Iranian climbers, Puya Keyvani, Aydin Bozorgi and Mojtaba Jarahi went missing while descending after conquering the Broad Peak in Northern Pakistan. Rescue efforts to locate the three climbers have failed so far.
Iranian mountain climber Parasto Abrishami posted a letter on her blog “Khak”, written by Aydin Bozorgi prior to his departure for Broad Peak and had asked her to publish the letter after they start climbing the mountain.
While Aydin’s faith in the cold and treacherous Himalayan mountains is unknown, the following is what he wrote prior to his departure:
In the name of Broad Peak and with the hope for change,
You and I are one voice
That with all the melody it contains, is singing a more beautiful anthem
You and I have the same sight
That with a fresh perspective, refreshes the world every moment
Hatred
For whatever stops us, whatever confines us, and whatever forces us to look behind.
Hands
That draw an audacious line through falsehood
You and I have the same fervor
Higher than any flame, so never will failure prevail over us
For because of love we are brazen
And the swallow who has nested over our shelter
With it’s sudden arrival
Will make brimful the home that has lost it’s God
Ahmad Shamlo (Iranian poet)
This is us, we are here again, together, yet alone. We are here not out of selfishness, not for personal glory. We are here out of love, out of passion, out of pride.
We are here for growth, for the pinnacle, because of insanity, we are here for the end, the end of a beginning, an end with the promise of an ambitious beginning.
An end that is not an end, an end that lays the foundation of a beginning, and supports a beginning, it is the bullet eradicating all inabilities, all inferiorities, all confinements and repetitious entrapments.
Yes, it is a riddance bullet of all that is idle, all that does not leave and all that does not reach destinations.
It is as a sunset for all these erosions, and a dawn for the rooting and blossoming. It is the delightful scent of change, and stamping “void” on all that is stagnant.
We want it to belong to us, our own way, our own path, our own rope, of our own breath and sweat.
We want to define “being able to”, we want to live the “change”, we want to comprehend “desire”, we want to seek “wanting”.
We want to do this in remembrance of the man whose hair grayed on this path, that became heart broken on his way, whose soul was inflicted with pain on this path.
We want to make happy the old man whose lump in his throat became a roar, and his roar was taken to court.
We want to travel the path that is right. We want to hear sarcasm, be ridiculed, be laughed at.
We want to waste our money, we want to run, we want to cry, and take on danger.
We want to climb mountains, we want to be worthy inheritors, we don’t want to be under an umbrella of pressure, we don’t want to be blind.
Yes, we are here, in remembrance of our country’s deceased climbers, so we can remember our mountain climbers, so we can leave a legacy, so we can leave a provision for our country’s future climbers.
We are here on an 8000 meter high mountain so we can leave memorabilia writing of us. To engrave our Iran’s name. We are here so we can murmur being born again.
Who is able to stand in front of our resolution? Our resolution encompass particle by particle of our country’s climbers. Our resolution knows not, not having money. Danger is fearful of our resolution.
Our resolution does not need permission form those sitting behind a desk that think of themselves as authorities and guardians. Those who think of themselves as woven from a different fabric. Those who think of themselves as elites. Those who think of themselves as climbers. For they are the ones in need of our resolution, they are the ones under our umbrellas.
Our resolution does not need a letter, a certificate or the Council’s permit.
Our resolution is rooted within our essence, it has roots in our pioneers, it has roots deep within those who dedicated their lives for this country’s climbers.
Our resolution is youngsters’ resolution, our resolution is to fly high, our resolution is in love, it knows not defeat, does not understand obstruction, does not think of being scorned as disgraceful, does not see being the subject of Sarcasm as shameful.
Our resolution only sees one thing, the summit of the mountain heights.
We said we are alone, but no we are not alone. A thousand eyes await us. A thousands hands are raised in prayer for us. My mother’s eyes, my father’s hands, our friends, they all support us.
We are not alone, few decades of glorious climbing is behind us. All these new and innovative climbers are behind us.
We are not backed by government money. Our intention it is not receiving a heroism decree, it is not becoming elites. It is not making noise, creating commotions, it is not doing interviews, being on TV.
Our support is the sweat of our own foreheads, the sound of our breath by breath, the lump in our throats, the tear collected in our eyes. Our support is our silence, our patience. Our support is you, you who did not see our years of struggle as defeat.
You are our support, not the jealous ones whose ridicules arose from their own weakness, not the weak one who does not dare to navigate 100 meters with his own rope, and not the fake heroes.
Our support is you, you with your eyes, with your voice, with your hope, you who with your hope for a brighter future for mountain climbing in our country, is sending us off.
They said we can not, they said we will die, they said we are not capable enough, they said their elites were not able to do it and for certain we won’t be able to. They said they will block our way, they will tie our feet.
They said the Himalayas is theirs, climbing it is only theirs, the glory of it belongs to them and all the enjoyment and love from it belongs to them.
They told us to leave and they will give an answer to our letter in a few months. They said this is not child’s play, it is not that easy. They said there is Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmaaaalllayaaaaaas it is not Tochal.
We said, be afraid, your reign will end soon. We said this climb is a nightmare for you and this nightmare is our dream.
We said not being able to is not shameful for us, our goal is not the summit. We said not having courage is shameful for us. Stagnation is shameful for us.
we said, yes, the summit is not our goal, our goal is to climb high, our goal is to experience, our goal is to see, to touch. Our goal is to learn, it is to learn from defeat.
The team from Arash’s group sent to Pakistan,
We say laugh at our defeat, laugh from the bottom of your heart, with joy, our turn will come too. When our defeats will be like a ladder taking us up to the highest heights. We say laugh now, how ever loud your laughs but it is still down there.
We say we will laugh at you from up there, from up there, everyone can hear us, our message will reach everyone.
We say this is our reward. This is the result of our patience. It is the result of our fortitude, it’s the result of our courage, it’s the result of our tears, it’s the result of few decades of our climbing that you have placed your feet on it’s throat and don’t allow it to raise, you don’t let it breath.
But, we, from up there will place our feet on your throat. From up there we will pull you down. From up there we will sing the song of life for our climbers, hand in hand, full of joy, with pride and honor.
No, we are not alone, this mountain is with us. It is still standing next to us in our pictures, we are still looking at it and we hear it’s voice.
It is calling us to it’s school of love, school of life, school of mountain climbing. It is eager to teach us, teach us audacity, teach us self belief, teach us progress.
It is calling us to it’s lost heavens, it is calling us with all it’s frightful winds, with all it’s fearsome avalanches, with the crackling sound of it’s ice. Even though it encompasses all it’s surrounding circumambulate, even though it sees everything from the above, but, it is calling us, so it can be encompassed, it is calling us to be humbled by us. Not because we are special, not because before it we amount to anything, for we know, before it’s sea we are but bubbles, and in it’s sky we are but a piece of hay.
It is calling us for it knows in the sorrowful mountain climbing atmosphere of our country, only it can help us. It called us because it knew we had come to it for refuge. It called us because it knows we are of minor importance and the important ones are hundreds or perhaps thousands of young climbers who must be trained by it’s purpose and school.
It is calling us because it is grand itself, it is calling us because it itself is high and is tired to see us with our heads bent down. It is calling us because we had the audacity to attack it’s boundaries.
Our message is not just our message, but it is the message of the land of Iran’s mountain climbers. It is a message of change.
No this is not us, we are not alone either, this is you. You who will continue this path, you who will keep alive this thought process. You who will not be deceived by repetition and will not be submerged in the quicksand of the desk and chair lovers.
It is you that are our pride, it is you that are our guide, that are our motivation. It is your hands that are raised in prayers for us, it is you that are our benevolent, it is you that will always remain alive, for the future is yours, for the future depends on you.
Yes, it is you, all you need to do is to have the desire, for the best, progress, the highest and the firsts.
Source: Kaleme
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