Students excitedly flocked to Arunima Sinha, India’s first woman amputee to have climbed the Mount Everest, during her recent visit to Velammal School.
Arunima cheerily waved to the children, matching their excitement.
Volleyball player
A former National level volleyball player, Arunima lost her left leg two years ago as she was thrown off a running train after she tried to stave off a chain-snatching attempt by hoodlums. “My journey from the Railway track to Mt. Everest (she achieved the feat in March this year) has been one of struggle,” began the 25-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, in Hindi. “But I never lost hope.” Arunima said the idea to climb the Everest germinated in her mind when she was recovering at AIIMS hospital (New Delhi). “People laughed at me. But Bachendra Pal gave me the confidence to pursue this mission,” she recollected.
Arunima said at different points in her journey to the Everest, her artificial leg came off, but she somehow found the determination to continue.
“We even found bodies on our journey. But I was determined to put the Indian flag on Everest,” she said.
Cash reward
Arunima, who was supported by Tata Steel Adventure Foundation in her Everest campaign, expressed a desire to open a sports academy for differently-abled sportspersons.
The school management felicitated her by giving her Rs. 1 lakh.
