ERNAKULAM : No too long ago, she was a typical homemaker who never had dreams beyond building a house and raising her children. Modest, shy and nervous. An obedient wife and a dedicated teacher. Until the day she decided to break the shackles and walk free. Never having participated in a sports event or cared for birds in her childhood, C R Pushpa suddenly turned a trekker and a birdwatcher. An ardent one at that. What’s more, she has gone on to complete the Basic Mountaineering Course -- an uphill task for a woman in her forties.
A school teacher by profession, she now does her bit to inspire young girls to pursue their passions.
“My mind was blank when I unshackled myself, but a trip to Wayanad in 2007 along with my students helped unearth my love for nature and granted me the free reins of intuition,” Pushpa said.
She then went on an all India tour with a group of friends.
“I developed a passion for photography and started clicking birds. I attended a camp organised by the forest department for birdwatchers where I met many people with a similar wavelength. I started accompanying them and, slowly, I developed a passion for the wild,” she said.Having grown in confidence after several trips and treks, she applied for the Basic Mountaineering Course. The age limit was 40 and she was on the brink.
Her intuition held firm and she was selected for the course offered by the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports (JIM&WS) in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in 2018.
“I was the only Keralite in the batch. Most of the participants were youngsters but they helped me climb the glacier and the rocks. The 28-day camp made me stronger, mentally and physically, though I developed knee pain. I never thought I would be able to complete the 16km run. But I managed that and qualified for the Advanced Mountaineering Course,” she said.
Ice climbing was the toughest task as the campers had to walk six km to reach the glacier. “Climbing the glacier with a 10 kg bag was crippling. It was a rare experience as soldiers on Siachen duty were undergoing acclimatisation training at Sonamarg,” she said.Pushpa works as a computer science teacher at Vocational Higher Secondary School, Thevakkal. Born in Chittar, Pathanamthitta, she started her career as a jail warden. “I worked as a jail warden for three years but wasn’t comfortable.
I was pained by the plight of the inmates. I worked in the panchayat department for a year before getting appointment as a teacher. Meanwhile, I got married and had to break up after eight years of family life,” she said.As programme officer of the NSS, Pushpa motivates her students to pursue their dreams boldly. “My experience is that trekking gives us the strength to overcome the obstacles in life,” she said.