Satis Shroff - Like Prometheus and Icarus(Satis Shroff, Freiburg)

Up and up we flew exultantly
Towards the Himalayas.
Kathmandu, Bhadgaon and Lalitpur
With their palaces, pagodas, shrines,
Brick houses and hotels,
Lush green fields in the outskirts
Of the valley,
Were becoming smaller and greener.

For a moment in my mind
I was the dragon that rides over the clouds.
I was Prometheus,
The saviour of mankind,
Who gave mortals fire.
I was Icarus,
Flying away from Crete.

As I peered at the majestic silvery Himalayas,
I felt my insignificance in the vastness that unfurled below me.
How many climbers from the West and East,
How many Sherpas and other ethnic porters
Still lie in the crevasses and Himalayan glaciers?
My thoughts went to Reinhold Messner,
Who went to the Snows for years
With a guilty conscience and an obsession,
Searching for the remains of his dear brother,
Buried in a white out.
Till one day he held his brother’s femur
And proclaimed to the world,
‘It’s my brother’s remains.
I’ve found him at last.’

The earth is below us,
And receives us.
I have a feeling of smallness,
Humility, as I alight from the jet.
I’ve seen and felt the spell of the mighty Himalayas,
And what’s beyond the clouds in the sky.
A strong, deep, religious experience,
For I had trespassed the Abode of Snow,
Himalaya,
The Home of the Gods.

Satis Shroff

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