ARJUN VAJPAI: Even Death failed to stop his determination!
At an age where most of us are confused about what to do in life, this boy of 16 had his dreams panned out before him. The young prodigy from Delhi, Arjun Vajpai, who holds the distinction of being one of the youngest Indians to have climbed the Mount Everest in 2010.
"The odds were against me. History was against me", says Vajpai, talking about how challenging it was to prepare for the climb
It took Vajpai a year to prepare for Mount Everest. "Ever since I was 10, I've wanted to achieve this feat and I'm so glad my parents were supportive of my dreams. There haven't been many youngsters to have climbed the Everest and I took that as a challenge and I'm fortunate enough to have become the third youngest Indian to achieve this feat", said Vajpai.
In one of his expeditions in 2012, he evaded death and was paralyzed for 2 days in the open, at an altitude of 22,000 feet!
Arjun was scaling Mt Cho Oyu, which is deep seated in Tibet. The winds were hostile and the temperature was -60 degrees! On the second day at Camp 2, Arjun woke up with his left side paralyzed. The two sherpas who were with him couldn't carry him down, so they left him in the tent to summon help.
With all his might he started crawling out of the tent after he telephoned his mother saying "he might never return". He was rescued two days later, after being found in the open.
“The cold has gripped us further due to lack of sunlight and we need to head down and get inside our tent and drink warm fluids,” he said before starting the long journey back to camp 1, via the standard North West ridge route, at 6,400 meters.
The Mount Cho Oyu 2016 expedition was a personal challenge for the young mountaineer because he had suffered a paralytic attack during his first attempt in 2011 and Arjun had to work his way back to physical fitness to climb again.
"Mountaineering is the application of all the knowledge that you've imbibed in your life.
All the physics, chemistry, history and biology, everything comes into play when you're one with nature", believes Vajpai.
A firm determination can defeat all negatives and even death.
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