Letters to the Editor: End of an era

End of an era

The recently concluded French Open Championship has more or less confirmed the end of the careers of two of the greatest contemporary male tennis stars. Even though they have not formally announced retirement, their recurrent injuries and age may unfortunately prove me right. Some time back, due to the same reasons, Roger Federer, another all-time great of the game, had to bid adieu.

The three greats of the current era are Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer. Nadal was known for his power, Djokovic for his resilience, and Federer for his artistry. World tennis will be poorer in their absence. This is a natural process, as we have started seeing the emergence of new stars, namely Alcaraz, Sinner, Ruud, and Zverev, to name a few.

All said and done, we simply cannot afford to forget the legendary Rod Laver, who has not been knighted so far. What Donald Bradman was for cricket, Major Dhyan Chand for hockey, Muhammad Ali for boxing, Jesse Owens for athletics, Nadia Comaneci for gymnastics, Rod Laver was for tennis.

Dr. Ashim Chowdhury

Guwahati.

Trekking tragedy

Nine experienced trekkers from Karnataka lost their lives in Uttarakhand on the intervening night of June 3–June 4 due to "inclement weather." The 22-member group, which included three local guides, is said to have begun its 35-kilometre expedition to Sahastra Tal in Uttarakashi from their base camp on a promising note on May 30 but ran into rough weather on their return journey. Severe hypothermia, sparked by snow, leading to a blizzard, according to experts, killed nine, a 71-year-old woman being one of them. None of the trekkers was a novice, and everyone had rich trekking experience under their belt but had to bow down to the extreme vagaries of nature because their trekking path, too, was not said to be very tough.

Mountaineering associations that trek far and beyond should clear the required regulatory norms laid down by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation before they embark on any tedious trekking. Notwithstanding the fact that sudden bad weather can catch any trekking group unawares, the significance of keeping every stakeholder in the loop and having a back-of-the hand familiarity with the local conditions cannot be overstated. Since plenty of lives have been lost due to nasty weather in the Himalayan region, a slight oversight regarding safety regulations can be catastrophic.

Amid the tragedy and the turbulent weather, the governments of both Karnataka and Uttarakhand deserve a round of applause for acting in tandem to save 13 trekkers and bring them back home.

Dr Ganapathi Bhat

(gbhat13@gmail.com)