HYDERABAD: From being a fated child bride to hoisting the Indian flag atop the 18,200 feet high mountain, Maheshwari, a native of a remote tribal hamlet in Adilabad definitely has come a long way.
She along with 11 other students of from Tribal Welfare Residential junior college, Hayath Nagar from Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) scaled the Mount Lako Kangse in Sikkim on Friday.
The 12-member team from Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TTWREIS) comprising five girls and seven boys conquered the mountain on Friday and created a history of sorts by being first contingent of students from the primitive tribal communities of Telangana.
“I never imagined that I would go to college and go on to become a mountaineer. I would have ended up as a victim of early child marriage, had it not been for tribal welfare residential schools and colleges. I felt very proud that I hoisted the Indian flag on the top of the 18,200 feet Lako Kangse mountain in Sikkim,” said Maheswari.
Malavath Poorna’s expeditions to Mt. Everest, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Elbrus mountains inspired Maheswari. “She is a role model for millions of poor tribal girls like me,” said Maheshwari.
The team was selected from a group of 35 students from across all TTWREIS schools after eight-day long gruelling training during which they had to rock-climb the Bhongir fort. “This was the first phase of the mountaineering expedition undertaken by the Society. The Lako Kangse mountain was the second and will be followed by a third one on Nepal and China border, post winter. The final phase in this will be a trip to the Mt Everest,” said Rakesh Kumar, sports officer TTWREIS.
The students had left for Sikkim on November 12 and have been training at the Himalayan Centre for Adventure and Eco Tourism at Dhamthang in Sikkim since November 14 and on December 7, they scaled the 18,200-feet high Lako Kangse.