VIJAYAWADA: Five Intermediate students from social and tribal welfare Gurukulams - G Raju, J Praveen, I Venkatesh, B Prasanna and P Bhanu Surya - who climbed Mount Everest recently, have recounted how they have completed the expedition in the face of odds. They were felicitated for their feat by Principal Secretary of Social and Tribal Welfare SS Rawath, Chairman of SC and ST Commission Karam Sivaji, Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Chairman Varla Ramayya, ST Commission members K Narahari Prasad and N Sudha Rani here on Wednesday.
Virtually on Cloud Nine, the young Dalit conquerors talked about the preparations for the adventure and how they eventually made it to the summit. Praveen, whose oxygen cylinder blew up during the climb, recalled his horror: “I was absolutely scared, but then they strapped a spare cylinder to me in no time.” He also narrated gruesome cases of death they witnessed during their arduous trek. “I saw a Sherpa fall off the edge from a distance. When we went back to the base camp, I found out that he was dead,” he said.
Another such end befell a man who slipped off the edge and landed on a rock, injuring his testicles; they heard about the macabre incident after descending back to the base-camp. Raju described how a layer of mist covered his goggles, rendering him blind with a long treacherous terrain ahead. “I couldn’t see, but I somehow managed to climb up to a sherpa who heard my cries and helped me clean the goggles while I held onto the rope with one hand,” he explained.
Bhanu slipped on a rock. “Even if I had fallen, I would have been safe because the ropes would have broken, but I could have gotten seriously hurt since there were sharp rock edges all around,” he said.
Shekhar, the coach who led them to the peak, said that the `10 lakh awarded to each student for their achievement is woefully insufficient. “Why even give us this amount of `10 lakh?” he questioned.
The budget for the expedition of 22 students selected by the government was ` 14 crore. Seventeen students from Gurukulams could not make it due to an unfortunate event. A man named Ram Babu lost balance and fell when he was just 400 m away from the peak. The rescue work took two days and then as they were climbing back, they faced inclement weather which compelled them to descend back to the base camp. They were, however, awarded `5 lakh for their effort.
The five boys had to subsist on a spartan diet during the climb. “We had tinned food, maggie and energy chocolates. We ate well only before embarking on the climb. They fed us chicken so that we had enough fat to burn during the journey,” said Venkatesh. Each one of the Dalit boys had a humble backround. Praveen’s father died when he was a child, Prasanna Kumar’s parents are farmers, Bhanu’s father is an auto driver and his mother is a housewife, Raju’s father is a fisherman, and Venkatesh’s parents are labourers. “We would like to do it all over again if the government gives us a chance,” said Bhanu.