KATHMANDU: Rojita Buddhacharya knew it right from her childhood that she would climb the mountain one day not knowing that it would be the world’s highest mountain — the Mt Everest. Her fancy to mountains from a day she appreciated what her eyes were seeing went on mounting thanks to her surroundings she grew up with.
She grew up in Itachhe, Bhaktapur in the company of her grandfather. Majestic views of mountains with the sky above them with or without the cloud of different colors always hovered at her. It enchanted Rojita — a child then. She would often walk in the balcony of her house to get more of it — the majestic mountain view.
Instant rapport was struck between her and the mountains she saw them so near yet so far. She felt as if mountains were beckoning her with open arms. She developed strange shivering inside. Yes, she was so near to mountains as near as she could communicate with them yet she could not run to meet them.
A silence between her and the mountains got so eloquent that she decided to go to mountains all by herself physically and experience them more while being there in open. She said to herself, ”One day I will meet the mountains and climb at the top.”
She didn’t know when that would happen but she knew it would happen for sure. She remembers her grandfather saying that her mother lived in the moon showing his index finger up towards the sky. Rojita turns morose as she has no memory of her mother except the realization that she has no mother all along.
Her mother had died when she was very small — so small that she couldn’t have any memory of her. She had another reason to go to the mountains and climb atop. She would meet her mother when she would reach near to moon up in the sky standing at the summit of a mountain.
Rojita never knew how her childhood fancy and irrational imagination of reaching the moon to meet her mother who she missed all through her life has been pushing her towards Mt Everest. Irrational though it may seem to others, for Rojita it was so impelling that she was fully determined to reach the summit of Mt Everest and waiving her mother living at the moon for far too long.
She gets emotional while talking to Khabarhub as her heart yearning for her mother even today forgetting the fact that she is a grown-up woman now, ”I wanted to meet my mother, talk to her and see her face while standing at the summit of Mt Everest.”
What a mother means for a girl, Rojita, 26, herself knows more than anyone else. She is still a baby girl for her mother who she wants to embrace and cuddle up. For a mother, you are a child forever no matter how old you are and how many years you have added to your life.
Rojita finds herself lucky to join a team of ‘First Women Journalists Everest Expedition 2018’ formed by Rosha Basnet, a journalist with Rastriya Samachar Samiti. The idea of climbing Mt. Everest struck Rosha who with the help of other four fellow women journalists formed the expedition team. Rojita was approached by Rosha in early 2017 for joining the expedition team while former was doing a play Anne Frank in Yala Maya Kendra, Patandhoka.
Rosha appreciated the sense of duty and commitment of Rojita who was performing in a play even when she received the news of her father’s death just before the play started. Rojita was stunned first as she didn’t have any experience of scaling a mountain but Rosha assured her of not taking it too seriously because the team of women journalists would train themselves all in a playful manner supporting each other in an attempt to climb the Mt Everest.
“The team will undergo training preparation for a year before scaling the prestigious mountain peak – Mt Everest. After a year of training, the team was ready to scale the final destination – Sagarmatha – Mt Everest.
All women team comprised of Rosha, Kalpana Maharjan of Mega Television, Rojita Buddhacharya of Nepal Television and Deuralee Chamling, a freelancer and Priya Laxmi Karki of News 24 Television, (however, abandoned her bid after reaching Camp II).
The team had also conducted an intensive mountaineering training in Dolakha to prepare for their Everest expedition. They had climbed Mt Ramdung (5,925 m) and Mt Yalung-Ri (5,630) in the Rolwaling Valley under the guidance and supervision of renowned climber Phurba Tenjing Sherpa from ‘Dreamers’ Destination Treks & Expedition Pvt. Ltd.
Equipped with previous training and support of all-women team members, Rojita was more than determined not to give up early and go on trying until the last moment of reaching at the top of Mt Everest comes. It was her test of resilience and nothing to do with fulfilling her ambition for an ego trip.
Seeing the Mt Everest for the first time in her life, she had a mixed feeling of both happiness and fear as the physical appearance of the mountain was so huge and scary at the same time, so enchanting and serene but treacherous and dreaded also. “Oh! How can I scale it to reach the top?
“Everest is a miracle both bold and humble. She would reach to the top of the world with the help of her team,” Rojita mustered her courage to get mentally prepared for Everest expedition. She knew very well that a team with a good spirit and passion, without personnel ego and selfishness, will get the success.
She had completed many projects earlier while working in a team which survives more on cooperation and less on money. “Team members never desert others in hour of crisis and challenge”, she shared the value of team with Khabarhub.
On the way to Mt Everest, Rojita was all excited because she wanted to see the Icefall. The structure of Icefall looked so complex and dramatic to her. Further, she was afraid in the popcorn field due to a sound of popping. Phurba ran past her to go much ahead. Later, she came to know that Phurba like her was also caught by the spell of sudden fear and hence ran fast to cross her.
After reaching the base camp of Mt Everest, the entire team took time to cool off. It was the way to go through acclimatization. Rojita shares her experience, ”When I reach the Camp I along with my team, Sherpa was so happy to see us with full of energy. However, I fainted in Camp II as my heart began to beat faster. I still remember I could see nothing and just heard the sounds of utterings of sherpas and guides. I vomited as my head was spinning and honestly believed that death was near. Later on, I was diagnosed to have been caught by gastritis.”
There is a 90-degree elevation as one treks between Camps I and II. One should adopt the techniques of rock climbing and wall climbing while passing in between Camps I and II.
The day May 23, 2018, at 6 am is very important in her life as on this day she reached the peak of the Mt Everest. She was unusually quiet and mesmerizingly speechless sitting on the top of Mt Everest. She could not believe her eyes as to where she had reached — the dream she saw all her childhood was all real before her eyes.
Rojita explains the moment in her own words, ”I was with Phurba Tenjing Sherpa (our expedition leader and my Sherpa at that time) and Goyu (Chinese Climber). Goyu and Phurba hugged each other and congratulated for their achievement. I just looked at them. Then Phurba gave me a khada (a piece of cloth worn around the neck to bestow love, respect, and honor). I was to offer khada to the Mother Chomolunga as a mark of gratitude to make us succeed in our mission.”
She continues to add, “I did the same and broke into tears profusely crying very loud as if something held inside for too long now breaking all the limits to come out in open. I felt my late parents were looking at me and feeling proud of me. I thanked every single living creature of the universe. I welcomed them all by spreading my arms apart and sipped the positive energy on the top of the pristine mountain. It was a fitting value for all the hardships we went through to reach the summit of Mt Everest. My team members thanked all the sponsors, supporters, friends and family members who boosted our morale and confidence to make the Everest expedition all successful. I thanked my Sherpa who never deserted me and got upset with me even while I was stuck in difficult terrain and got unwell during the climb.”
She reminisces, ”Actually, the expedition to Mt Everest began on the very day when we decided to climb the Mount Everest. Every single moment spent on the mountain was memorable for life and at the same time, it was full of risk.
One learns all the important lessons of life while going for a mountain expedition. When I was returning to Camp II from Camp III, I fell in a crevasse. Actually, it was flat ground and I fell there all of a sudden. You never know, when and how you will be in crisis in a journey like this. It’s all about how you see your life and what you do to live. Darwin’s one of the laws of evolution…. Survival for the Fittest… life on the mountain is strong evidence of survival for the fittest.”
She reflects further and gives lessons, ”Well, all I learned from our Everest Expedition is to be humble and respectful to value the teamwork. Be proud of your originality; do not forget who you are in real. Dare to dream and have the courage to live your dream.”
She thanks her team who took the expedition under the banner of the Federation of Nepali Journalists with a slogan ‘Unified Voice for Equity’. “We reached at the top of the world together to raise awareness for gender equality to inspire women and youths alike for promoting tourism in Nepal,” Rojita Buddhacharya insists.
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