Life Positive — January 2018

37-year-old Kuntal fondly recalls the day when, as a teenager,

he watched the PBS Nova Everest documentary. He was

fascinated by the mountain and believes that the seeds of love

for mountaineering were sowed back then. “I didn’t even know

something like mountaineering existed,” he says, adding that he

was a regular child, happy in his world of friends and cricket.

Images of the scary Khumbu icefall and the magnificent 3000-

feet ice-wall of Lhotse face stayed with him. 

It wasn’t until eight years ago that Kuntal’s love for the

mountains was rekindled. He and his wife, Dipti, decided to take a

vacation in Shimla. “We wanted to see snow,” he says. “However,

six days passed by and there was no sign of snow. In the hope of

finding snow, we made a trip to Narkanda—a quaint and scenic

Melissa Nazareth finds out how software engineer-turned-

vegan mountaineer, Kuntal A Joisher’s passion for climbing

has made him a better person

The vegan

mountaineer

Photo courtesy:
Kuntal A Joisher

68 LifePositive | FEBRUARY 2018^

ENVIRONMENT