Q1. How was the emotion of HPS Ahluwalia when he climbed on the summit of the Everest?
Ans. The most dominant emotion the author felt was humility. Besides, there was also a tinge of sadness in his emotions.
Q2. Why did the author feel a tinge of sadness after climbing Mt. Everest?
Ans. The author felt a tinge of sadness after climbing Mt. Everest because he felt that there was nothing higher to climb. In fact, all the other roads will lead downwards from here.
Q3. What kind of joy does one feel once reaching on the top of Mt. Everest? What effect does he make on?
Ans. On reaching the top of Mt. Everest, one feels a joy that lasts for a lifetime. As a result, this experience changes a person completely.
Q4. After climbing down from the mountain once the physical exhaustion is gone, which question does the author ask? How does he express his fear of losing from the memory?
Ans. After climbing down from the mountain once the physical exhaustion is gone, the author asks himself as to why he climbed the Everest. Also, he pondered over why the summit caught hold of the author’s imagination in a big way. On the way, the author also expresses his fear about the fact that climbing summit is already something of the past. Moreover, with every passing day, the experience becomes remote and hence the fear of it fading away.
Q5. “Why people climb mountains?”-How does the author reflect his thought? Which three qualities does he refer here?
Ans. Although the author is not suggestive of a very particular answer to the question he poses, in the simplest manner he says that people climb mountains “because it is there”. The three qualities referred here are endurance, persistence and will power.
Q6. Which summit did he refer to while talking of the outside summit? How was it according to HPS Ahluwalia?
Ans. The author referred to the summit of Mount Everest when talking of the outside summit. According to the author, the summit takes the last ounce of one’s energy. It is challenging, but at the same time very satisfying and joyful after climbing to the peak.
Q7. How does the author have a personal answer to the question of why people climb mountains?
Ans. Going into giving more personal insight, the author says that from childhood he was very attracted by mountains and felt miserable and lost, when away from mountains. Hence, to him, this fascination is one of the major reason as to why people climb mountains.
Q8. On the question of “why Everest” how does the author reflect?
Ans. On the question of why Everest, the author reflects that it is the highest and mightiest peak. It has also defied many previous attempts. Moreover, once the journey is taken up, it can’t be left midway.
Q9. Once the climb is over, what emotion does the author reflect that one feels?
Ans. Once the climb is over, the emotion is that of exhilaration, gratitude and reverence coupled with the satisfaction that is felt on the feeling of achieving something that is rarely achieved.
Q10. Glimpsing a mountain peak, what happens to the author? What are the qualities of a mountain that attracts the author?
Ans. Glimpsing a mountain peak from a distance, the author feels as if he gets transported to another world. Also, according to the author, he experiences a change that can be called nothing other than mystical. The beauty, aloofness, might, ruggedness of a mountain are the qualities that attracts the author the most.
Q14. How do different troubles make one curse himself? What negative feelings does he have at this time? How does he come out of this mood?
Ans. The difficulty in breathing, and the adverse situations one has to face continually while climbing, makes one curse himself. There is a constant feeling of going back, as the mind says that there is sheer relief in going down than keeping on climbing. This mood can be just snapped off at once by taking inspiration from fellow climbers and getting determined to complete the journey.
Q15. How did the climbers draw inspirations from each other and reached the summit?
Ans. Among the constant struggle, there is always a climber who is ahead, and who keeps reminding oneself that there are not many steps left, only fifty or hundred steps every time. Looking into them serves as an inspiration and at once, one has reached the summit.
Q16. How does one feel after climbing the top of Mt. Everest? What does the author say about the silvery peaks at this time?
Ans. After climbing the top of Mt. Everest, the journey really seems to be worthwhile. As the author describes, the silvery peaks appearing through clouds look like a jeweled necklace around the neck of the summit, when the sun shines through it. It is a very enriching experience.
Q17. In what ways did different climbers left symbols on the top of Mt. Everest? What does the author say about the symbols?
Ans. The author left a picture of Guru Nanak. Rawat left a picture of Goddess Durga. Phu Dorji left a relic of the Buddha and Edmund Hillary buried a cross in the snow. The author doesn’t see the it as symbols of conquest but as symbols of deep reverence.
Q18. What does the author say about the summit within? How is this personal climb way different from other summits?
Ans. The author, in this prose, very beautifully relates to a summit that is within every being- the one he calls as the summit within. It is of the mind. It can’t be scaled, and can’t be climbed by anyone else except by oneself. The climb within happens to be a being with fuller knowledge inside. This is the only way the personal climb is different from other summits.
Q19. How does climbing summit help one person in life?
Ans. The climb changes one person and perspectives forever. The experience of climbing a summit is so vast and immense that it propels a being to see beyond the purview of the limitations he/she was. In life, it provides the strength and inspiration to face the challenges of life resolutely, whatever it is.
Q20. Why does the author say that the summit within is way bigger than the summit outside?
Ans. According to the author, the summit within has no one to help, no one to take inspiration from and one has to go on climbing despite very adverse situations one can face on the way, to making oneself fuller of self-knowledge. In this very context, the author says that the summit within is way bigger than the summit outside.
Ans. The summit within, in a very simple composition, leaves a profound message to everyone pursuing the voyage of life. As simple as the climb may sound, the ascent is the purpose of every human life, and the challenges in the path that the author projects as being a part of climbing the summit, is in fact analogous to everyday situations that comes in life for us to tackle. Ultimately, through a very gentle gesture, the author talks about diving into the world inside, the mountain inside, waiting to be climbed, which is transformative, worthwhile, and is more difficult and promising than any other physical climb- it is the spiritual way, the ultimate human pursuit.