By M A Athul
The Nepali Army
Chief General C M S Gurung visited the 22 member Indian Army’s Everest team,
including 7 women members, led by Col Ajay Kothiyal.
He was accompanied by Indian Ambassador to Nepal Jayant
Prasad and Indian Defense Attaché, Col Ajay Pasbola, at the Nepal side of
Everest Base Camp.
The
visit was a great morale boost to the team. He said he had come there with
greetings from the people of Nepal and India and the Indian Army. His advice to
the team was that physical fitness can get one to the Base Camp but it is
mental strength, drive and determination that will get one to the top.
General
Gurung is an alumnus of the IMA and is an Honorary General in the Indian Army.
He has offered a helicopter and a smaller aircraft on a constant standby to
help the team with any exigencies which may arise during the expedition. He
also revealed future plans of joint expeditions between the two armies to be
conducted in India and Nepal in future.
He
also recounted the past joint expeditions such as 2003 Joint Indo-Nepal Everest
Expedition and the recently-concluded Eco-Annapurna Trek 2011. The 22-member
summit team is making the summit attempt between May 15 and 20. They had left New Delhi on March 22. (Edited from an
Army release)
(The writer is a first year PG student of Defence and Strategic Studies with Madras University. He is currently on a 2-months’ internship with Tarmak007 based out of Bangalore. His write-ups need not be news-breaks and indepth in nature; hence should be seen as an ab initio effort by a budding defence journalist. The views expressed by Athul need not be necessarily that of Tarmak007.)