Former national-level volleyball player Arunima Sinha, who had lost her right leg after being thrown off a moving train in Bareilly two years ago, is all geared up to climb the world’s highest peak — the Mt Everest. Ms Sinha leaves for the expedition today.
Speaking to NDTV in the capital before leaving for her expedition, Ms Sinha recollected how she had decided to get her life back right in the hospital when she was recovering. “At that time everyone was worried for me. I then realised I had to do something in my life so that people stop looking at me with pity. I read about people scaling the Mt Everest. I spoke to my older brother and my coach who only encouraged me,” she said.
Ms Sinha also recounted how cricketer Yuvraj Singh inspired her. “He sent me a cheque of Rs. 1 lakh and also spoke to me when I was recovering. I then got to know later he was diagnosed with cancer. When I saw him back in the Indian team I was inspired and said to myself that if he can get back to the team, I could do something with my life.”
She also said her confidence levels were further enhanced when she met the first woman to conquer the Mt Everest, Bachendri Pal, the chief of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF).
Ms Sinha, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was pushed out of the general compartment of Padmawati Express for resisting a chain-snatching attempt by some hoodlums, while travelling from Lucknow to Delhi on April 12, 2011 and suffered critical injury in the right leg.
