Pics: Meryick D’Silva
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore(MD)

Mangalore, Sep 12: It was an occasion where everyone present felt moved and inspired listening to the story of indefatigable will and insatiable spirit of Arunima Sinha, the lady who, with one leg amputated, became the first Indian amputee to climb the summit of the highest mountain in the world, the Mount Everest.

The motivational talk by Arunima Sinha was organized by Yuva Brigade at Sanghaniketan here on Friday September 12.

Arunima during her talk described the journey of her life, and how she overcame difficulties and obstacles to achieve her goals. She was a national-level volleyball player who was pushed out of a running train by thieves in 2011 while resisting them. One of her legs had to be amputated below the knee as a result.

Arunima is from Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, India. She had qualified as a head constable in the CISF in 2012. She had boarded the Padmavati Express train at Lucknow for Delhi on April 11, 2011, to take the examination to join the CISF. She was pushed out of a general coach of the train by thieves wanting to snatch her bag and gold chain.

Recounting the incident, she said, "I resisted them and they pushed me out of the train. I could not move. I remember seeing a train coming towards me. I tried getting up. By then, the train had run over my leg. I don’t remember anything after that."

She was rushed to hospital with serious leg and pelvic injuries, and lost her leg after doctors amputated it to save her life.

The talk, even though it was a monologue by Arunima Sinha at first, later it turned out to be a dialogue in which students of various colleges of city put forth questions to the UP lady.

Few of the questions were:

1. A student asked, "In India many youngsters are attempting suicide. What is your message to them?"

Answering the question, Arunima said, "The main reason for the suicide is, the youngsters do not fight with life. They are running away from their responsibilities by commiting suicide. They have to think about their parents who put their heart and soul to nourish them and give them a good life. They climb the Everest of life daily. All I want to tell them is fight for your existence and do not give up, and victory will be yours. A live example is here. I was in hospital with my leg amputated. I had the choice to commit suicide or climbe the Everest. I chose the second and now people do not call me disabled, despite being an amputee."

2. What is the first thing that you tell yourself when you get up every morning and go to sleep every night?

Ans: I write my notes, what I have to do the next day, before I sleep and I prepare myself. When I get up in the morning I tell my life's two goals to myself - to build my own sports academy for amputees, and climb all the seven top peaks of the world. If I am not able to convince myself about my dream, how will I be able to convince someone else?

3. You had mentioned about getting oxygen at the Everest summit from a cylinder thrown away by a British. Did you get a chance to thank him?

Ans: I have not been able to find him after that. But I thanked God almighty and that person in my mind for giving me the gift of life. The fact is, in such conditions people have the tendency to carry as less weight as possible due to which that person threw away the oxygen cylinder that he had used.

(When Arunima touched the top of the summit her oxygen was almost over since she had taken comparatively longer time to climb the peak due to her physical constraints. In the process of descending the oxygen was totally empty and she was counting her final moments. Accidentally a British climber, who had two oxygen cylinders threw one of the half empty ones, and fixed the full one to the oxygen mask and started descending as it is dangerous to go the summit after 11 pm as the climate turns worse. The Sherpa who was guiding her, got her the half-empty cylinder and saved her life.)

4. Did any doctor help you in your achievements?

Ans: Yes, initially after the accident when I was rushed to Bareli district hospital, there was no blood and at that time the pharmacist and the doctor present donated their blood and saved my life. Also, the first prosthetic leg that I used (not the one I use right now) was donated by a doctor called Rakesh Shrivastava of AIMS.

5. Have you complained against the people who pushed you from the moving train?

Ans: Yes and the police are still searching.

6. You were a volleyball player before the train incident. Currently do you have any plans to play volleyball once again?

Ans: Actually, I have stopped playing volleyball because in Paralympics I have to sit on the wheel chair and play, which I hate.

7. To the surprise of all present, a lady after apologizing to Arunima asked if she could not have waited until her wounds were completely healed to climb the Everest, to which Arunima gave a reply that left everyone stunned.

"The iron has to be shaped when its red hot. When you have a wound don’t allow it to heal until your goal is achieved. Because, the wound will prick you every now and then and push you to work for your goal," she said.

(The wounds were yet to be healed and she experienced excruciating pain when she climbed the Everest with the prosthetic left leg, just two-and-a-half years after the train incident.)

8: What is your future goal?

Ans: My goal is build a sports academy worth Rs 25 crore for amputee children and climb all the seven highest peaks of all the seven continents, out of which I have climbed three so far.

9: How did the thought of climbing the Mount Everest ever come to your mind when you were lying in the hospital?

Ans: I wanted to do something very challenging. And that time an article had come about the Everest in one of the newspapers. I told this to my elder brother who boosted my confidence and interest. After this I spoke to the first Indian lady to climb the Everest (Bachendri Pal) and the rest is the history.

10: What was your ambition when you were a child?

Ans: I always wanted to become famous. I did not know that autographs are given by celebrities. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade I used to ask my classmates for their books and sign my autograph. If the train incident had not happened, I would have become an international volleyball player. I always had the eagerness to become something bigger than what I am now.

Convenor of ‘Jago Bharath’ Chakravarthi Soolibele introduced Arunima and her insatiable spirit to the gathering and after the interaction session presented a memento on behalf of the Yuva Brigade and the student fraternity present.