Letter to Wasfia Nazreen

Dear Wasfia,

Million congratulations my friend. There are some people who inspire undiluted admiration and you are one of them.  When I read the news that you conquered all seven of your summits, it was not just pride but also a relief.

Thank God, the girl will not be going away chasing another mountain or two. All are done. Now maybe you can return home, share some moments with us, and make us glow in the reflected glory of your achievements.

It's finally done and what more could we ask apart from feeling more happy that we are not climbing mountains. Yet I often ask, if your own personal journey to conquer your challenges of life can ever compare with the lofty mountains you climb.

Is conquest the right word to describe your feat? I wonder which word you would use to describe what you do? The spiritual task is always far greater than the physical for you.

I met you first on the pages of bdnews24.com in 2011.

You had written on the rights of sex workers and it was obvious that writing came naturally to you. You defended human rights, and as an ancient HR activist myself who has included defense of many rights, I felt connected.

You were writing much more regularly then, and I was an avid reader. Our mutual friend Sonia Kristy who used to manage the Opinion Page of bdnews24.com back then would speak admiringly of you, and I asked her many curious questions.

I was still living in Toronto and most things in Dhaka were so strange. But what struck me a lot when I visited that year, was that Dhaka was changing and the women of Dhaka were stronger than ever before.

Confidence is probably the best word to accommodate those I met. Wasfia was one, Mahrukh was one, Kristy was another. The list just kept getting bigger.

I first met you in the BRAC lobby and you had come to meet the bigwigs hoping to be sponsored. I was very impressed because fundraising totally eludes me. I had arrived in Dhaka in Feb 2012, and learnt about your many activities.

I liked you instantly when we met and while I tend to like most people that way, you were special. Many knew you as a mountain climber and some about activism for the Adivasis but there was much more to it than that in your life.

You were a committed follower of the Tibetan cause spearheaded by the Dalai Lama, you took marvelous photographs, you knew meditation, training etc …

What you didn't mention was that underneath that lovely smile, you kept fighting on and on to overcome the many obstacles that life sent your away. You were much more of a warrior than a mountain climber.

Although your life was as international as any, you retained your national colours.

You find no contradiction in your loyalty to Bangladesh and its history, while finding so much sense in Buddhist and other Eastern teachings. You have taken up the causes of many others and become the voice of several silent souls.

And you fight for them taking all the risks possible. People don't understand this part of you, but I hope I do when I say none can separate the dancer from the dance. The spirit that drives you to climb mountains also pushes you to stand up and be counted for the causes you support. The mountain climber and the activist are the same.

But its only you who can say what drives you to such extreme efforts in everything you do. Few would know that you lived in borrowed homes, carried large debts, faced many personal difficulties including health issues of family members, your own frostbite riddled body, the muscles that ache but you overcome, and the million pains and sufferings that all human flesh are heir to that you ignore to keep going on and on.

That makes you, Wasfia, the national pride and role model to so many, young and old. We celebrate that person, that warrior, that Bangladeshi who has kept the flag flying high.

But I also know the gentle one, the one who brought Buddhist prayer flags for me, the incense sticks that perfume my room still, the terracotta  clay hands, two palms joined together in the middle of which sits a space to light a candle. That is a beautiful craft and I think all of them together describe you best.

You mentioned that you were going to write your autobiography soon. I am sure many will read it. It will tell us perhaps more of your inner and outer journey in detail, but I think that for many, your life as it unfolds is in itself such a story that we read and admire every time we hear about you.

Always at the peak of our hearts.