Traveller’s tale: Trek to Everest base camp right before Covid-19 went there

Drinking tea at a kitchen tent at Everest base camp, I could only think how lucky I was. Having walked over 50 kilometres in seven days, I had reached the base camp in perfect shape. I was not tired, nor had I shown any symptoms of mountain sickness. With a cup of tea in my hand and the Khumbu icefall in front, I was breathless. It was not because of a lack of oxygen. It was because I had made it to the foot of Everest all by myself. People had told me not to do this alone, but I listened to none even as Covid-19 was raging in India.

I went on, climbed on slowly but steadily. After two years of planning and cancellation and planning, I was at a place where everyone dreams of coming. The gateway to the top of the world, the foot of the highest peak in the world – Everest perhaps when the deadly coronavirus was also climbing up beside me.