How The Worst Tragedy Of Her Life Turned Arunima Sinha Into A World Champion

I’ve always been inspired by women heroes who’ve proven their worth to the world, time and again, despite all of their disabilities. And when I came across the story of Arunima Sinha, I had this rush of emotions; I experienced feelings love, anger, hatred, inspiration, all woven into one.

Every woman out there has her own struggle to deal with and so did Arunima. But her struggle pushed her to pursue a practically impossible dream; the dream of being the world’s first ever female amputee to climb Mount Everest. Do you want to know how she achieved this impossible dream? Read on to find out.

The Incident That Changed Her Life Forever

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In 2011, Arunima was on her way to Delhi from Ambedkarnagar, a small district outside Lucknow. She was on her way to rectify a DOB (date of birth) error on the call letter she had received from the CSIF. She got into the general compartment of the Padmavat Express. The train was crowded, and she was traveling alone, but somehow, she managed to get a corner seat. Suddenly four-five thugs approached her and started to pull on a gold chain that she was wearing. It was something that was gifted to her by her mother. She fought back with all her might; she was even on the winning edge. But in all her struggle, she was alone. No one in the very crowded compartment came to her aid.

What happened next was changed the course of Arunima’s life. The thugs grabbed her and threw her out of the moving train.

The result? She fell on the opposite tracks and even before she could move, just in a matter of seconds, a train went over her left leg. She screamed in pain and passed out. She lay there all night, until the next morning when the villagers saw her and took her to the nearest hospital. Her left leg had to be amputated in order to prevent gangrene. She even lost a lot of blood.

While she was fighting for her life, her story had spread like wildfire and had become a media sensation. Of course, this helped her get admitted into a hospital with better facilities (thanks to the then sports minister Ajay Maken). But then the politicians and government bodies began the dirty blame game. When they couldn’t settle the blame on each other, they made Arunima a victim of it. Rumors started to speculate that she must’ve committed suicide or that she was traveling without a ticket on the train and chose to jump off the moving train.

The Decision

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She lay in her hospital bed at her weakest and vulnerable, feeling helpless about her family and herself as the onslaught on her image only continued. Her left leg had been amputated. In her right leg, a rod was put in, going from the knee to the ankle, to hold together her broken bones. On that bed, in that condition, she decided to climb the Everest.

She says that she made that decision to reclaim her lost voice and shut everyone up. When she informed her doctors about the plan, they just laughed it off. They told her family that the trauma which she is going through has taken a toll on her mental health.

While a patient with a prosthetic limb takes some months or even years to be able to walk again Arunima started to walk on the very second day. As soon as she made her exit from the hospital, she went to meet Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb the Everest. Arunima says that Bachendri Pal encouraged her on her decision to scale the Everest.

The Journey To The Top Of The World

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After doing a basic training course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (the best in Asia), she underwent a rigorous training for the next 18 months. She climbed some small, yet very dangerous mountains and even had some near-death experiences while doing so. It was Tata Steel that provided her with a sponsorship, that made her mission possible.

She finally set off to climb the Everest in 2013. Her prosthetic limb obviously posed new problems such as making at difficult to find her grip while climbing the mountains. Her Sherpa told her that she was on a suicidal mission. You see, every Everest climber needs to traverse through four camps on the way to the peak. After reaching the fourth camp, there are another 3500 feet that lead to the summit. She recalls how she could see several erstwhile climbers’ bodies strewn all around her. But she continued to trudge on.

On The Top Of The World

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It was on 21st of May 2013 that Arunima reached the Everest summit. In spite of being warned about the low oxygen supply, she managed to climb and reached the top. Once there, she put up mother India’s flag on the peak along with pictures of her idol Swami Vivekananda. She clicked a few pictures and took videos of herself. She did this because she wasn’t sure if she would make it down alive, therefore, the pictures and videos were the proofs of the great feat that she’d accomplished. Fortunately, she managed to survive the downward climb and lived on to tell her tale to the world.

Life Lessons

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Arunima says that climbing mountains helped her revive her tragedy-struck life. She says she learned to be confident, resilient and developed leadership and team-building capabilities because of her mountaineering. She can always be heard telling others that it doesn’t matter as to what one achieves in life. It’s how that achievement made you a better person.

Arunima continues to inspire both men and women around the world to date. In fact, Arunima has made it her mission to climb all the highest peaks in every continent of the world. She’s successfully climbed four — Everest in Asia, Elbrus in Europe, Kosciuszko in Australia, and even Kilimanjaro in Africa. She was also awarded the Padma Shri award from the Government of India for her great achievements. And as she continues to write her legacy, we salute Arunima for her undying spirit in achieving these impossible feats. We can only be inspired by such women forever.

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