Sad Irony

Mount Everest has always been a challenge to many.



In 1996, Andy Harris, a climber, stayed on the peak of Mount Everest longer than others. Later, on his way down, he ran out of oxygen and stumbled upon canisters abandoned by others. He radioed the base alerting that he was running low of Oxygen, and that the canisters he found were empty.


The base camp knew that the canisters were not empty and pleaded with him to use them. He argued back that they were indeed empty. He had become delusional by the lack of oxygen, and to him the canisters of oxygen appeared to be useless.

Sad irony, he died of the lack of oxygen, while his rescue was right in his hand.

His body has not yet been recovered.

Comes to mind a few lines by Kabir:

'And, as "Kasturi" lodged in navel of deer
He seeks it in grass here and there.
Without knowledge of self all else is false'

In life too, the things we search for, are right before us, but we decline to discern them. Let it be love, comfort or peace of mind. We are so hallucinated that we fail to recognise the blessings and abundance right before our eyes. And the resulting search might eventually deprive us of the very same thing we were looking for. I wish I remain content with what I got. For me, there is another phase to it: I wish I knew what am I restlessly looking for.

Hopefully, one day I will realise...