath, Thelu-Koteswar, Kamet — Abi Gamin and Kirti. In the process he made nine trips to Gaumukh.

In the eighties, he became a member of the Himalayan Club (1981) and wrote a series of articles on expeditions from West Bengal. These made an immense impact on the youth and sustained their interest in mountaineering. He wrote out that Gopendra Nath Dutt became the first Bengali summiter as early as in 1951, when he climbed Island Peak (now Imja Tse). A popular Bengali daily was persistently claiming that Nanda Ghunti (1960) was the first expedition from West Bengal. He proved that the honour should go to Pandim (1953). He also began to serialise in Himavanta, his articles on the passes in Himachal, which he unfortunately could not complete.

His last outstanding work was Radhanath Sikdar O Biswer Sarbochcho Sringo in Bengali.

Nitai Ray

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Professor Hirotoshi Fukuda passed away on 8 June 1997. Professor Fukuda was a representative figure in Japan as an alpinist and as a scholar and an educator in German literature.

He was a member of The Japanese Alpine Club and The Himalayan Club. Professor Fukuda accomplished the ascent of Pethangtse (6710 m) as the leader of the St. Paul's University's Himalayan Scientific Research Party in 1964. Having become acquainted with Tatsu Kambara of the Japanese Alpine Club through this expedition, he was introduced to Lt. Colonel C. Wylie, military attache to the British Embassy, who proposed him as a life member of the Himalayan Club.

As the Director of St. Paul's University Alpine Club, Professor Fukuda led and climbed almost every high mountains in Japan. Through his efforts to obtain permission to climb Kavkaz, a Central Asian Mountain which was yet to be opened to Japanese parties, St. Paul's University Alpine Club became the first Japanese party to accomplish the ascent of West Summit of El'brus (5642 m).

Professor Fukuda's voluminous literary work include many books and translations on mountains and explorations such as A Journey to Barun Glacier, The Soul of the Mountains, Literary Journey in the Mountains, and several translations of Sven Hedin: Harald Lechenperg, Gunter Oskar Dyhrenfurth, Heinrich Harrer and Herbert Tichy.

Taro Nakamura

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Dick Banks, who died aged 94, had two successful careers, first as an industrialist and later as a noted gardener.

Banks was best known for his work in developing the 50-acre Herefordshire garden of Hergest Croft, begun by his father towards the end of the last century. It is now one of England's great woodland gardens, and open to the public every day in spring, summer and autumn.

Dick Banks built up one of the finest collections of trees and shrubs in the country, with several thousand species and forms, many of great rarity. Some 60 of the mature trees have been registered as British champions for their size, and three national collections of trees — maple, birch and zelkova — are held at Hergest Croft.

Richard Alford Banks was born on 11 July 1902, into a family of country bankers at Kington, Herefordshire, where his ancestors had lived for three generations. In middle age he returned there to take over his forebears' passion for treeplating.

In 1926 he was sent to India to study opportunities for the exploitation of soda in industrial processes. Later he was appointed managing director of the alkali division of ICI, and became involved in the production of polythene, an ICI patent, and its introduction to American markets. He joined the main board of ICI in 1952.

On retirement from industry, Banks decided to devote himself to horticulture on the family estate. During the war the house at Hergest Croft had been requisitioned, and later let. Banks built himself a log cabin in the grounds, from which he directed reclamation of the huge woodland from its neglect over the way years.

In spite of the great area his garden covered, and the range of species grown there. Dick Banks knew all the plants intimately and always protested that he was not an estate owner but 'a hands-on gardener'. The Royal Horticultural Society acknowledged his contribution to horticulture with the award of the Veitch Memorial Medal in 1983.

Banks married, in 1936, Lilian Walker, who died in 1974; they had two sons and a daughter. He married secondly, in 1976, Rosamund Gould, who survives him. His son Lawrence took over the stewardship of the garden in 1988 and has continued to enrich the plantings.

(From Daily Telegraph)

 

 

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On 4 April 1998 a Hukam Singh¹ passed away in New Delhi. As per his wish, his ashes immersed in the Ganga at Haridwar. A large number of his near and dear ones were present at the cremation ground. His body was consigned to flames with full I.T.B. Police honours. Sadashige Inada, President of the Himalayan Association of Japan was at the cremation ground. After collecting the ashes he drove with us to Haridwar. He also took an urn containing ashes to be dispersed over Fujiyama in Japan.

 

Hukam Singh was close to me as a friend and a relation. This was also because his wife Pushpa, my elder sister's daughter was born and brought up in our household. My wife knew him from childhood as they both were class mates in Vth standard in the Primary School at Milam (in summers) and Bhainskhal (in winters), the mobile school shifted each year with the migratory population till the Chinese War of 1962 and the closure of Indo- Tibet border trade. Hukam's father died when he was only 4 years old, leaving behind a son and widowed wife with no permanent source of livelihood. Her mother's will to survive was well known in the entire valley and also for carrying the heaviest load of her household belongings during to and fro migration each year. Both he and her mother did hard work in fields at Milam to grow potatoes and other coarse grain. Hukam at times helped to sell milk and helped her in spining wool so that mother could weave woollen articles for their needs and cash balance to be sold in the Uttarayani fair at Bageshwar held in the month of January. Despite poverty, she was keen that her son should be educated in the newly opened Government High School at Tiksen, Munsiary. Each summer she could save and spare some cash, a small sack of rice and few other dry edibles for his schooling. Hukam Singh on her return from Milam in October provided her with the last helping of rice- meal, such was the bond of love and affection between the mother and the son. It was God's kindness that she passed away a few years back and not be a witness to death of her son.

Hukam passed 10th class (Matric) from Munsiary where school teachers and principal remembered him as an exceptionally bright student who also excelled in sports, dramatics, other school and village cultural activities like 'Ram Lila'. Amongst his school mates he was their natural leader who gave necessary help and tuition to needy students and also voluntered to be a cook for the group of students staying together in the village. He performed as a lead singer in the morning prayers in the Primary School. He always appeared active, smart and cheerful. As he had no means to continue his studies, he joined Army as a 'Jawan' and later qualified as an Emergency Commissioned Officer. Thereafter, he like a Karma Yogi never looked back and availed of all opportunities which came his way. Apart from being a professional soldier — Addl. Dy. Inspector General of I.T.B. Police — he summitted nine peaks in India and abroad, planned 29 expeditions including the latest successful expedition to Aconcagua (22834 ft) in the Andes, South America around the end of January 1998, under the auspices of his newly formed 'Indian Adventure and Mountaineering Association'. To the ITB Police he was mountaineering advisor before his death, he was many times national Ski Champion and was father of skiing in ITBP especially at Auli, near Joshimath. He was a member of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. He held the unique distinction of successfully leading expeditions to Everest and Kangchenjunga. He was the Secretary Winter Games Federation of India.

A recipient of Indian Police Medal for meritorious service, President's Police Medal for distinguished service, IMF Gold Medal for distinguished mountaineering, and Padmashri (1992), he was honoured in 1994 by Government of UP with award of Rs. 1 lakh and commendation. In the same year, he received the National Adventure Award from Government of India.

At 59, Hukam defied age — born (1938) in remote Darkot village Munsiary (Pithoragarh) — he was a self made man in real sense. He held positive views, always vigorous, cheerful and busy planning new ventures to achieve higher goals. To an untiring man like him 'life itself was an expedition'. Apart from leading an Everest expedition from the North Face (Tibet side), his heartfelt desire was to promote tourism, skiing and mountaineering especially in the proposed hill state of Uttarakhand. He had formed a trust in the name of his mother to help financially weaker boys and girls to undergo mountaineering and other adventure courses. His hobbies were photography, reading and writing. Apart from many articles, he wrote two books, Kangchenjunga, published in 1994 and Indo-Japanese Kangchenjunga Expedition 1991 co-authored by him and Yoshio Ogata in Japanese, published by the Himalayan Association of Japan.

He was everready to oblige anyone in need. He was willing to take up any assignment. He was a great talent spotter of world class mountaineers like Santosh Yadav, only woman to climb Everest twice and she respectfully admits Hukam as her 'Guru'. To name few others whom he spotted: S. D. Sharma, Kanhaya Lal and T. Smanla.

On the penultimate day of his death he was in full senses. He even dictated a letter addressed to one of his Japanese friend and appeared calm and peaceful. We felt that he was quiet and not talking probably to conserve energies. Despite the fact that he must be having acute pain, he did not express it which explains his keen desire and bold character to reach 'summit of life' and was struggling hard with single minded devotion, for he had many unfinished tasks in hand. But the cruel hands of destiny did not permit him to do so.

We can now only pray to Almighty God to rest his noble soul peace. He is survived by wife Pushpa, elder son Yogesh, daughter Arpana and younger son Raju.

H. C. S. Rawat

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I first met Hukam Singh when he was already a well-known mountaineer. We exchanged several letters, notes and ideas about expeditions. Whenever I planned an expedition he was helpful. One thing that struck me most was that he was well- loved by all his team-mates. Though they were his juniors in rank, he treated them as equals and that earned him respect.

After the I. T. B. Police climbed Everest, under Hukam Singh's leadership, the team members were invited by several Police organisations all over the country to give talks. One day the entire team landed in Bombay but on a festival day. The Bombay police force was busy for the next two days and all functions were postponed. Hukam Singh phoned me with his predicament. I suggested he should come over, may be with one or two of his team members to my home and we can spend an evening together. Immediately he said that if he was to come anywhere the entire team will come with him. He was not to leave behind his members in a hotel to feast himself, even with a friend. This trip he treated like his duty.

So almost 20 persons crammed into my small flat. But it was an evening to remember. Many of the leading climbers in India were there with him and like true mountaineers they made themselves at home — they dined, shared jokes and we all had a wonderful time. But I could see that all of them adored 'Sir', as they called Hukam Singh. And reasons were not far to seek. If someone was sick he had looked after him, if a climber had died on the expedition Hukam Singh saw to it that his family had received full benefits soon, and in more ways than one he had selected them, helped them and put them on path to greater climbing. They were leading names in the Indian mountaineering field today and they owed it to Hukam Singh in some ways.

I met him several times during my visits to Delhi. Either smartly dressed in his office, informally at a hotel or relaxed in his house, he talked only one thing — mountains. We shared many topics about mountains, differed on some subjects and helped each other in several projects. When I met him last time he was sick and looked pale. But that glimmer of hope was still there. I said if he needed any help from Bombay just let me know. He smiled and said 'Of course I will contact you, who else ?'

To comfort him I mentioned that he had come back from several expeditions successful despite adverse conditions. This sickness is one such 'trip' from which he will recover and it will be one more success against odds. But it was not to be. His health deteriorated too fast and he departed for the last trip.

I shall always miss him, Hukam Singh, a leading mountaineer of India.

Harish Kapadia

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