Sujatha Rao

Inspirational Others

3.8  

Sujatha Rao

Inspirational Others

Look Ma, (No) Legs On Everest!

Look Ma, (No) Legs On Everest!

5 mins
249


Long ago, when the announcement was made about the motivational talk in our organization, most of us rolled our eyes thinking “one of those talks again!” 

But as I continued to read the internal communication that went on to proclaim that the speaker had climbed Mount Everest, I thought ‘now that’s something different. The next few words just blew my mind off – it read he was the first one to do so as a “double amputee”.

“This is definitely not going to be one of those talks. I am not going to miss this talk for the world.” I told myself.

I went in early and got a good seat in the auditorium on the day of his talk. As I waited impatiently for the speaker to arrive, nothing prepared me for the sight as he strode onto the stage causally with that extra bounce from his metal legs that stood fully exposed underneath the knee-length shorts he wore for his talk. He caught the attention of the audience even before he opened his mouth to speak.

During his talk, we learned that he had become an amputee at the age of 23 years after getting trapped in an ice cave on Aoraki / Mount Cook for 13 days and suffering from disastrous frostbite.

As he continued his talk, supported by some video clips to visually highlight his climb onto the highest peak in the world, the audience sat enthralled. Then all of a sudden he threw a question at the audience “What do you see when you see that man on metal legs climbing the mountain?”

Before anyone could respond, “Most of you see a man who has it so tough. But I see a man who can never get frostbite on his legs on those snowy peaks.”

Despite ourselves, we burst out laughing at this sudden unexpected revelation so casually from a man who had lost both his limbs to the very frostbite he was referring to.

That’s how the talk went on. Illuminating, exhilarating and so full of those funny quips! He made the climb seem so effortless for a man who had done something, which no other man or woman before him had done. His energy was infectious as he bounced around on the stage on his metal legs.

When he went on to add as a matter of fact that he had won a silver medal in the 2000 Sydney Paralympic games, everyone’s jaw almost fell open.

When it was the question-answer time, one man from the audience asked him “Many a time people would want to hide those legs from being seen. Did you ever feel the need to do so – at least in the beginning?”


He said “I never felt the need to hide them. I decided to wear these three-quarter trousers so that everyone including the surveillance personnel can actually see why the beepers go crazy whenever I walk through those metal detectors.”

He went on to add somewhat jocularly that despite doing so, he was asked to remove his metal legs and pass them through the scanner at the Indian airport – just to be sure.

“Oh My God, Here is a man, who not only wears his attitude on those metal legs of his but also is able to laugh at himself in public” was the thought that struck me when I joined the audience in the ensuing laughter.

This man was Mark Inglis, who went ahead and captured his adventure to the Everest summit in a book titled “Legs on Everest”. He was a multifaceted personality who founded a New Zealand-based charitable trust Limbs4All and in addition to creating a range of sports drinks and energy gels named PeakFuel.

It was only recently I learned about the controversy that surrounded his name involving a British mountaineer named David Sharp. Apparently, Mark Inglis and his party of 18 climbers, while ascending the Everest, ran into the distressed David Sharp and yet continued to push forward towards the summit. Sharp happened to die subsequently and many climbers including Sir Edmand Hillary criticized Mark Inglis for his decision to push forward instead of abandoning his climb to help Sharp.

It is learned that Mark dismissed all the criticism claiming that the decision to forge ahead was made by the leader of the expedition and not by him, which apparently was contradicted by the said leader.


People in support of Mark Inglis might ask what if he had abandoned his journey trying to save Sharp and yet he didn’t survive? 

But perhaps the right question to be asked is “what if Sharp survived?”

Isn’t it what all the attempts to save lives are aimed at, risking the rescuer’s own life, knowing very well at the beginning itself that there are no guarantees?

We don’t know what really happened out there in the wilderness. We would never know.

But the following words of Mark Inglis struck a chord with me “Trouble is at 8,500 metres, it's extremely difficult to keep yourself alive, let alone anyone else alive.”

A lot of decisions in life have consequences which we are not aware of when we make those decisions. At the end of the day, to be human is to be imperfect.

Mark Inglis was a fine human being and notwithstanding the controversy surrounding his ascent, his contribution to the world cannot be discounted. He fully deserves to be given his due credit for what he has done and maybe spared the criticism for what he hasn’t done, under the unprecedented circumstances that he was in.

 

This true story celebrates the adventurous spirit of all the paralympic achievers on the occasion of “International Day of Disabled” on 3rd December. 


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