BECOMING A MOUNTAIN – HIMALAYAN JOURNEY (PB)

Stephen Alter was born and
raised in the hill station of Mussoorie, in the foothills of the Himalayas,
where he and his wife, Ameeta, now live. Their idyllic existence was
shattered when four armed intruders invaded their home and viciously attacked
them, leaving them for dead. The violent assault and the trauma of almost
dying left the author questioning assumptions he had lived by since
childhood. For the first time, he encountered the face of evil and the terror
of the unknown. He felt like a foreigner in the land of his birth.This book
is an account of a series of treks he took in the high Himalayas following
his convalescence?to Bandarpunch (monkey?s tail); Nanda Devi, the second
highest mountain in India; and Mount Kailash in Tibet. He set himself this
goal to prove that he had healed mentally as well as physically and to
re-knit his connection to his homeland. Undertaken out of sorrow, the treks
become a moving personal quest, a way to rediscover mountains in his inner
landscape. Weaving together observations of the natural world, Himalayan
history, folklore and mythology, as well as encounters with other pilgrims
along the way, Stephen Alter has given us a moving meditation on the solace
of high places and on the hidden meanings and enduring mystery of the
mountains.