Dubai: As the world’s first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest, Arunima Sinha knows more than anyone else what it is like to reach the height of success.
So when she talks, people listen.
“The problem today is youngsters don’t have a goal. But only if you set a goal can you get the direction and work towards it, one step at a time,” Sinha told XPRESS in Dubai last Friday.
Life-changing incident
In the city to address the 36th annual conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India Dubai, Sinha recalled how she was forced to redefine her goal when she broke her leg and suffered a pelvic injury upon being pushed out of a running train by bandits in 2011.
- Arunima sinha, mountaineer
Sinha said she was a national volleyball player at the time and refused to be bogged down by the incident.
But getting back to volleyball meant she would have to play from the wheelchair. “I didn’t want to do that. So I set myself a new goal. I would walk again and climb Mount Everest.”
Sinha, who charted a new course for herself on an artificial leg, said she trained hard in mountaineering and managed to set a world precedent by climbing Everest within two years of her accident.
“Everything depends on the mind. With direction, discipline and determination you can achieve anything,” she said.
Far from resting on her laurels, Sinha keeps setting new targets for herself. After Mount Everest she scaled the highest peaks on six continents. “Now there is one more left – Mount Vinson in Antarctica. I will be going there at the end of this year.”
At the conference, Sinha, among many others, spoke on the subject of “evolution through innovation”, which focused on the need to infuse creativity in the search for solutions.
The function was attended by Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance.
ICAI chairman Naveen Sharma welcomed the gathering which was also treated to a musical performance by Indian singer and composer duo Armaan Malik and Amaal Malik.
