Darjeeling,TT. Jan. 25: More than half-a-century after he became the first one to scale Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary and 25 years after his death, Tenzing Norgay Sherpa’s name has been recommended for India’s highest civilian award posthumously.
His family and the Sherpas feel that a wrong has been set right with the ministry of sports and youth affairs proposing Tenzing’s name for Bharat Ratna.
The names of late hockey wizard Dhyan Chand and Olympic gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindra have also been recommended by the ministry for the award.
Jamling Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the son of the legendary mountaineer and also an Everester, said: “We are honoured that Tenzing Norgay Sherpa’s name has been recommended for the Bharat Ratna. All along we had thought that the achievements of my father had been forgotten. We are grateful to the Sherpa community in Darjeeling, the brotherhood of mountaineers and to countless people from all over India who have lent their voices in support of a simple man who inspired our nation while it was still in its infancy.”
Many in Darjeeling, including the mountaineer’s family, used to rue that the highest award Tenzing had received from the Indian government was the Padma Bhushan in 1959. They noted that many other countries had conferred their highest awards on Tenzing.
“He received the George Medal in 1953, the highest award for a non-British, Iran Shah Medal and Nepal Tara. He had also received the USSR Sports Special Medal, Special Olympic Medal, French Sports Special Medal, Italian Sports Special Medal, Coronation Medal of Queen Elizabeth II and many others,” said Jamling.
“We are happy that his achievements nearly 60 years ago are still celebrated and continue to inspire the youth of our country and the whole world.”
Tenzing had scaled the peak of Mount Everest along with Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953.
The recommendation of the climber’s name for the Bharat Ratna was the outcome of the Centre’s decision to broaden the ambit of the award. According to a notification issued by the Prime Minister’s Office recently, the Bharat Ratna will be awarded to recognise excellence “in any field of human endeavour”.
Earlier, the award had been restricted to exceptional achievements in fields such as “art, literature, science and public service”.
Ever since the government changed the rules, the United Sherpa Association had been raising the demand that the Bharat Ratna be bestowed on Tenzing. The demand stemmed from the growing feeling in Darjeeling that the mountaineer had been forgotten with the death of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Jamling had earlier said: “Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and to some extent, even Rajiv Gandhi, were close to Tenzing but things changed after them.”
The Sherpa family said Nehru had decided to open the Himalyan Mountaineering Institute — India’s first school to train climbers — in Darjeeling only because Tenzing hailed from the hills. Tenzing breathed his last on May 9, 1986, at the age of 71.
Post a Comment
We love to hear from you! What's on your mind?