I wish to start with special cheers
For the Himalayan Club’s 90 years.
Now most of you've been here before
And usually what is in store
Are some determined people bent
On one more dangerous ascent.
The hand of death is never far away
A price they are prepared to pay.
And readers readily hold their breath
At every near brush with death.
But this year's award winning tale
Takes us on a different trail.
East is East and West is West
But each of them is on a quest
To find the secrets of success,
When their own lives seem a mess.
Give up on what for years they tried,
Seek greener grass on the other side.
Let us now go to Nepal,
Where the mountains stand so very tall.
Life here is far from the main stream
The timeless living it would seem
Precludes so many from modernising.
But what our author found surprising
The West found here a different charm,
An abode of adventure as well as calm,
A wonderland, a Shangri-La.
They came in hordes and from afar.
It took a while to understand
What Westerners sought from their land.
But gradually it would seem
Fulfilling the visitor’s dream
Was a way to live their own
Thanks to Mark, we have grown
To appreciate that this exchange
Is profitable and very strange.
His early life was the spark
That brought the Himalayas to Mark.
His parents worked at Woodstock School
And clearly found it very cool.
And so they took the obvious call
When assigned to far Nepal
To send young Mark to study there
What better way to prepare,
Mark Liechty for this great award.
Their strategy wasn’t flawed!
Woodstock students don’t seem to falter
At first we had our Steven Alter
And now we have another bright spark
Congratulations to you Mark!
You are a worthy successor
Another prize winning Professor.
While earlier he taught at UCSB,
Right now he’s at UIC,
Teaching history and anthropology.
As for the long delay, my apology.
Now Mark can tell you more about
The themes of his book, “Far Out”.
