Himalayas- Climbing the Himalayan Peaks. Does it make any sense to Indians?

The following letter from Gandhiji's collected Works ,( VOL. 21 : 1 JULY, 1920 - 21 NOVEMBER, 1920   Page 1) defines our(Indian) attitude or rather indifference  towards 'conquering ' the Himalayan Peaks (Or similar such physical feats for all time to come, including the mission to MARS) :-

1. “PATH OF TRUTH FOR THE BRAVE ALONE” (1) July, 1920

“The path of truth is for the brave alone, never for a coward.” I realize the significance of this poem(2)more and more as days pass. I also see that it is not for grown-ups only to put the idea of this verse into practice; children and students, too, can do so. If we try to know

and follow the path of truth right from childhood, then alone, on

growing up, shall we be saved from following the path of untruth. Just

as a disease, if neglected, becomes chronic and incurable, so also

untruth, if permitted to take rot in us from childhood, will later grow

into a serious disease and, becoming incurable, gradually ruin our

health. It is for this reason that we find untruth increasing in us.

So the highest lesson to be learnt during one’s student-life is

that one should know truth and act on it.

This path has always been for the brave because a much greater

effort is required to go up the steep slope of truth than to climb the

Himalayas. If at all, therefore, we want to work in this direction and

serve ourselves, we should give the first place to truth and march

forward with unshakable faith in it. Truth is God.

MOHANDAS

[From Gujarati]

Madhpudo, I, ii1

1 This was Gandhiji’s contribution to Madhpudo, the manuscript magazine of

the Ashram School, Sabarmati.

2 By Pritamdas (c. 1720-1798); a Gujarati poet and Vedantin