SINGAPORE: In April, thirty-nine-year-old Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya, an experienced mountain climber, went up Mt Everest. Unfortunately, he went missing on May 19, the day he informed his wife, Sushma Soma, that he was experiencing high-altitude cerebral oedema.
And although three others in the group with Mr Shrinivas were able to make their way down the mountain, he did not.
On May 27, Ms Sushma, 35, posted a photo of her husband on Instagram doing what he loved most, climbing a mountain. She captioned it with a quote from her husband, “But in the end, the mountain has the last say.”
And in her latest Instagram post from Sunday (June 11), she penned a heartfelt tribute, posting photos of herself scaling local; peaks.
“Shri, this one’s for you. There will never be another You,” she wrote.
Ms Sushma also wrote that her husband would set off at 7 am every weekend with a backpack weighing 15 to 20 kilos and would only return by 4 pm. He would visit McRitchie reservoir, the Coast to Coast trail from Jurong to Coney, Treetop walk, Rail Corridor, Bukit Timah Hill, “amongst many others.”
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She wrote that because of her husband’s love of nature, she “realised Singapore was more than just a glitzy concrete jungle. He opened my eyes to her rainforests and waterways that were hidden from plain sight.”
Ms Sushma, a musician, revisited some of her husband’s favourite trails this week, including Treetop walk, Rail Corridor and Bukit Timah Hill, accompanied by “some of (their favourite people.”
She also wrote, “When I was working to stage HOME in Singapore in April, Shri said I was climbing the Olympus Mons while he was climbing Mount Everest. I asked him ignorantly ‘Wait what, why wouldn’t you say I’m also climbing my own Everest??’ With his inimitable calm smirk, he told me to google Olympus Mons. I did only to find out that it is the highest mountain and volcano in the Solar System and is 3 times the height of Mount Everest. Ah, he had his way of celebrating (and annoying) me. Indirectly. Wholly. All while educating me on a random fact. “
Ms Sushma added that with all that had happened since May 19, she had not “paused to celebrate in its entirety that Shri was on the peak of Mount Everest!
I mean, what an incredible feat he achieved! What a CHAMPION. The tallest peak in Singapore on Bukit Timah hill is just a tiny speck next to where he stood, but it’s pregnant with all his memories for me.” /TISG
Search for Singaporean who went missing on Mount Everest remains fruitless