Lofty dreams

Far away from the coral islands of the Maldives, and towering over the icy peaks of the high Himalaya, is Mount Everest. At least five people from the tiny Indian Ocean nation have stood on the windy hilltop yielding this view of the giant, different thoughts running through their minds at the culmination of more than a week of arduous trekking in the high altitude mountain footpaths of Nepal.

Mount Everest soars 8,850 metres above sea-level. At its summit, the air has less than a third of oxygen found in the air at sea level. Yet human beings, who've prepared themselves properly and taken time to acclimatise, have survived on the icy crest without additional oxygen for up to two days. Climbers who summitted Mount Eversest are proof of the vast adaptability of the human physiology and psychology to the very margins of existence.

Back at sea-level here in the Maldives, many people, especially youth, are struggling to adapt to day to day demands of a very different kind. The inability to deal with being dumped by a boyfriend/girlfriend, it seems, is enough for many young people to contemplate and carry out self-harm, often with fatal consequences. Essential life-skills and coping strategies appear to have been lacking in the upbringing of many young people. Inadequate parenting, poor preschooling, and low standards in education with little or no psychosocial support are proving to be a disaster in the making. Many in the mental health profession have said a significant number of young people in the Maldives may be moderately to severely depressed.

I was party to a conversation between a group of cousellors who'd done an informal survey on the number of suicide attempts treated at Male's IGMH Hospital last year. Over a period of month, according to them, there were around 37 cases of attempted suicide registered there out of which seven were successful, many were repeaters and none were referred to psychosocial support.

I have no way of verifying the authenticity of these facts and figures but everyone knows the country has experienced a spate of suicides in the last two years. Many other young people have turned to drugs.

Meanwhile up in the Himalaya, people can't afford the luxury of pining for elusive lovers as they struggle for daily existence in the harshest of conditions. And, a new batch of mountaineers will have started conditioning themselves physically and psychologically to take on the challenges of climbing the world's highest mountain this spring.

I took the picture in this post last spring while on a solo trek to the Everest region, my third visit there. I wondered then if I would ever feel a need to return to gaze at Mount Everest again. If recurring dreams are anything to go by I know now where I want to spend the month of April.