Mountaineer for 30 years, Mumbai doctor who led tour to Nepal missing with wife

Dr Milind Chitley, an avid mountaineer and cyclist, is missing with his wife Janhavi

MUMBAI: An innocuous note pasted on the front door of Dr Milind Chitley’s ground-floor clinic in Andheri East alerts patients to his absence for a fortnight. The note says the dispensary will be closed from Aug 24 to Sept 6.

This was the duration for which the doctor had embarked on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.Dr Chitley, a medical doctor, is an avid mountaineer and professional cyclist. He won the prestigious Girimitra Award in 2005 and founded an adventure sports firm named Hills and Trails.Chitley organised a group tour for 61 persons to Kailash Mansarovar Yatra on Aug 23, and is among those missing with his wife Janhavi on the same trip.On Thursday, when TOI visited his ground-floor clinic in Malpa Dongri, local patients and neighbours were largely unaware of the mishap.

Just one youth recalled seeing a report in a newspaper which mentioned Chitley’s name. An adjacent shopgirl selling imitation jewellery was shocked to learn that he was missing in Nepal.As word spread, patients and local residents assembled to recall the affable doctor who was always helpful to the community. One woman remarked how he treated her son. Others recalled him in bicycle gear wearing a helmet and riding with his group.

Wife Janhavi would visit the clinic sometimes, they said. All prayed for the couple’s safe return.Chitley has been the climbing doctor for the first Indian civilian expedition to any mountain above 8,000 m. He conquered over 23,000 ft of Mt Kanchenjunga.He completed his MBBS from Grant Medical College, 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 range, and has travelled from Mumbai to Goa and Mumbai to Kanyakumari by bicycle. Chitley is a member of mountaineering clubs like Himalayan Club and former president of Andheri Sports Club.