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Of all the emotions which surged through me as I stood on the summit of Everest, looking over miles of panorama below us, the dominant one I think was humility. The physical in me seemed to say, ‘Thank God, it’s all over!” However, instead of being jubilant, there was a tinge of sadness. Was it because I had already done the ‘ultimate’ in climbing and there would be nothing higher to climb and all roads hereafter would lead down?
Explanation:
The lesson "The Summit Within" is an inspiring true story of India's most iconic mountaineer named Major H P S Ahluwalia. He was a member of India's first successful expedition to Mount Everest in \(1965\).
Mount Everest
The lesson "The Summit Within" opens with the narrator expressing how he felt as he stood at the summit of Everest. While gazing down into a vast region, he felt numerous emotions rushing through him. He believed that among all the emotions, humility was the dominant one. The fact that he had reached the summit of Everest and it did not fill him with joy. In addition, the sentence implies that while standing in front of nature, the narrator felt humble or lacked pride. His physical, on the other hand, seemed to say, "Thank God, it's all over!" It implies that the narrator wanted to thank God for assisting him in reaching his destination as well as he felt merely glad because everything got over.
However, instead of being happy, the narrator felt a shade or trace of sadness in his mind. He had climbed Mount Everest by facing various climatic changes. He would have felt happy for achieving his goal. But on the contrary, he felt a tinge of sadness in his mind. The narrator questioned himself about the cause of his distress. He believed that the only reason he was sad was that he had done the ultimate in climbing. The statement implies that the narrator had reached the world's highest peak and that there was nothing further to climb after that. Also, he stated that all roads hereafter would lead down. It implies the narrator had climbed over the highest mountain. Therefore, if he wished to climb the other mountains, it would be comparatively smaller than Mount Everest, and all roads would lead him down.
In short, the narrator wanted the readers to know that after reaching Mount Everest, he believed that there would be no other mountains like it and mounting any other peak would lead him down.
Meanings of the difficult words:
S.No | Words | Meanings |
1 | Emotion | A natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstance, mood, or relationship with others |
2 | Surge | Arose suddenly and intensely |
3 | Summit | The highest point of a mountain |
4 | Everest | The highest mountain on earth, situated on the border between Nepal and Tibet in the west of China |
5 | Panorama | A view of a wide area |
6 | Humility | Lack of pride |
7 | Dominant | Most important, powerful, or influential |
8 | Jubilant | Feeling or expressing great happiness and triumph |
9 | Tinge of sadness | To contain a slight amount of sadness about thinking something |
10 | Ultimate | The best achievable or imaginable of its kind |
11 | Content | Feel happy and satisfied or pleased with the situation |
12 | Distress | A feeling of extreme worry, sadness, or pain |
Reference:
National Council of Educational Research and Training (2008). Honeydew. The Summit Within- H P S Ahluwalia (pp.75-82). Published at the Publication Division by the Secretary, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi.
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