Arunima Sinha, the first female amputee to have climbed Mt Everest, plans to scale another peak in December. A national level volleyball player who had one of her legs amputated in 2011 after she was pushed from a running train by dacoits she had resisted, Sinha said that she planned to scale six peaks in six continents. “My objective is to climb six peaks in six continents. I still feel pain in my body at times. I have a plate and a rod inserted,” she said on the fringes of a programme. A Padmashri awardee, Sinha had earlier scaled five peaks including Mt Everest, Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Ebrus, Mt Kosciuszko and Mt Aconcagua.

She recalled that she had a dream to become a mountaineer and her dream became a firm resolve when she read articles on mountaineering while lying on a hospital bed. “I decided to become a mountaineer and my family became my biggest motivation. My mother was initially a little concerned but seeing my will power she also became my biggest motivator,” she said.

“Unless we come out of that comfort zone and plan properly, we cannot see and define our immediate goals,” Sinha observed when asked by reporters how she was inspired. She came to the city to attend The New Town School annual programme and narrated her life story to the students and teachers after being felicitated.

Recalling the seven minutes on the summit Mt Everest, she told media, “I wanted to tell everyone that I’m on top of the world, to those people who had doubted me and to others who had faith in me. I took off my mask for a while, I couldn’t help.”

Asked how she relaxed after an expedition got completed, Sinha, who has been featured as one of the ‘People of the Year’ in the 27th edition (2016) of Limca Book of Records, said, “I meet my mom and she prepares ‘ghar ka khana’ for me. You don’t know how hungry mountaineers become after climbing a peak,” she said.