Ravi Everest and how his tale took over the world
ILI LIYANA MOKHTAR
SHAH ALAM - The Malaysian hospitality and welcoming nature is almost known world wide, but it took one man’s ego to make us be known for something else - for being ungrateful.
The story is being hugely covered and highlighted in international media, where the lesson is glaring, as a decent human being, credit should be given where credit is due.
The tale begins with seasoned climber T. Ravichandran, who is also known as Ravi Everest on social media, recent’s attempt to climb to the summit of Mount Everest.
He had gotten stuck in a spot many called the “death zone” and was exactly that - on the brink of death.
In this area, temperatures can drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius (°C) and gets harder to breathe after a few minutes due to a lack of oxygen.
A sherpa known as Gelje Sherpa had spotted Ravi and made the life-changing decision (for Ravi) to save him and bring him down to safety.
The sherpa, known as Gelje Sherpa had shared the story of the rescue on his Instagram attached with a video of the whole process, where many praised him for his kindness and heroism.
Gelje had not revealed the identity of the climber in the post, but many eagle-eyed netizens identified the climber as Ravi, after the latter had posted about the incident and thanked those who had saved him.
Curiously Gelje’s name was nowhere to be found in any of Ravi’s initial postings.
This led to a slew of criticisms directed at Ravi for not acknowledging Gelje’s role in his rescue. Many went to the climber’s Instagram and Twitter to show their wrath and disappointment. Twitter users also claimed that Ravi had deleted comments which called out that he did not credit Gelje for his rescue.
Apparently after recovering, Ravi went on to do media interviews, posted his story but never once gave credit to Gelje or thank him for the sacrificing his and his team’s climb.
When people started to comment about the incident and the lack of credit, Ravi responded by blocking Gelje.
The public pressure of the story which has been shared widely in climbing communities and worldwide got to Ravi, who then proceeded to unblock Gelje and responded in manner he should have in the first place since the incident.
“Sherpas are people who are so committed and dedicated to their clients especially coming from 14 Peaks Expedition Co. & The Seven Summit Expedition Co. They never leave you behind.
“I experienced it this year. When descending the summit I had difficulty. Tashi heard that I am in trouble, he organised the rescue team (Mingma Tendi, Gelje Sherpa, Nima Dorchi, Nima Tashi, Dawa and Dipen Bhote). They are high altitude sherpas who make lots of sacrifices for their clients. They brought me to 7,300 meter for a quick Heli flight to Hospital,” Ravi wrote in a latest posting on his Instagram account.
Ravi added: “Sherpas are important in my 8,000 meter expeditions,” in which Gelje then responded to the post.
“Thank you! I hope you are recovering well,” Gelje commented on the post.
Despite the belated acknowledgement many were still unsatisfied with Ravi, saying that he should have acknowledged the sherpas in the first place because he could have died if it was not for them.
The comment section in Ravi’s postings for the past few weeks since the story broke has been flooded with critical comments for his alleged actions and failing to mention Gelje specifically but rather as a part of a group of rescuers.
While Gelje finally got the acknowledgement he deserved, they are still many Sherpa’s who have not been properly acknowledged and given the due respect for the work they do.
An Instagram user @markjosephbalines questioned Ravi’s stories stating that the latter’s team did not mobilised to rescue him but was left there to die.
“Gelje is guiding some other climber, your team is good for nothing. If not for Gelje, whom you blocked... you are dead. Why did you keep on pushing your expedition company?” @markjosephbalines wrote in a photo of Tashi Sherpa, who Ravi claims to helped him summit.
Meanwhile, user @danialjehse asked Ravi whether he was aware on why he was still alive today.
“Can you imagine if Sherpa didn’t find you there? Maybe you should learn to be humble and acknowledge others who help you,” he said.
Amidst all the criticism thrown to Ravi, one comment received 511 likes - it was short and simple but encapsulated how far the word has travelled: “You made the news all the way to Costa Rica... as a thankless man #shame”.
Many has spoken out about Ravi across various social media platforms - Twitter, Instagram and Facebook but one thing many have noticed is how Ravi repeatedly spoken about summiting Everest during the recent trip and that he was descending down when his team got into trouble.
However, Internet users have noticed that Gelje have stated in his posting that him and his client was on the ascending track.
The contradicting timeline and narration has now led to a bigger conversation - did he really summit Everest this time around?
