Arunima Sinha addresses the youth convention at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Ranchi on Wednesday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

If you thought scaling the Everest was tough, match this.

You are in hospital after having fractured your spine, an arm, and have grievous injuries in your legs. The doctors will have to amputate one of your limbs to save your life. There is no anaesthetist. You say yes, hold on to the rickety bed with your broken arm, while surgeons cut off your left leg.

Arunima Sinha did all that. Survived. And, went on to scale 29,029ft.

Not a single pair of eyes remained dry as the gutsy 25-year-old from Ambedkar Nagar, UP, who is the world’s first amputee Everest conqueror, shared her experiences with 1,000-odd audience at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Morabadi, Ranchi.

“Twenty minutes are not enough to share my journey from railway tracks to Mount Everest,” she began referring to her time slot. “But, I will try my best.

“I was thrown off a moving train by dacoits on my way to Delhi from Lucknow on April 11, 2011. Not able to lift a limb, I lay on the tracks for more than seven hours and watched 49 trains whiz past till help arrived.”

Arunima was taken to the district hospital in Bareilly.

“The doctor said they needed to cut off my left leg, but there was no anaesthetist. I told him to go ahead. I told him I would not die because I had survived one whole night on the tracks without medical help.”

Back from hospital when the young woman expressed her desire to climb Everest, people discouraged her. Some even mocked her. “They told me I am mad. It only strengthened my will. I did not give up.”

Arunima contacted Bachendri Pal and trained under her at Tata Steel Adventure Foundation camps.

Recalling how she arranged the money to buy a new artificial limb for her Everest expedition, she broke down.

“The cost was Rs 7 lakh. I had rustled up most of it, but needed another Rs 70,000. I had almost given up hope when Swami Nikhilanand came to my rescue. He not only took care of my need, but also gave me pictures of Swami Vivekanand, Ramakrishna and Maa Sharda for my expedition.”

The climb was daunting, given unfavourable weather and oxygen deficit. But for a girl who had braved excruciating physical pain, the word impossible perhaps did not exist.

“My prosthetic limb troubled me on my way up. My Sherpa asked me to return.”

Arunima Sinha was not born to quit. And history was made on May 21, 2013.

On Wednesday, she was allotted 20 minutes to speak in the post lunch session of the state-level youth convention to mark Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary year.

But, she went on to speak for 40 minutes flat. No one protested.

“Par abhi toh iss baaz ki asli udan baki hai, abhi to iss parinde ka imtihan baki hai, abhi maine langha hai samunder, abhi toh pura asman baki hai (This hawk is yet to embark on her real flight. This bird is yet to take the real test. I have just crossed the sea. The sky is the limit),” she signed off.

Do you know any other braveheart like Arunima?

Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com