We weren't the first
Just finished putting together the images of Nepal (an image grab from which serves as the photo for this post) to show friends and family, with a track pinched from a collection of Tibetan music running in the background. Tomorrow I shall start editing the Tibetan footage.
Much as we'd like to take credit for being the first Maldivians to climb an alititude of 5600 metres, we have to concede that four others beat us to it 15 years ago!
In 1990, four young Maldivian women summitted Kala Pattar, so I'm dedicating the images filmed on my old but robust XL1 to those brave pioneers.
It should be noted that Maldivian women are under increased attack by the religious right and other persons who seem to be looking to the avenue of misogyny to take out their own insecurities. At a recent parliament session one sad individual allegedly went on for more than half an hour about the inferiority of women's intellect. Apparently bigotry is common-place in that institution and tolerated by 'reformists'.
This may be a backlash against the emergence of educated, liberated women in the Maldives and a nostalgic longing for those uncomplicated times when men could persuade themselves that women only existed to raise children and serve their husbands.
For myself, I have always had a sneaky suspicioun that whenever a man tries to force the buruga on others they are really expressing a thinly-veiled desire to wear it themselves.
posted by Al at 9:16 AM
4 Comments:
I think Bushry (who writes Keyoniru column for a host of magazines and websites) should be the first one to don the buruga because he has been advocating it so much and condemning skimpy clothes. Also I think that if all male members of Adaalath Party are hell bent on "purifying" themselves, they should start wearing the buruga themselves and not force the buruga on other womenfolk.
Al, at 5600m high did you sense you were close to a 'calling' from the heavens?
You know Maldivian women are always ahead of their male counterparts, our queen Rehendi Khadija sat in the throne in topless garments. Menfolks still need catching up, but you & your friend can claim to be the first Maldivian males to have conquered the heights of Himalayas.May your spring dream materialize so we get to see more of NPL thru you.
no no one called me from the heavens, but i didn't really mind. it was a three-hour slog up to the summit so i just wanted to sit for a while, savour the stunningly clear himalayan panorama spread around me, cold wind and all, before the equally gruelling climb downhill. actually, there are two summits on kala pattar and most people opt to go to the lesser one of 5545metres, so muha and i may hold the record after all. let's hope the girls in question clarify it for us.
Does it really happen? Do we really get a "calling" from heavens if we climb up high mountains? Is the voice heavy and baritone like the one used in TVM's "Mohamed Rasoolulloahi" program when they require to narrate something in the voice of God? I was always wondering why TVM people think that God's voice was heavy and dark? I always had a positive and rosy view of God, but I guess the guys and gals at TVM does not think so.
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