A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby, preface by Evelyn Waugh
Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1968 (first published 1958)
My wife highly recommended this book to me - she said I'd like it. That can often be a fraught statement, as reactions to books can be highly personal, and our judgments of what a particular person might like can sometimes be wide of the mark.
Not this time though. I loved this book for all sorts of reasons. I loved the "stiff-upper lip" style of writing and the understated humor as much as I loved the description of the journey that Newby and his travelling companion Hugh Carless undertook.
The journey began with a telegram from Newby to Carless - "CAN YOU TRAVEL NURISTAN JUNE?" In the 1950s Nuristan was practically unexplored by Westerners. Newby and Carless were not only going to traverse Nuristan, but also attempt to climb Mir Samir, the highest mountain in the area.
The preparations for the trip, as described by Newby are laughingly amateurish - neither he nor Carless had done any serious climbing, and so went to Wales for a few days rock climbing to get some experience of being roped together. Newby briefly describes the drive from London to Kabul, and then the real adventure begins!
With their main guide Abdul Ghiyas, Badar Khan and Shir Mohammed, they make their way to Mir Samir. Newby describes their repeated, but failed, attempts to get to the top as they battled the weather (hot days and frozen nights), the mountain (constant bombardment by falling rock), and themselves (fatigue and injury). Eventually they admit defeat, and one gets the sense that Newby is amazed that they thought that they could try such a thing, and that they survived the attempt (Mir Samir remains unclimbed to this day as far as I can ascertain).
They then trek into Nuristan itself. As infidels, it's not clear how they will be received by the locals, and it is generally with a mix of fear and wonder. Newby describes a life for Nuristanis that is brutal, hard, and most probably short for the men. Of the women he can say little, as they are rarely seen. The countryside is the hero here, magnificent valleys enclosed by massive peaks make for wonderful vistas, even if they are not so good for walking.
The book ends with Newby and Carless back in the Panjshir valley, where they run into Wilfred Thesiger, who puts them in their place with his nonchalance and toughness - his reaction to the revelation that Newby and Carless use air mattresses is the last line in the book, and priceless.
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is a great travel book - you'll learn, you'll laugh, and you'll enjoy.
Recommended
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