MUMBAI: An innocuous word pasted on the entrance door of Dr Milind Chitley’s ground-floor clinic in Andheri East alerts sufferers to his absence for a fortnight. The word says the dispensary will likely be closed from Aug 24 to Sept 6. This was the length for which the physician had launched into Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.Dr Chitley, a medical physician, is an avid mountaineer {and professional} bicycle owner. He received the celebrated Girimitra Award in 2005 and based an journey sports activities agency named Hills and Trails.Chitley organised a gaggle tour for 61 individuals to Kailash Mansarovar Yatra on Aug 23, and is amongst these lacking together with his spouse Janhavi on the identical journey.On Thursday, when TOI visited his ground-floor clinic in Malpa Dongri, native sufferers and neighbours had been largely unaware of the mishap. Only one youth recalled seeing a report in a newspaper which talked about Chitley’s title. An adjoining shopgirl promoting imitation jewelry was shocked to be taught that he was lacking in Nepal.As phrase unfold, sufferers and native residents assembled to recall the affable physician who was all the time useful to the neighborhood. One lady remarked how he handled her son. Others recalled him in bicycle gear sporting a helmet and driving together with his group. Spouse Janhavi would go to the clinic typically, they stated. All prayed for the couple’s protected return.Chitley has been the climbing physician for the primary Indian civilian expedition to any mountain above 8,000 m. He conquered over 23,000 ft of Mt Kanchenjunga.He accomplished his MBBS from Grant Medical Faculty, Mumbai, in 1983. He was an organising committee member of Everest Expedition in 1997, has walked over 3,000 trails and expeditions of the Himalayan vary, and has travelled from Mumbai to Goa and Mumbai to Kanyakumari by bicycle. Chitley is a member of mountaineering golf equipment like Himalayan Membership and former president of Andheri Sports activities Membership.
