Marking the 68th Everest Day (anniversary of the first Everest ascent) and the 107th birth anniversary of the late Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the Principal of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Capt Jai Kishan, today stressed on the need for Indian mountaineers calling Everest as Mt Sikdar. Amid a low key ceremony due to the Covid-19 pandemic, at the HMI, the gathering also paid tributes to Radhanath Sikdar, the Indian mathematician and the first person to calculate the height of Mt Everest.

“The British government was quick to grab the opportunity and name the peak after George Everest, the then Surveyor General of India, while the name of Radhanath Sikdar went into oblivion. Sikdar was a great Indian mathematician and the first person to calculate the height of Mt Everest, which was then known as Peak XV. It is only after Sikdar used trignometry and calculated the height of the peak it was found that it was the highest mountain peak on Earth,” Capt Kishan said.

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“If Nepal can call Everest as Sagarmatha and the  Chinese Quomologma, why don’t Indian mountaineers also call Everest as ‘Sikdar Parvat’ or ‘Sikdar Sikhar’ among the Indian mountaineering fraternity? It could be a great way to pay tribute to Sikdar for one of the greatest discoveries in the history of mountains and mountaineering,” he added. The HMI also paid Sikdar tributes by renaming its newly-renovated library as Sikdar Bhawan and also unveiling his bust on the premises.

The HMI principal maintained that tourists and locals visiting the place would be aware of Sikdar and his contribution, with details of him given there. On the other hand, the HMI principal, along with a few other people, paid homage to Norgay by offering wreaths and khada  (traditional scarfs) at the memorial there. Norgay died in Darjeeling on 9 May 1986, while he was cremated on the HMI premises, where a memorial has been built.

Norgay who was born in the year 1914 was also the first field director of the HMI and had made the summit on this day of Mt Everest in the year 1953 to become one of the first persons to climb the highest mountain with Sir Edmund Hillary. Down in the plains in Siliguri, the chairperson of the board of administrators of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, Gautam Deb, pitched for conferring the highest civilian honour in the country, the Bharat Ratna, on Tenzing Norgay.

Marking the day at Norgay’s statue at Darjeeling More in the town, Mr Deb said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had raised the demand on several occasions with the Centre. He also asked corporation officials to see how the area where the statue has been erected can be beautified and properly maintained. The Bharat Ratna issue always surfaces on Everest Day, and today’s programme was organised by the corporation and the Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation.

The HNAF also organised a blood donation camp in view of the crisis of blood amid the Covid crisis. Sixteen units of blood were collected. Mr Deb said one of the oldest and premier mountaineering institutes of the country, the HMI, was losing importance, due to what he said was the apathy of the Centre.