BENGALURU: On Tuesday morning, Dr Arvind Bhateja got on to his bike, challenging himself with “Everesting or virtual Everesting.” For the next 15.5 hours (with food and stretch breaks), Bhateja, who is a consultant neurosurgeon and spine surgeon at Sparsh Hospital, pushed himself on his indoor trainer connected to the Zwift (an interactive 3D cycling game that mimics real-world cycling) in his attempt to hit the 8,848 metre mark. This is the height of Mount Everest. A challenge that is even otherwise known to be adventurous, it was particularly more so for Bhateja, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 on July 9 (he
was in cautionary quarantine since early July) and continues to self-isolate.
After having completed 6,800 m, almost three-fourths of the distance, he decided to call it quits owing to extreme fatigue and giddiness. Bhateja admits to having taken a “calculated risk”, knowing that he himself is a medical professional, along with the advice of his wife, Dr Anindita Bhateja, who is a physician. “It depends on the severity of symptoms. In my case, it helped that there was a doctor in the house,” says the doctor who contracted a mild form of the infection after he was exposed to it by a patient.
But the avid cyclist, whose quarantine period, hopefully, comes to a close this weekend, felt that this attempt was required. “I needed an outlet. The whole world seems to be despairing about the situation. Contracting the infection is not the end of the world. A marathon cycling session would send out a positive message,” he says, adding that he also partnered with a health care NGO, Swasti. So far, he has raised about `1 lakh through this initiative.
This isn’t his first attempt at the feat. In the outdoors space last year, Bhateja accompanied a friend who was trying this, and had completed one-third of the distance. The marathon session included a couple of food and stretch breaks, which slightly differs from an outdoor experience where one eats on the go. “But there are advantages to this too where cold water and a restroom are within reach,” he says.