For Nadia

“We welcome our viewers to this episode of ‘Unconventional Heroes’ and today we are in conversation with Cyril D’Souza from Durban. He recently climbed Kibo or the summit of Kilimanjaro at the age of 89, making him the oldest person alive to achieve this feat! Welcome Sir!” The interviewer turns towards the second camera that closes in on Cyril.

“I don’t understand why I am getting this coverage,” beamed Cyril “I was just doing this for her,” he said as he pointed to his heart. He blinked at the camera, the lights almost blinding him while the assistant adjusted his microphone. The crew exchanged looks of coyness and smiled amongst themselves. “Did she want you to climb the Kibo?” asked Natasha her interest piquing as she looked at Cyril.

Cyril guffawed. “She knew nothing about my climbing. In fact, she despised my going out, as I would come back injured and with a lot of dirty laundry,” he smiled, “No pun intended,” he said as crowfeet appeared at the edges of his eyes. “My Nadia was a woman of letters. She only let me travel because I would tell her stories in return for all the inconvenience I caused.”

“When did you feel like you should take up climbing? As in, were you always drawn to sports?”

“I was always a very shy child. I used to like being outdoors for the fact that I could be alone with nature. I loved to listen to the birds sing, the rain and the river flowing. In fact, I doubt I ever interacted much with the human world,” he chuckled.

“The only time I knew words were when I met Nadia,” his eyes sparkled with newly formed tears.

“You speak a lot about Nadia. What would she have thought of your feat today?”

“Being the oldest man to climb Kilimanjaro!” he exclaimed, bending slightly forward leaning towards the interviewer. “She would be very pleased. She always thought I looked like Hemingway anyway!” he winked. Cyril took on a more serious tone and said, “Hemingway was her favourite author and she loved that book by that bloke…something something Kilimanjaro’”

“Snows of Kilimanjaro?”

“Ah yes, yes. Snows of Kilimanjaro. In fact, Nadia made me read it as well. At first, I wondered what on earth Kilimanjaro was! I had not the faintest idea! But then I read all about it and was instantly taken by the place rather than the story. To me, I had to see it.”

“Did you think you were going to make a record?”

“Oh dear, no no! Not at all! I thought I just wanted to see the place for myself, and being the ignoramus that I am, I had no clue where it was or how to get there: but that was what made the whole thing more adventurous. While Nadia tried to show me the beauty of the story, I wanted to see the place, for what it was. I had no idea it would be such a climb. Of course, the boy in me was happy to see that there was such a beautiful place I had chanced upon because of my wife’s reading. You see, she died holding that book to her heart, and I had to live it. See it for myself before I could read it for her.”

“It must have been very emotional for you?”

Cyril stifled back tears and smiled through the pain as he gulped, “Of course. She was my life force and I thought only about her. Especially after I lost my leg, I actually thought I would never be able to walk again, but look, 2 years later, I am a grieving widower, old lame man holding the record for the oldest and what’s that word you used?”

“Specially-abled?”

“Yeah! Euphemism for lame you mean?”

“Lame old man climbs Kilimanjaro for his wife, yes. I am whimsical like that!”

“What is your next peak? Or next travel?”

“I am saving up to see the Northern lights next.”

“All the best Mr Cyril D’Souza, we hope you traverse the world and see all that you want to.”

“For Nadia, I will.”

 *****

The interview had got over sooner than expected and now the crew had seized his house indulging on snacks and drinks he had arranged.

“You went through too much trouble Mr D’Souza. The production would have taken care of this. Although I must admit the lemon cake is yummy!” Natasha spoke in her child-like demeanor, casting aside her stiffened pose in front of the camera.

“Oh no, the pleasure is all mine. It’s not everyday that I get interviewed.”

“How do you manage by yourself, Mr D’Souza?”

“First of all, you can call me Cyril. No need to be so formal. And I had to, simple! When we are pushed to our limits, we learn to survive. That’s what happened when I lost my leg and when I thought things could not get worse, I lost my partner for life.”

“I’m sorry…but how?”

“My leg was an accident, and Nadia to a heart attack two years ago.”

“Oh…”

“It’s alright. She had lived well and when she had been wheeled to the hospital, she had told me that she would prefer to go now than leaving me forever straddled with her to a machine and me to an incapacitated version of her. I protested, of course, I know how the body and mind can be channelized when it has gone through something…” he tapped his artificial leg with a cane. “But she thought otherwise, she wanted me to never lose my freedom to see the world.”

“Wow…”

“So, I had to, for her. I’m sorry if I went on a rant and upset you, that was not my intention.”

“Oh no! It’s perfectly fine! It is very touching,” Natasha said, while adding, “If I may…I have a question?”

“Sure”

“Why the Northern lights?”

“Oh haha. Well, when I had proposed to Nadia fifty years ago, I had always wanted it to be under the Northern lights, but she hated traveling and we couldn’t afford it. When we got this computer, she would stare at the images of the places she read about, but she was always too scared. But now I feel, I must.”