The old man and the mountain: 99-year-old man trekked in the Himalayas for the 29th time
Age is just a number for P. Chitran Namboodirippad, who turned 99 on December 19. The former Additional Director of the Kerala Education Department made his 29th trip to the Himalayas earlier this month. He wants to make his 30th pilgrimage to the mountains in 2019, the year he completes a century.
“My ambition is to do 30 trips,” says the National Award-winning educationist. He completed his 29th trip to the holy shrines in the Himalayan ranges, including Badrinath and Kedarnath, in the first week of December as part of a 118-member group from Thiruvananthapuram.
Mr. Namboodirippad’s relationship with the Himalayas started in 1952, when he was in his thirties. “I was still in service then. However, my first trip was a flop,” he recalls.
“I went with one of my friends. But we couldn’t go beyond Rudraprayag as both of us were hit by food poisoning.”
Tough work
His next trip in 1956 was successful, and the snow-capped peaks called to him again and again. “Travelling to the Himalayas back then was really tough. Roads and other infrastructure were not developed like they are now. We had to walk through forests for more than 90 km from Rudraprayag to reach Badrinath.”