The Last Climb

The story is an adventure that began with a knee injury. Dr Johnsingh takes us along on this rousing and memorable climb.

- DR A.J.T. JOHNSINGH

August is the month of rain and sultry weather in the lovable city of Dehradun. It was a morning in early August 1995, and feeling uncomfortable with my unkempt hair, I decided to visit the barber shop at the T-junction, about a kilometer from the campus of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Chandrabani, Dehradun. I cycled fast from my home along the extreme left of the road. When I crossed the only causeway on my trip, someone in a car waved to me. So, holding the cycle handlebar with my left hand, I waved back with my right hand.

Meanwhile, a small boy playfully cycling along the right side of the road suddenly changed direction and fell on my cycle; I landed heavily on my left fore foot, injuring it. I found it difficult to get up from the ground as there was excruciating pain in my left knee. A person passing along the road on his scooter helped me to get up and took me to my home in the WII campus.