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Regular-article-logo Sunday, 06 July 2025

Mt Everest to Techno India

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A Staff Reporter Published 25.11.16, 12:00 AM
Students listen to the mountaineer

She was nearly married off at the age of 14, but she fought back. Not only did the gritty Haryana girl go on to complete her education but she also became a mountaineer, scaling the tallest mountain in the world. Twice. 

Santosh Yadav is the first woman to climb Mt Everest twice, in 1992 and 1993. And in the monsoon of 2016 she came to Sector V’s Techno India campus to deliver a motivational lecture to the students. 

 Santosh Yadav being felicitated. 

Yadav’s talk touched upon several aspects of life — adopting a minimalist lifestyle, staying away from habits like smoking, environmental issues…. In fact she even declined from accepting the flower bouquet, plaque and memento she was being offered by the school. “These flowers are wrapped in plastic, which is not biodegradable. And it takes a tremendous amount of water to grow flowers on a commercial scale. The greatest gift is your heartfelt-welcome,” she said, accepting only a book on Swami Vivekananda. 

Yadav had started her address in Hindi but upon spotting Francis Pugli, a student from the west African country Togo sitting in the front row, switched to English. Pugli appreciated the gesture and agreed with her too. “I liked how she asked us to be good human beings and to give up bad habits. I myself used to smoke before but gave it up when I realised the harm it was doing to my body. Now I encourage my friends to quit too,” said the BCA student who lives in a hostel in GD Block. 
Students may have been brimming with questions about her Himalayan expeditions but since Yadav had a plane to catch the question-answer session had to be skipped. 

Yadav holds up a book at the audience. Pictures by Shubham Paul

“I was most inspired to hear that she stood up to society at such a young age to oppose her marriage,” said Trisha Nayak, a first year BCA student about the sari-clad lady who kept pulling her ghoonghat up to cover her hair. “Who knew that such a down-to-earth lady could have scaled Mt Everest,” added Samanwaya Gupta, a BBA student.

Co-chairperson, Techno India Group, Manoshi Roychowdhury and principal Techno India Salt Lake Rina Paladhi were present at the meet and were moved by Yadav’s words. “We had got wind of Yadav’s visit to the city and invited her to come to our institute. Her words, especially on the environment, have got me thinking,” said Paladhi.

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