To say that someone is a 'Southasian' is, in Himal's lexicon, a complement of the highest order. And that is not intended to imply any racial or regional chauvinism – it's just an idea that the values of Southasian-ness, beyond nation-statism, imply confidence, competence, commitment, empathy and an evolved ability for self-deprecation.
Edmund Hillary, who died on 11 January, was a Southasian. Of course, he became nominally a Southasian when he was granted honorary Nepali citizenship in 2003. But he was a Southasian well before that as well, due to his seeking to understand the Himalaya and its people, due to his coming forth to help without fanfare and without seeking applause. Indeed, he later said that his proudest accomplishment had not been climbing Everest ("We knocked the bastard off!"), but rather what he did to help the Sherpa community in his decades after the ascent.
Sir Ed was a gentle adventurer, who used humour to cover his sense of unease with having achieved international fame. Once, when challenged about whether George Leigh Mallory and Andrew Irvine might actually have reached the summit before him and Tenzing Norgay, back during a 1924 expedition, Sir Edmund replied in words to the effect, "Well, you also have to come back down alive."
Sir Ed's personality came through in an interview that I conducted for Himal's very first issue, in July 1988. (The 'zero' or prototype issue had come out in May 1987.) At that time, and till 1996, Himal was a Himalayan magazine, and so the issues discussed were all about the mountain people and the mountain environment. Here are some excerpts from Sir Ed's responses to my questions: