Few recognized the cultural crevasse beneath the slick organizational surface. The advance team was dangerously diverse: Shaheen spoke Wakhi; the two Muhammads, Balti. These Pakistanis communicated in Urdu, a third language, which Shaheen translated into English for the Nepalis to understand. The Nepalis, in turn, played their own linguistic hopscotch. Pasang and Jumik’s first language was Ajak Bhote; Chhiring’s was Rolwaling Sherpi tamgney; Pemba Gyalje’s was Shar-Khumbu tamgney. They used Nepali to communicate among themselves. Information could easily become garbled as it passed through
...more
