Literature Chapter 8 - Reach For The Top

“Reach For The Top” is about Santosh Yadav, the first woman who climbed Mount Everest not once but twice. Santosh was born in a society that preferred a boy child over the birth of a girl child. Here the birth of a boy was considered to be a blessing and a girl child was often regarded as a burden. In this society, young girls were set to get married at the young age of sixteen. Despite all of these drawbacks, she pushed herself forward and created a path of her own, followed her dreams and achieved worldwide recognition. Her story inspired thousands of people today.

Summary 

Born into a wealthy landowners family in Joniya, which is a village in Haryana, Santosh Yadav was the youngest sibling and the only girl child amongst six children. At a young age, Santosh started to deviate against the set norms and customs for girls in her society. She preferred wearing shorts over traditional outfits such as salwar-kameez. Just like the other girls of the village, she was forced into getting married at the age of sixteen, but she did not give in to it and wanted to continue her studies and get educated before getting married. Her parents were against this decision of hers. Hence, Santosh decided to fund for her studies at a school in Delhi by working a part-time job.

Soon after, her parents agreed to support her to continue her education, and she completed high school education. She went to a college in Jaipur named Maharani College. Here she saw the villagers of Jaipur climb the Aravalli hills. She was interested in climbing mountains and then went on her first climbing expedition with a group of mountaineers. She climbed Mount Everest in 1992. Santosh’s perseverance, mental and physical strength impressed her seniors. She even saved the life of a fellow climber, Mohan Singh.

Santosh became the first woman to climb Mount Everest twice when she went on an Indo-Nepalese women’s expedition. She felt a sense of joy and happiness as she hoisted the Indian flag, as she was proud to be an Indian. Santosh Yadav was an environmentalist, and on her way down from the Himalayas, she brought down about five hundred kilograms of garbage that was thrown and accumulated there.

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