Working title: The Lonely Climb
By Jagannath Chakravarti
List of Characters:
(The del Valle family)
Jean del Valle , 30-35
Pierre del Valle – Jean’s father, 40-60
Claude del Valle – Jean’s uncle, 30+
Laxmi Subramaniam (Lucy del Valle) – Jean’s mother - 35
Yvonne Proust – 28-30
Jai Sinha – Jean’s best friend – 25/26
(The Climbing group)
Peter Mitchell – British, 42
Andrew Evans – British, 40
Sarah Evans – British, 35
Guillermo Vidal – Spanish, 38
Kyle Stanton – American, 28
Chris Nwangko – Nigerian, 38
Preety Choudhury – Indian, 28/30
Sonam - Liaison officer
Nawang – Jean’s guide in Kathmandu
Sherpa Tashi – Jean’s guide to Gorakshep
Sherpa Rinzen – with Peter’s group
Dechen – Rinzen’s daughter
Pemba - with Peter’s group
Tenzin - with Peter’s group
Yeshe - with Peter’s group
Dohna – Claude’s Woman of Dreams
SYNOPSIS
Jean is a jobless half-Indian, half-French young man of Goa, whose troubled and meaningless life, rigged with past horrors of his Mom’s death and his father’s lack of love for his mother, take an about turn when he falls in love with a French tourist, Yvonne. In a surprising twist of fate, he wins a chance lottery worth Four million rupees and decides to follow in his Uncle’s footsteps and climb Mount Everest. He also asks Yvonne to marry him, who readily agrees, but questions his better judgment and even ridicules him when she comes to know of his ‘decision’ to try and climb Everest, with no prior mountaineering experience. As her alcohol induced rebuke reaches the level of hurtful insult, Jean kills Yvonne in a fit of rage and escapes Goa. He reaches Mumbai and collecting his prize money, sets off for Kathmandu. In Kathmandu, he happens to chance upon Preety, a lovely Indian lady who is in an Everest-expedition group, and the two fall in love with one another. Jean, however, can see the apparition of the dead Yvonne in quite a few places that he goes. She comes forward and talks to him as if she is still alive. Jean disregards these apparitions completely. He gradually mingles with the Everest-climbing group and become friends with the group leader Peter. He continues his journey and his priceless companion is a diary that belonged to his Uncle, who dies while attempting to climb the Everest. His account of the Himalayas in the early 80s and Jean’s present experience do not present a wholesome contrast. Time and development seemed to have attained a standstill when it came to the mighty Himalayas. Before reaching the Everest base camp, however, Preety suffers a fall and breaks two of her ribs, thereby ending her present Everest expedition. Preety asks Jean to accompany her back to the plain, but Jean refuses to do so, however: promising to meet her when he ‘returned after climbing the Everest’. Peter’s group, thus deserted by Preety, is at a monetary conundrum since Peter faces an ethical responsibility to return Preety’s permit fee. Also, their limited funds heavily burden the group as they seriously consider ending their expedition and going back. However, Jean offers to be a member and they bribe the group’s liaison officer to escape Jean’s permit hassles. The journey from the base camp, however, begins with death as the group loses three men in a crevasse on the Khumbu glacier, during a blizzard. As the group proceeds, the men start dying one by one. The short acclimatization period and lack of experience has its toll on Jean as well, who suffer from headches, coughs, shortness of breath and frequent hallucinations. Finally, it is Jean and Peter who make the last ditch attempt to reach the peak. As the two see the rising sun over the Himalayan valley, Jean confesses his crimes to Peter, who doesn’t judge him and respects Jean the person he has come to know. As Peter calls on him to start climbing the last lap as well, Jean sees contrasting apparitions, of the dead woman in his life, including Yvonne, on one hand and his father on the other. As his Dad forbids him to go any further because that ‘way has death’, the women encourage him to move forward, to achieve his destiny. Finally, Jean ignores his father’s call and starts moving forward towards the Everest peak.
TREATMENT
1) The scene fades in to an extreme long shot of a desolate highway, and a small Dhaba can be seen in the distance. It is just before dawn, a semi-orange hue encompassing everything that can be seen. As we cut towards the Dhaba, we see a young man, presumably too out-of-place to be an Indian; quite handsome with a face full of uncut beard and a traveling backpack on his side. He is sitting on a bench, nervously biting his nails with a vacant look in his eyes. On his lap is a diary, which looks rather old. The man jerks out of his trance as he hears the sound of an oncoming vehicle. It is an open-hooded jeep, and he gets up quickly to thrust his right thumb into the air, thereby asking for a lift. As the jeep stops, the man gets ahead and asks the driver something. Their conversation cannot be heard since we move to a rather distant p.o.v. of a woman sitting inside the Dhaba. The woman has a garish countenance, with her blond hair highlighted red and green in a couple of places, a dark layer of eyeliner accentuating the edge in her beautiful eyes. She is Yvonne. She looks at the scene with a hint of interest and mischief in her eyes. The man gets inside the jeep and as the jeep starts moving, he looks sideways and exchanges a glance with Yvonne, who lightly waves him goodbye. The man does not return the wave of the hand and simply looks on.
2) As the car moves down the somewhat desolate National Highway-17, the scene brightens with a languid pace as dawn settles in. Meanwhile, the driver of the jeep, a middle-aged gentleman of 50, strikes up a conversation with the man. Although the man is least interested in talking, the gentleman in adamant. Grudgingly, it seems, the man gives him a little intro about himself. He is Jean del Valle, French on his father’s side and he lives in Old Goa. As the man prods about his family, his French relatives, Jean simply states that he has NO living relatives. When the conversation heads towards Jean’s profession, it is revealed that he is a mountaineer, and at the same time he adds under his breath, ‘I will be one’. As the middle-aged man asks him about his business in Mumbai, Jean looks at the rising sun in the distance and replies slowly, ‘Mumbai’s just a pit-stop… I’m going to the Everest…’
3) The Credits start. Credits are seen over short, desolate shots of several places: Saint-Girons in France, Jean’s house in Pondicherry (A grand house with a sprawling courtyard), a dusty photo of a Hindu God lying unceremoniously behind a large book on a bookshelf, some panoramic (but without any person/animal in them) stills of Pondicherry and Goa, Jean’s house in Goa (considerably smaller than that in Pondicherry), Uncle Claude’s diary, a desolate hotel room (no. 465), a closed lottery shop. The lack of ‘life’ in these shots an indicator of the emptiness in Jean’s life. The credits finally end with a shot of the mighty Himalayas.
4) The scene fades in to a sight of the busy streets of Mumbai, the snarl of cars, maybe a traffic jam and the incessant honking of horns. All this leads to a rather small Hotel room where Jean wakes up. He is sweaty and scratches his beard, glancing dolefully out of the window to the busy street below. In a series of cuts, he gets up to the toilet and shaves his beard. As he smiles ruefully at the reflection of himself in the small, semi-broken bathroom mirror, we dissolve to a shot of the sprawling sea.
5) It is marine drive – the Chowpatty Beach. A wide pan of the sea later, we see Jean sitting on the beach looking with vacant eyes at the sea, idle in a mass of people around him. A few shots of the beach (A Boy demanding Kulfi from his mother, a little girl in a red dress riding a pony along the beach, with her Dad keeping her company) later, Jean is seen again and we promptly dissolve to a Flashback.
6) (FLASHBACK 1) On black, we hear the French words of an old man. ‘I hate the sea. We are mountain folks. It is in our nature to love the mountains’. As the scene brightens, we see an old man sitting in an old armchair, looking out of the window to the sea. A boy of around 14 sits near the window, looking out as well. It is Jean’s Goan home. The man (Jean’s Dad) continues to rant against the sea for a while and mentions Jean’s Uncle Claude, who apparently died while trying to scale the Everest. He mentions Saint-Girons, and how lovely their native town was among the Pyrenees in Southern France. However, he added ruefully, that he had never been there. He also mentions Jean’s grandfather, who allegedly fell in love with the sea and decided to stay back in this ‘god-forsaken country’. He finishes with a reference to Jean’s mother, who also loved the sea. Jean looks at a picture of his mother on the wall (a dark lady, presumably Indian) and mutters in rather broken French, ‘I don’t like the sea either, Dad. I love the Mountains.’
7) The scene abruptly cuts from the photo of Jean’s mother to the face of a little girl on the Marine Drive. The girl is selling helium balloons, and she begs Jean to buy one, promising, ‘If you let a balloon go, it will reach the heavens, and it will carry your wish to God, and your wish will finally come true. I’m willing to give a Money-Back guarantee on that!’ Jean, unexpectedly woken from his train of thoughts, finds her amusing and decides to buy a balloon. The girl leaves. As Jean is about to release the balloon, an even smaller boy taps his shoulder from behind. He has a hungry look on his face and is evidently poor. He motions longingly towards the balloon. Jean, understanding the gesture, hands the balloon to him and he runs away with it, jumping with joy. Jean smiles at the scene and gets up, happier than before. As he walks away from the beach, we see Yvonne sitting at a distance, eating an ice-cream, smiling with a contented look on her face. Finally, we see the little boy with the balloon run behind a makeshift shop and meet the balloon-selling girl. He hands over the balloon to the girl and the girl hands him some loose change.
8) The scene cuts to a phone booth. Jean tries calling someone, but keeps getting ‘busy’ notifications. Finally as the call connects, it is revealed that he is calling the Nepal embassy. He fumbles with his words at first but somehow conveys that he is a mountaineer and wants to climb the Everest, and so, asks for details and where he could get the required permissions from the Nepal Ministry. The lady on the other end gives him a reality check of sorts by giving details of all the paperwork and other details involved in the process. He comes to know that permissions to one-man groups are not given and he must have a team. Jean ends the conversation on a rather dejected note and asks the phone booth operator the whereabouts of any travel agent who might help him book a ticket to Kathmandu. The young, lively operator of the phone booth hands him a card and ends with a ‘Do come again to my shop, sir. Salam saab!’ The ‘salam saab’ address surprises Jean a little as he stares back at the guy.
9) (FLASHBACK 2) We abruptly cut to a flashback again. We see Jai, Jean’s only friend in Goa, who works in a travel agency. As Jean enters the agency, Jai greets him with a friendly address of ‘Salam Saab! Itne din baad is dost ki yaad ayi?’ (I thought you had forgotten this friend of yours!) We hear the two’s friendly chatter, with Jai urging him to finally ‘DO’ something in his life. Jean says that he HAS plans of doing something. Jai ignores this statement by saying, ‘Yeah! I know! I’m tired of hearing you ranting on about that dream of yours! You haven’t even gone to Khandala, and you want to climb the Everest!’ As the conversation moves to a discussion about lotteries, Jai excitedly lists some of the new lotteries with prize money of 3 or 4 million. The scene fades out.
10) A cheque of around 3.8 Million is seen. A person sitting at a desk hands over the cheque to Jean, who takes it with a rather sad expression on his face. The man congratulates him. John asks in how many days the cheque would be cleared and the man promises that the money would be in his account within 48 hours of deposition of the cheque. Jean comes out of the office and stares at the check for a while, then looks ahead at the late afternoon Mumbai skyline.
11) (MONTAGE – intercuts of Jean’s scenes and the scenes involving Jean’s uncle Claude, with a voiceover of Claude: Jean is seen depositing the cheque, visiting the travel agent, booking tickets, buying several things like warm clothes and books on mountaineering, he also buys a DSLR camera, he goes for a cheaper, rather old model; we also see him moving into a better hotel, and we spot Yvonne in the hotel of the lobby. Jean stares at her for a second and then ignores her as usual.
Claude is seen walking through the streets of Saint-Girons, taking leave of those whom he knows. Claude is a nearly perfect-looking gentleman, whose smile, charm and flawless diction impresses anyone and everyone who lays eyes on him. He is seen to be boarding a train to Paris and from there, he gets on a flight.
Claude’s voiceover is basically his personal goodbye from France. He understands that it might be the last time he sees Saint-Girons, Paris and the people he knows, but the promising future is what keeps him going in his quest for Everest. He describes the small experiences of his country that he would miss in ‘the distant lands’ and that he would cherish the moments forever, during his lifetime and even after his death.
The montage ends with a time-lapse sequence of Jean sitting still on the Marine Drive, facing the sea, as the sun sets and stars come out in the sky.
[SCENE TO SHOW THE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JEAN AND CLAUDE, HIS INSPIRATION]
12) (FLASHBACK 3) We fade in to a scene where Jean is celebrating his 10th birthday. It is their house in Pondicherry. This flashback in not precise and ‘full’ like the previous two and seem to appear in fragments. A proud father, a happy mother, Jean blowing candles, a Tamil family being greeted by the hostess Mrs. Del Valle, Jean’s mother. She is greeted by the name ‘Laxmi’ by the guest and as soon as the guest does that, Jean’s father gets to the spot and says, ‘The name’s Lucy. I guess it wouldn’t be too difficult to pronounce, would it?’ The next segment shows Jean opening a gift, and it turns out to be Uncle Claude’s diary. Jean’s dad comes up to him from behind and says, ‘This is the most treasured item I have ever possessed, Son. It belongs to your Uncle Claude’ He goes on to narrate how his brother is the person whom he respects the most in the world. He says that Claude tried to reach the highest point a man can ever achieve on his own two feet. Jean looks smilingly at his mother as she smiles affectionately on her son.
13) The scenario returns to present with Jean sitting in a flight (to Kathmandu) on a window seat. He is awoken by a call of ‘Excuse me’ from beside his seat. The person sitting next to him, a woman of around 27, asks him if she can have the window seat, since it’s her ‘first time’ in a plane. The woman looks remarkably like Jean’s mother and Jean, noticing this, fumbles ‘Sure’ and leaves her his seat. Jean heads to the toilet and splashes water on his face, and as he glances up to the mirror, a mental flash of a room and a woman’s cry shocks him for a moment, before he composes himself and comes out of the toilet. As he comes out of the toilet, we see Yvonne standing at a distance and she calls out to Jean as he prepares to return to his seat, ‘So how long will you avoid me?’ Jean ignores her and walks back, passing the place where a beautiful Indian lady and a young man, a foreigner (Preety and Peter), are sitting side by side. The lady (Preety) looks at Jean and they exchange a glance. Jean returns to an empty seat (NOT his original one) and Yvonne promptly comes and sits beside him. ‘Seriously, how long do you plan to avoid me like this?’
Jean replies indignantly, in his broken French, ‘You’re not supposed to be here’
‘Come on… now you’re just talking like your Dad’
‘Don’t bring my Dad into this!’
‘Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot how protective you are of your past! That reminds me, can you lend me that diary again for a while? I never finished reading it, you know! Did he finally manage to scale the Everest? Did he reach the peak?’
‘What do you care?’
‘Come on, you’re tracing your Uncle’s footsteps… so of course I care! And besides, you’re my fiancée, so it’s my duty to care, isn’t it?’ she finishes with a sly smile, twisting an unimpressive looking gold ring on her finger. Jean doesn’t reply and looks out the window. The Kathmandu skyline can be seen.
14) Picture in a rather faded 80s color, as Uncle Claude disembarks his plane and comes out of the Kathmandu airport. The sun shining gladly as Claude comes out with a contented smile on his face. He looks up at the skyline and mutters, ‘What a lovely day!’ The skyline scene promptly fades out to a dank and cloudy skyline as the color normalizes and we see the Jean looking at the sky with a disturbed look on his face. Jean is hounded by travel guides (Nawang) and he is literally dragged away by one, reciting away one warning after another. What things to do/NOT to do in Kathmandu. Jean asks if he knows any Sherpa who can take him to Everest and Nawang assures him that he does and he can manage a trip as ‘far’ as Gorakshep in a few days. Jean insists that he has to meet the Sherpa that day itself and as Nawang assures him that he would arrange it in the evening. Slightly relieved, Jean goes with him.
15) A scene with Preety, Peter and their party. A small conversation reveals that they are here to climb the Everest. They head in a car as Jean boards a taxi with Nawang.
16) A hotel room, shower stars, Jean takes a bath, his eyes closed. It is almost as if he is purging himself, letting his emotions flow away with him, as stray phrases echoes around and haunts his brain. His dad shouting, ‘It was a mistake to marry you’ and Jean cries, ‘I am a French, I’m not Indian. I don’t belong here’
17) The scene abruptly cuts to a different Sherpa (Sherpa Tashi) who is conversing with Jean in a very tough voice, ‘You’re wrong. You don’t even have a clue about all of this. A novice CANNOT climb an Everest. It takes years of experience, and still people perish like rats out there!’ He goes on trying to dissuade Jean by pointing out the simple fact that a novice can’t survive in the Himalayas, let alone climb the Everest, and he also speaks of the permissions etc. which will be involved, which will take a long time. Jean is adamant, and make him agree to at least accompany him to Gorakshep (the Everest base camp. Tashi finishes with a soft, ‘Aap logon ka aur koi kaam-vam nahi hai?’ (Don’t you people have any other work?)
18) [FLASHBACK 4] We cut to Jai’s travel agency. ‘Ab koi kaam-vaam dhoond le, yaar. Aur kitna din baitha rahega?’ (Do some work, man! How long will you sit at home and brood?) The conversation presents Jean’s scenario – he was jobless, was living off Dad’s savings as a Church Deacon, he didn’t have an aim in life and such. Jean reminds him of his ‘Everest aim’ and Jai mocks him further for that. Jai ends by saying he has to go and ‘receive’ a French tourist who would land shortly. Shows him a picture (A photocopy of passport, maybe) and says, ‘I can’t pronounce her name. What is it?’ Jean replies, ‘It’s Yvonne’. Ends with a distant sound of an aircraft.
19) Cut to Kathmandu skyline, where Jean is taking photo of a passing aircraft up in the sky. Intercuts with Claude taking pictures with a Polaroid, of people, stores, the sights and sounds of Kathmandu. Jean follows Claude’s footsteps. As Claude’s eyes are stuck on a beautiful Nepalese woman, Jean spots Yvonne near the Durbar Square. Yvonne waves; predictably, Jean ignores. Jean goes to a restaurant, and Yvonne follows suit, sitting opposite to him. Yvonne starts teasing him on his French accent, that it’s not really French, but breaks off quite soon, citing the reason, ‘Oh wait… That’s what started THE ARGUMENT in the first place, didn’t it?’ At nearly the same instant, Preety/Peter’s entire gang of seven climbers enter the restaurant. Jean’s gaze automatically moves to Preety. Yvonne notices this and is seemingly jealous, ‘Why’re you staring at that girl? You don’t like Indian girls, remember? Your mother was Indian, and you didn’t like her either.’ ‘Stop talking about my mother’ Jean snaps. Yvonne smiles calmly and says, ‘I’m just saying it out loud. But you’re the one who believes it!’
20) (Flashback 5) A semi-fragmented flashback. Jean’s Dad having a row with his wife for some reason. Jean looks on from behind the curtains. His dad spots him and calls him near, and advises ‘Don’t trust these folks, son. Never trust these people…’ Jean looks through a semi-permeable white curtain into the next room, where his mother is sitting with her face hidden in her hands. She’s crying.
21) Return to Kathmandu. A call of ‘Excuse me’ breaks off Jean’s thoughts. Turns out it’s Preeti and she starts asking Jean about the camera, apparently it’s the camera Preeti has been dying to buy forever, but isn’t finding anywhere since it is in fact an obsolete model. Meanwhile, Jean spots Yvonne near the door, she gives Jean a wry smile and departs. Preeti, however, takes Yvonne’s seat and start chatting, fondling the camera like a long-lost friend. It turns out that Preety’s brother owned the same camera, and a lot of their family photos were taken with this same model. ‘It reminds me of bhaiya (elder brother)… he was in the Army, actually… dies about three years ago…’ she says almost in a whisper. She goes on to say that she is in an Everest-climbing group and that they would be leaving for Lukla the next day. Jean, too, says that he would catch the flight to Lukla the next day.
22) [DREAM SEQUENCE] Pondicherry home, illuminated by a strange ethereal light, although it is daytime. 10-year-old Jean holds the hand of the 30-year-old Jean and brings him into the house. Jean’s mom and dad are happily seated in the garden. Suddenly, Yvonne comes out of the house, kisses 30-year-old Jean passionately and says, ‘Yes, yes, yes, I’ll marry you, Now come on in…’ and she goes back inside the house. Jean suddenly spots Preety, who is being introduced by little Jean to his parents as ‘the person he wants to marry’. Jean’s dad looks appreciatively at Preety, ‘She’s very beautiful. What is her name?’ Little Jean says, ‘her name is Preety’. Jean’s dad ponders for a while and says, ‘Well, we will call her Patricia, what do you say, Jean?’ Jean’s Dad now looks at BIG JEAN for the first time, asking him the question. As Jean looks on, unable to reply, the whole house, people, begin to crumble around him, and he himself does so, as Yvonne’s voice echoes in his head, ‘Yes yes yes, I’ll marry you… Now come on in!’
23) In a series of cuts, Jean wakes up, panting. Goes to the toilet and splashes water on face, even tries to go back to sleep, but can’t. He takes out Claude’s diary from his backpack and begins to read. Claude describes the nightly beauty of the Kathmandu valley, the sky, the little lights strewn everywhere like broken pieces of a woman’s pearl necklace. He would take the flight to Lukla the next day (very much like Jean). He says that ‘THE LAST NIGHT’ is all the more special because ‘today, I’ve met a woman – the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life’ – a flash of a beautiful Nepalese girl (the same person Claude had earlier seen in Durbar Square), seen while Claude was fiddling with his Polaroid. Shots mixed with those of Jean, who appreciates the night sky as he reads, and Jean has a flash of Yvonne for a millisecond, before seeing Preety, smiling. Claude’s voiceover says, ‘I met her for the first time today. This first meeting will forever be etched in my mind…’
24) [FLASHBACK 6] Jai and Jean come to receive Yvonne at airport: it will be the first time Jean sees Yvonne. Jai thanks Jean for coming, saying his English is too bad to begin with, and although he could manage Portuguese a bit, French was too tongue-tying a language to utter. Yvonne lands, Jean fumbles/stutters with his French while trying to communicate. Yvonne finds him very ‘sweet’ and asks him to show her around Goa. Jai reminds him before leaving, ‘Don’t forget to take the Guide commissions from her. And don’t forget to pay me 60% of it.’
25) Back to Kathmandu. Jean and Preety in the flight to Lukla. A relatively small aircraft. The two chat about several things. Preety asks about Jean’s occupation etc. As Jean remains elusive, Preety comes clean with her nearly perfect ‘past’, mountaineering experiences. She adds that her parents had no clue that she would be trying to scale the Everest in a few days. Her ‘inspiration’, so to speak, was her daredevil of a brother, who hated a cloistered, safe life.
26) [FLASHBACK 7] Yvonne tells her own background, the contrast between the two (Preety and Yvonne) being brought to the fore here. Yvonne has a carefree, always away from family, hippy-ish lifestyle. She has seemingly forgotten her parents, and nearly all her family members. She just remembers a little sister whom Yvonne has not seen in over five years. She brings out a photo of her (an old one) and her eyes tear up. She cries on Jean’s shoulders. They were sitting at a beach and as the sun began setting against them, we see a montage of moments involving Jean and Yvonne, a chase down the beach, frolicking in the water, in some church of old Goa. Jean shaves his beard, Yvonne pulls his cheeks as if he were a little boy etc. A montage of small, affectionate moments ending with a passionate kiss on the beach.
27) The flight lands at Lukla. Claude sees his Nepalese ‘girl of dreams’ and finds out that she is in fact a Sherpa woman called ‘Dohna’ (It is actually the name of a Goddess) who would accompany them till Gorakshep. Claude and Dohna’s eyes meet for the first time. The present intercuts with a scene of Dechen, a Sherpa girl of 14, who would accompany her father towards Everest and is with Peter’s group. Dechen mistakes Jean to be someone from Peter’s group as well and starts blabbing all her plans to him. She is a chatterbox, and goes on about how Ming Kipa was the youngest girl to climb Everest at 15, and how she, at 14, would break Ming Kipa’s record. As she realized her mistake and leaves, Sherpa Tashi informs them that they would start trekking with the Everest group towards Phakding the next morning.
28) Claude pursues the girl of his dreams. They talk somewhere in Phakding for the first time and quite predictably, Claude manages to ‘make an impact’. Jean reads it from the diary with an amused expression on her face. He is sitting beneath some tree while reading it, as Preety comes along and asks him ‘what are you reading?’ Jean tells her about the diary and consequently, Preety guesses playfully, with a half-serious expression, ‘So you want to try and climb the Everest as well, do you?’
29) [FLASHBACK 8] Jean’s home. Jean has brought Yvonne home for the first time. Yvonne asks to read the diary. Jean lends it with pleasure, ‘Keep it as long as you like’. Yvonne spots a photo of Hindu god ‘Tirupati’ behind a book in a bookshelf and asks him what it was. Jean reluctantly says it was something that belonged to his mom, one of the few of Mom’s relics which Jean had managed to salvage out of their Pondicherry home. This brings to Jean’s mother’s back-story, how she left her staunch Tamil Brahmin family to be with Jean’s dad. Finally, Yvonne asks, ‘How did she die?’ The flashback ends with a shot of Jean’s hesitating eyes.
30) Yvonne with a camera, she focuses on Jean who is still sitting under the tree. ‘That’s it, smile…’ she says, as Jean looks up. He sees Preety walking at a distance to his right, far enough so she cannot hear Jean and Yvonne talking. Even though Yvonne asks him to, Jean doesn’t smile. Yvonne coaxes him, ‘Come on, you’re hitting off great with that Indian girl. Looks like she’ll fall for you way faster than I did.’ Jean doesn’t find this amusing, gets up, and begins walking towards Preety. Yvonne looks on, smiling ruefully. She calls back softly, ‘I’ll see you in Phakding.’ Jean doesn’t look back.
31) A montage of shots chronicling the group’s (including Jean) trek to Phakding. Jean and Preety chatting and laughing away, maybe helping Jean to cross some treacherous stream.
32) Night falls in a slow dissolve as we move to a scene with several tents set up by the party. Preety and Jean sitting quite close around a bonfire as others of the party dwell around. They see Dechen sprinkling holy water and flowers at places around the camps to ‘protect’ them. Quite suddenly, a British explorer in the group starts to sing, and Jean tells Preety of a French superstition that singing often leads to stormy weather. A revelry making episode involving the climbers, who bask in the pride of their ‘do or die’ attitude. Preety doesn’t join this group, and stays with Jean, talking late into the night. Dechen spies interestedly on the couple.
33) [FLASHBACK 9] A church in Pondicherry. Jean’s dad, in full Deacon’s attire, sitting cozily with his son, facing the altar. The conversation moves from a deacon’s work to Saint-Girons, and mountains and why they’re so great etc. An outlook of Jean’s dad towards his brother Claude: essentially a father-son bonding moment. Jean’s mother arrives towards the end of the scene, and asks Jean if he wanted to accompany her to the market. Jean declines and Dad promises to teach him some new French words, ‘since your Mom could never learn the most beautiful language in the whole wide world!’ Jean’s mother leaves, a little dejected.
34) The trekking team reaches Namche Bazar. A basic round up of the ‘place’ later, we see Preety and Jean marveling at the sight of the Dudh Kosi river. Preety borrows Jean’s camera and snaps several photos and they head towards a Buddhist monastery in the distance. In the monastery, crossing the mysterious sounds and sights and smells of the exotic incense sticks, the two come face to face with a monk, who strikes up a conversation with the two. Gradually in an inimitable friendly manner, he informs Jean, ‘Nobody blames you, Jean. Not even her… In fact, all they feel is sorry for you…’ Jean is too surprised at this remark to react indifferently. He walks out of the monastery, passing Yvonne on the way. Preety follows suit, but doesn’t notice Yvonne. As Yvonne stands at the door of the monastery, softly touching the walls of the place and smelling the incense, the Monk from inside calls her, ‘Come in child… You are very much welcome here…’ With a touched expression on her face, Yvonne enters the monastery.
35) Jean is shaken, disturbed. Preety calms him down. Jean tells Preety about his family, how his Mom died when he was young, and his Dad raised him away from all her memories… Jean seems to contemplate to say some other things as well, but he finally decides against it. Preety comforts him, amidst the pristine view of the Dudh Kosi.
36) We travel back to Claude chatting with ‘girl of his dreams’ on the banks of Dudh Kosi as well. His voiceover full of love for her, and comparing ‘getting her’ to ‘Reaching the Everest summit’.
37) Trekking On. A few glorious long shots later, the party reaches Tyangboche. Here, in the shades of the 1900-year-old monastery, an incident occurs. Apparently, Peter has lost his still camera. As a fellow climber tries to blame the ‘Sherpas’, the Nepal ministry liaison officer who is traveling with them and most of the other Sherpas (including Dechen) become angry. Peter calms them down somehow as Jean offers him his own camera for the time being. Peter appreciates Jean’s generosity and they have a chat. They talk about Preety, mostly, and Jean cannot help ask if Peter has a ‘thing’ for Preety. Peter assures Jean that he doesn’t have any ‘thing’ for Preety and that he has his own family. He brings out a photograph and shows it to Jean. It’s the photo of a woman with two children, a boy and a girl. Jean stares at the photo, slightly jealous… and then he looks at Preety, who was chatting animatedly with Dechen. As she spots Jean looking at her, she gives him a beautiful smile. A few shots of the group crossing a rickety path later, we see Jean and Preety walking together again, a veritable group within a group.
38) [FLASHBACK 10] Jai and Jean walk down a marketplace. Jai castigates Jean playfully, ‘Kya yaar, maine pasand kiya, aur tune use pata liya?’ (So I spot her, and you take her away… That’s not fair, you know!) Jean confesses loving her madly, and says that Yvonne loves him as well. Jai warns her, ‘Don’t trust these foreigners, these people are very tricky!’ But Jean reminds Jai that Yvonne is as much a foreigner as Jean himself is. Jai finds the remark very amusing and begs to disagree. Jai buys a ticket at the lottery shop and asks Jean to buy one as well. Jean wisely states that buying lotteries were just a bad money-laundering habit which must be gotten rid of. Jai coaxes him to buy a ticket for one last time, and he does, one with a prize money of 4 Million rupees. Turns out the ticket number ended with the number 13. Jean laughs, ‘Come on, there’s no way in hell this will fetch me even 2 bucks. It ends with an unlucky 13!’ Jai frowns and says, ‘So what? Even Yvonne landed on the 13th of last month, didn’t she?’
39) Jean and Preety at a campfire again. They start with superstitions. Like number 13, and some Indian superstitions and such. The conversation about beliefs turns to dreams and the resultant insecurities that great dreams bring with them. Preety confides in him about a monetary problem in their gang. Since they are a self-sponsored group, they have to pay everything out of their own pockets, and most of the other climbers are buried in debt. In fact, they are not even sure if they would have enough money to get to Everest and return. Jean assures Preety that everything would be fine. Finally, for the first time, the duo ends up kissing. Dechen watches them from her tent (smiling) as the two retreat into Jean’s tent to make love.
40) Claude’s journal: Claude writes that it has been 13 days since they started their journey. They’ve just reached Lobuche, which is still some way from Gorakshep: the Everest Base Camp, from where begins the real journey towards Everest. [SCENE BASICALLY TO ORIENT THE VIEWERS ABOUT THEIR EXACT LOCATION ON THE PATH TO EVEREST]
41) The party arrives at Lobuche, the final stop before the Everest Base Camp in Gorakshep. As the sherpas get busy to set up the tents and get to cooking, Preety and Jean, in a romantic mood, set off a little up Lobuche East. They kiss, and Preety rues, ‘I really wish we could climb Everest together…’ Jean promises her, ‘We will, Preety, I promise you… Someday I will’ Amused, Preety appears content by his answer and playfully turns away from him, and in a split second, she slips and falls quite a distance down the mountain.
42) Claude’s narration and images, mixed with present shots of Preety being rescued etc.: Claude’s images comprise of a series of shots involving a sick Sherpa, making using of the Gammow bag, a doctor nodding his head as the Sherpa dies. ‘Death is as frequent near Everest as life is back on the plain… And Everest brings out the very worst in human nature: even as the fickle folly of a meaningless war has given birth to such aphorisms as “No man left behind”, a spiritually enriching journey towards Everest essentially teaches the climbers a practice of leaving behind everyone that dies.’ They bury the dead Sherpa and Preety is strapped on to a makeshift stretcher-sort of thing.
43) Jean and Peter discuss with the resident doctor of the trip: and he gives them a list of broken ribs and other wounds that has befallen poor Preety. As Jean comes near her, Preety somehow manages to pull off her oxygen mask and mouths, ‘Will you come with me, please?’ Jean hesitates, looks at the path ahead of him and declines… ‘I have to go on, Preety… I can’t… I really can’t…’ As Peter looks on, Jean promises Preety, ‘I’ll see you when I get back, I promise…’ Preety stares at Jean with a strange expression on her face as she is led away, her oxygen mask unable to hide the tears in her eyes.
44) [FLASHBACK 11] Jean snaps a photo of Yvonne (much like Scene 30) They are conversing on a hillock, and the conversation proceeds from buying a lottery ticket, to Jean’s ultimate aim in life. The conversation soon takes a turn for the worse and Yvonne starts to point out his ‘faults’ one by one. His lack of a practical aim in life, his ‘fake’ French air that keeps him alienated from most of the people around him. Yvonne admits of some of her own hopes and dreams as well. She used to loathe her family once upon a time, and now, a part of her craved a family of her own. She thought she wanted to settle down, and admitted to having feelings for Jean, but she ruefully states that his utter lack of industry and enthusiasm in any venture, would ultimately NOT allow HER wishes to come true. She states clearly that she wants to be with Jean, but is afraid Jean will never be capable enough to ‘deserve’ her. A dejected Jean is left alone on the hillock.
45) The dejection continues as Jean finally enters Gorakshep, the Everest base camp, a place strewn with makeshift camps of several hues. Peter’s liaison officer notices a strange phenomenon, that the number of visitors is considerably less than is the trend at this time of the year. Meanwhile, Sherpa Tashi takes leave after Jean pays him his due. Tashi leaves after giving him a fair warning: ‘Do not take the mountains lightly, Sir. More so because you don’t know them at all’ Here, we get a first hint of Jean developing a cough of some sort.
46) Claude praises the Gorakshep topography. It is also the end of the road for Claude’s Sherpa love ‘Dohna’. With a stunning view of the Himalayas, Claude proposes in a most dramatic fashion to Dohna. He makes her promise that after he returns from successfully climbing Everest, Dohna must marry her. Dohna nods her head in assent, smiling.
47) [FLASHBACK 12] A jewelry store in Goa. Jean staring at a ring on display from outside. Flash of Yvonne, telling him that she wants a family of her own, and of her disappointment at Jean. Jean stares longingly at the ring, rummages his wallet where there are a few low-denomination notes. Sighing, he starts walking. As he goes past the lottery shop, the owner calls him to say that the 4 million lottery results were out. Jean replies ruefully, ‘Don’t bother about that. I bought a 13, fat chance of THAT winning anything’ The man replies, ‘It’s funny… But the jackpot did went to a number with 13 at the end’ surprised, Jean checks the paper, he matches the number with the lottery in his wallet, and his eyes bulge in amazement.
48) Jean staring at the vast expanse of Khumbu icefall. The liaison officer come to his side and explains how a permit is required beyond that point. Jean softly says he does know about the permit, and that he does not have one. Jean suddenly spots a boot in the snow at a distance. The officer explains that it’s a boot of some dead climber, and that corpses of dead climbers can often be found in this region. Quite suddenly, a breeze begins to blow, and as the officer walk away, Jean spots a piece of blue clothing at a distance. It looks like a corpse (VOICEOVER: Claude’s voice-over about finding a stray corpses here and there) and with a burning sense of curiosity, Jean moves closer to it. Jean makes the corpse (which was lying on its side facing away) face him and is amazed to see that it is his dad. His dad opens his ‘dead eyes’ and says, ‘I've done a terrible deed, I've killed her. I'll never be home. I will run around like this forever. I will die here...’ Jean tries to run back, fumbles and accidentally hits his head on a rock.
49) A blurry point-of-view shot of Jean. He hears the others discussing, ‘Probably just a mild concussion, nothing serious. Although he does have a high fever’. Slowly, Dechen comes in focus. As one of Peter’s companions begin arguing whether Jean is ‘their responsibility’, Peter fights for him, citing the fact that Jean is literally ‘alone’ after sending away his guide. He, however, fails to address the ‘problem’ of the food they would have to inadvertently spend on Jean, since they are already in a crunch financial situation. As Peter’s friend takes the conversation outside, Dechen tells Peter that she would look after him.
50) [FLASHBACK 13] Dechen’s worried face cuts to the face of Jean’s mother. His mother is lying on bed, presumably ill. Little Jean begins telling his mother a story when she says she is unable to fall asleep. Midway through, Jean’s dad calls Jean back since, ‘There’s a nurse to take care of your mother, you come here!’ [A bonding scene]
51) Dechen makes him have soup, during which she begins a friendly chat that again portrays her chatterbox of a self. Dechen again tells of her dreams, nearly drilling home her point, and even teases Jean about Preety. As Dechen leaves the tent for a bit, Jean grabs Claude’s diary again. And he drifts into a personal Flashback with Claude’s narration: [FLASHBACK 14] little Jean is waiting on a line for riding the giant wheels in a fair of some sort. He is getting restless at his mother’s side. Mother tries to console him by showing him the contoured beauty of a giant wheel in motion. [Narration:] “Today, Roger was saying that the wait to climb the Everest is almost like the wait for riding a preferred ride at an amusement park. From down here, it looks so much fun… [Jean finally gets on the ride] it looks like there can be nothing better than to climb, get on this thing… [the ride starts] And yet, when the real climb begins, most climbers start regretting their enthusiasm, and close their eyes in fear, just like children do on a really scary park ride” [Little Jean looks down below to the sea of people, and hastily closes his eyes and hides his face in her mother’s bosom]
52) Peter and his friend having a real row with all of their fellow members. The absence of Preety has posed a moral dilemma: Peter wants to return Preety’s permit money since she is missing the expedition anyways. Besides, the matter of Jean is being taken harshly as well. Peter reminds them to be humane in these inhuman Himalayan conditions, but MOST of his fellow climbers visibly do not give a damn and just care about reaching the summit! They are at a loss as to what can be done.
53) Dechen returns to Jean’s tent. She asks him about diary and Jean tells him everything. And he makes a heartfelt request to Dechen: I really want to go to Everest, for Preety… for everything she couldn’t achieve. I’m ready to pay anything, anything at all… But I have to climb Everest… this time itself!’ Dechen thinks for a while, before declaring, ‘You know, Peter and the others are quarreling right now, about YOU and a whole lot of other things… and this leads me to think… maybe I can help you!’
54) A montage: Dechen approaching the liaison officer. Liaison officer is seen thinking. Dechen approaches Peter’s tent where everyone is seen with a morose face. Everyone gathers round to listen to her. Jean comes out of tent and sits outside… a time lapse shot shows the setting of the sun.
55) Peter comes out and approaches Jean. He speaks about the logistical (mostly budget-wise) problems they are facing, also that the liaison officer has agreed to take a bribe and make certain “arrangements” to accommodate Jean as a ‘member’. But Peter faces an ethical dilemma since Jean is actually a novice in mountaineering. Jean convinces him that he can do it, that it is in his blood. As Peter grudgingly welcomes Jean into their group, he hears an Englishman of their group singing some song. Worried, Jean looks up at the fading skyline and sees a lining of cloud in the distance.
56) They start the next day. A montage of ‘money transfer’ later, they start with the Khumbu glacier, with one of their group members scheduled to act as the ‘Base Camp Manager’. A comparison with Claude’s voiceover, essentially to show how similar the conditions still are. But although Claude’s narration describes a fine weather, we see a cloud forming and winds blowing in the present, as the climbers face a blizzard that seem to have originated in a matter of seconds. In the ensuing ruckus, a Sherpa and two members of Peter’s group fall in a crevasse. Even though Peter makes a diving attempt to save the three men, he fails. Claude’s oxymoronic narration continues, ‘The weather is at this time of the year is calm, relatively so… in this part of the Earth. Of course, the climate so far up here can change without warning, almost like a sorcerer’s charm. So I just hope this calm is not the lull before a storm’
57) [Dream Sequence] Jean walking through the streets of Saint-Girons, in full mountaineering attire. Jean walks to a house and knocks and a quintessentially Tamil man in full Tamil attire comes out. Jean asks him the way to Everest. He does this with two more homes and their Tamil residents and finally, gets a response, ‘Go to the mango tree in the compound of house no. 66. That’s your Everest’ Jean proceeds and as he turns a corner, reaches his own home in Pondicherry. His father is seated in the garden, look otherworldly in Tamil Brahmin attire and tells 11-year-old Jean of his ‘love story’: How Laxmi worked as a receptionist in his father’s hotel. How he fell for ‘The Dark Priness’ of his dreams. Little Jean asks him, ‘But where is your Dark Princess now, Daddy?’ Before Jean’s dad can answer, The Big Jean asks him, ‘Where can I find Everest, Daddy?’ Jean’s dad appears confused for a moment before he answers, ‘If you see my Dark Princess, let me know!’ Jean, not having received the answer to his question, starts walking towards the back of the house, where he sees the tree, and his mom hanging on the tree by a makeshift rope made out of a sari.
58) Jean wakes up with a crushing headache. He comes out of the tent to find the sky still cloudy. Panting (he is having trouble breathing), he proceeds towards Peter’s camp, who’s talking on the radio with his Base Camp manager. He informs about losing three people and the terrible weather. The manager advises them to return, but Peter knows it is his last chance and refuses to do so. Peter tells Jean that they would start towards the Geneva spur if the weather improves in a day or so.
59) [FLASHBACK 14] Jean comes to Yvonne. In a fit of emotion, Yvonne loses herself in his arms, apologizing for castigating him previously and admitting that he is the most important person she has ever had in her whole life. Jean, finding this to be an opportune moment, asks him to marry her (with an old golden ring that belonged to his mom). Yvonne, overwhelmed but pleased at the same time, agrees to marry him, and they kiss.
60) The party fighting through the snow. They are about to reach the Yellow Band, when Dechen suddenly can’t move anymore and falls down, coughing. As she recovers slightly, Peter orders them to move forwards, since they need to reach Camp 4 after crossing the Yellow Band and the Geneva spur. They struggle forward. As they attempt to cross the Yellow Band, Dechen’s father points out a singularity of sorts: ‘The yellow band generally has a jam of climbers at this time of the year. Wonder why it is this deserted…’ Soon after, they starts the rickety traverse of the Geneva spur, Dechen’s father keeping a very close eye on his daughter… and in that distracted stage, while trying to loosen the rope on him to get to his daughter as she starts coughing hysterically again, he trips and starts rolling down. Dechen cries out in sheer mental and physical agony.
61) [FLASHBACK 15] The funeral procession of Jean’s mom. The semi-whispered discussion/gossiping of the townsfolk about the probable cause of suicide/murder and how much the Deacon (Jean’s father) was responsible.
62) Jean writing beneath the entry in the diary of Claude. ‘We lost Dechen’s dad today… It is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We’ve reached Camp 4, on the edge of the proverbial ‘death zone’. And we’re already weighed down by the weight of death…’ All the while, Jean takes oxygen to support himself and even coughs hard a few times. Peter comes to his tent and informs Jean that Dechen was not doing well. Jean follows Peter to Dechen’s tent, where she is inside a Gammow bag. The final Sherpa left is looking after her. Peter shows Jean her handkerchief, which is full of pink substances Dechen has apparently coughed out. Peter says that she has pulmonary Edema, and therefore, must be taken back to Base. But the helicopter cannot come in before dawn, and it was unlikely that Dechen would survive the night. After taking her out of the bag after three hours, they put her completely on oxygen, but she has no signs of improving.
63) [FLASHBACK 16] Little John praying at a church, tears running down his cheeks, as his Dad has a chat with the Bishop at a desolate corner of the church. He requests the bishop for a transfer elsewhere, since people have started losing faith in him and he didn’t want to serve God at a place where he was looked so down upon, since he believed that this was a direct insult of God. The bishop takes kindly to him and said he could make arrangements so Jean’s dad could be the new deacon in some church of Goa.
64) Dechen’s death, with Jean for company. A rather resonant portrayal of Jean being sick, Jean’s mom being sick, and even Jean’s dad in his deathbed… Dechen makes him promise that he would fulfill his dreams and be re-united with Preety as well. They bury Dechen the following morning, with the breathtaking view of the Tibetan plateau with its vast brown plains, white glaciers and the other Himalayan giants - Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu - in the distance. As the day progresses, Peter decides to make the final attempt that night. He approaches the remaining two climbers but they (being a couple, they do not want to lose one another… the “fear” getting the better of them) refuse to endanger their lives further. They are afraid, visibly so. Even the remaining Sherpa refuses to accompany them, finding the lack of humans in the region at this time alarming. He says in a stunned whisper, ‘Everyone is dead… you people have stepped on the mountain of the Gods for years, have littered it with dead bodies and their junk… and this time… it won’t let anyone leave with their lives... We must go down… as quickly as we can!’
65) Night falls, and Jean and Peter start on their journey through the Death Zone, at 10 in the night. The clear moonlight of the sky illuminates the snow around them and some of the corpses in the death zone are almost highlighted in that contrasting moonlight. The scene is ethereal and even with the breathing complications and the occasional hallucinations of stray images of Preety, Yvonne, Dechen and his mom and dad everywhere, Jean manages to appreciate the sheer beauty of a sudden soft snowfall in the moonlight. Peter comments that it was highly unlikely to have such peaceful snowfall up on the Death zone, but he appreciated the beauty anyways. He comments with a gleaming face, ‘This sheer beauty… this is an act of nature… an act of god… He wants us to reach the peak… the Everest wants us to reach its peak…’ The two struggle on. Jean almost cannot move any further, but Peter nearly drags him on.
66) Finally, the two reach the balcony (8400 m) at dawn. As the sun rises amongst the mountains to create a most magical moment, Jean sheds tears, for the first time in his life. He tells Peter everything about killing Yvonne. [FLASHBACKS accompanying – soon after Jean proposes marriage, the couple celebrate with drinks in Yvonne’s room. As the two get drunker, the conversation moves to what Jean would do with the lottery money. Jean candidly makes known his plans of climbing the Everest. Yvonne rebukes him for this, terms him a loser who cannot achieve anything in life thanks to his ‘redundant dreams’. She mocks him for being a ‘fake’ in every sphere of life – a Fake French (to which Jean retaliate: ‘I’m a French, I’m not Indian… I don’t belong here’), a fake brooder who didn’t love anyone in his life nor was capable of. Yvonne’s words get jumbled up as her accusations get harsher. She vehemently claims that he would NEVER, NEVER EVER be able to successfully climb the Everest. In a fit of rage, Jean strikes Yvonne across the face with a bottle of scotch. Yvonne collapses in a pool of blood]
67) Peter doesn't judge him, he admits that he is 'unable' to judge him, because they are now probably as close to 'HEAVEN' as they can ever be, and that the judgment should better be left to God, and says that even HE has some secrets, regrets in life he wasn’t proud of. [Accompanied with a flash – Peter outside a quintessential British country home with the picture of his ‘wife and two children’. He watches the house living room window from the pavement outside, and sees the two children happily sitting at the sofa with their mother. A man enters the house and the children and the wife happily greet him with hugs and kisses. As the front door shuts, Peter looks on longingly at the house] Peter says that he respects Jean very much, as a person, and what he had achieved so far being a novice was a feat in itself.
68) As Peter gets ready to climb on, Jean opens his diary to note the balcony climb, and stumbles upon a certain journal entry months before his Uncle Claude's Everest climb. The entry noted Jean and his father's "ESCAPE" from Pondicherry, as some people had begun to suspect Jean's father of ‘being the driving factor’ behind his wife’s suicide. Now, Jean comes to recall a long-forgotten memory, a flashback is seen where Jean's father nearly throws his own wife out of his house (Jean’s dad says, ‘It was a mistake to marry you, it was the biggest mistake of my wretched life!’). As Jean’s mother kills herself, the sound of the tug of the branch of the mango tree wakes Jean up in the middle of the night. Little Jean wakes up, goes to the window, and as if in yet another of his nightmares, he sees his mother hanging unceremoniously from the tree branch. Jean, his eyes wide, returns to his bed, puts his head on the pillow, as a solitary tear drop falls down his face.
69) Jean’s flashback is interrupted by his father, who is a shadowy figure a little way away and warns him not to climb the mountain. “No, Jean… don’t go that way. That way is death…” At nearly the same moment, Jean’s mom and Dechen show up, to lead him towards the peak, his supposed destiny. As Jean is still confused, he sees Yvonne, smiling prettily as always as she says, ‘It is indeed your destiny, Jean… you’ve craved this all your life. This is what you were born to achieve. How will you go back to Preety if you don’t fulfill your 1st promise (of climbing the Everest)?’ Jean’s dad keep on warning him, ‘We’ve done a lot of bad things in life, son… but we’re sorry… We know that, but does that mean you have to choose the way of death? No son… no… That way is death… this way (downwards) is life…’ Peter calls him, ‘Come on, the faster we start, the sooner we get there’ Jean gets up, stares around him at the breathtaking vista for a second, he looks at the peak and glances at the apparitions surrounding him. Peter calls him again, ‘Come on, son! Don’t we need to get to our ladies after this?’ he says with an unmistakable sadness in his eyes. With a look of supreme determination on his face, Jean starts to climb as well.
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Working title: The Lonely Climb by Jagannath Chakravarti is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
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