Fun story about the Himalayas and the Indian Government. As anyone who has spent time around Indians knows, they don't have the greatest relationship with the Chinese. After the Indo-Tibetan war in 1960's, the border was closed. Only recently have selective trade systems been opening up around the Himalayas, but the border situation is still very tense. During the 70's, in the golden age of mountaineering, the Indian government hired an expedition of elite climbers to work with the CSI and place a nuclear powered listening device at the summit of Nanda Devi to keep tabs on Chinese intelligence. Apparently the expedition went rogue because the device was left around advanced base camp, 'fastened to a ridge.' A team came in the next season to finish the operation only to find the ledge completely gone, most likely taken out by an avalanche, and with it, the device. The Indian army has spent the past few decades searching for it in the Nanda Devi biosphere reserve, but it is currently lost somewhere at the base of the mountain, which so happens to be the headwaters of the river system feeding the holy Ganges. This device is powered by two pounds of radioactive plutonium; if it leaks it could potentially poison a river system that over 100 million people access, not to mention the immense spiritual significance attached to these waters. My professor said he had a friend who was collecting samples in a higher village in the Himalayas where the water is already showing signs of radioactive deposits. Hopefully, the Indian government will choose to address their error with more reason than they applied to the first expedition.
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