STORY SATURDAY
She climbed Everest with only 1 leg
Arunima’s painful story will give you goosebumps
In 2011, twenty-four-year-old national-level volleyball player Arunima Sinha was thrown off a moving train by thieves for refusing to hand over the gold chain, gifted by her mother which she was wearing. Being a single female traveler, they took her for easy prey.
She tried to resist them. She kicked, punched, and fought as best as she could. The compartment was full of people, but no one came to the rescue of a girl being robbed and attacked. Ultimately she was thrown out of a running train.
The whole experience was very scary. Later, she discovered that 49 trains had passed her by as she lay wrecked and bleeding on the tracks. Rodents would come and feast on her oozing wounds, scampering off when trains came. She kept screaming in pain the whole night. She never thought she would survive that night.
The next morning, some locals took her to hospital. She then had an amputated leg. As she lay in the OT, a street dog ventured into the room and started feasting on the leg that had just been removed from my body.
Thanks to the media, because of them she was shifted to AIIMS, New Delhi. The doctors of the most reputed hospital of India, AIIMS said that it takes people 3–4 years to learn walking with a prosthetic leg. But, the only thing that Arunima thought of was-
If God gave me another life after this dreadful incident, it is a sign that I am meant to create history.
Some showed pity on her, and some criticized her. They said she tried to commit suicide. Honestly, she was tired of explaining people but they were just not stopping from making up their own stories. It’s common human nature to make assumptions before even knowing the actual story.
That was when she decided to answer them with action not words
After searching the records, her bhaisaab (brother) told her that no one in the world had climbed the peak with a prosthetic leg. She pondered on the most impossible dream she could set for herself. She decided to climb the Everest, the highest peak to exist.
If she tried to discuss her plan with anyone, either she was laughed off or told that trauma had affected her mental health adversely.
Now that she had a plan, she needed guidance. She arranged a meeting somehow with Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Everest. Besides her immediate family, she was the only person to not dismiss Arunima’s mission. Bachendri said proudly —
“Arunima, in this condition you made such a huge decision. Know that you have already conquered your inner Everest. Now you need to climb the mountain only to show the world what you are made of.”
After meeting Bachendri, she did not return home and started her training. It took her 52 days to complete the mission but the journey wasn’t this short. She trained herself for more than 18 months to build that level of strength.
While on a mission, apart from regular challenges, her prosthetic leg posed serious issues. In fact, her Sherpa almost refused to accompany her, assuring her that she was on a suicide mission. After all, most regular folks don’t stand a chance against the mighty mountain. Where did she stand?
Around 3500m up, the area is called the death zone. She saw dead bodies of mountaineers scattered all around. Some had turned into skeletons and some were covered with sheets of snow. Ignoring the fear, she told herself:
Neither I can go back from here nor I can die before reaching the summit. Our bodies behave according to how we think
Seeing Arunima in immense pain because of her prosthetic leg, he kept on advising her to return. But, she overturned her advice saying she can’t die before reaching the summit.
May 21st, 2013 was the best day of Arunima’s life. She finally made it to the Everest Summit. She is the world’s first female amputee to scale Mount Everest. She wanted to tell everyone that I was on top of the world, especially those people who thought a woman and an amputee couldn’t do it.
To surprise everyone, she did not stop there. She climbed to 7 mighty summits of all 7 continents.
She said in one of her interviews — I used to feel bad when people called me crazy, when I was on my hospital bed and planning to climb the Everest. But now when people call me crazy about my goals, I feel happy. Now I understand
if people say you are crazy about your goal that means your goal is very close
Honestly, I have read so many autobiographies till date, but none inspired me as much as Arunima’s success did.
To not do tasks, we can possibly have 1000s of excuses, but to finally do it, only 1 excuse is enough — DESIRE.
