The youngest girl ever to have conquered Mount Everest. She was just 13 years and 11 months old when she achieved this in the year 2014. Being such an inspiration a movie was made on her directed by Rahul Bose which was named “Poorna: Courage Has No Limits”.
14 Facts about Poorna Malavath
1. Background
She lived in a small district named Nizamabad in Telangana. Poorna was born on 10th June 2000. Her family was tribal and her parents were farm laborers.
2. Talent identification
She had been a student of the Telangana social welfare residential educational institutions society for her education. Dr R. S Praveen Kumar the secretary of the society identified her extraordinary talent and enrolled her name for the operation Everest.
3. Training period
For eight long months, she had to undergo intensive training. It was mainly jogging, yoga, and meditation during the first 8 months. In the letter half of 5 months, she had to go through vigorous ice and snow training. Before she embarked on the journey of climbing Mount Everest she went on to climb Mount Renock in Sikkim in order to test her stamina first.
4. The hardship
On her journey to Mount Everest, she and her co-climber had been informed about an avalanche that had just struck on the Nepali side of the mountain which had led to a few deaths. But this didn’t stop the fearless girl from continuing her journey.
5. Major amenities
The extreme climatic conditions had made it difficult for them to eat. So all they had was just dry fruits, chocolates, and liquids. To hoist on the top of the pinnacle they were carrying the flag of India, the Telangana flag, and their education society flag.
6. Most scary
Poorna says that while they were on their return journey she saw 6 bodies which remains the most scary part of their entire climbing experience.
7. Higher dreams
After completing this summit she went ahead to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in August 2016. Further in life, she aspires to be an IPS officer.
8. Achievement
After completing the summit the coach Shekhar Babu confirmed that she was really happy and she spoke to them using a satellite phone. She gave her first credit to the chairman Dr Parveen Kumar who has been a constant support all throughout.
9. The actual trek
On 25th May 2014, she started her trek and it took about 52 days for her to complete it starting from the Tibetan side because the Nepalese government didn’t give permission for climbers below the age of 16 years. Poorna has their coach Shekar Babu and a friend Anand Kumar who was a 16-year-old boy along with a group of sherpas.
10. Post expedition appreciation
After climbing the summit she got the opportunity to meet Mr. Narendra Modi the prime minister of India. During this meeting, she received a certificate of appreciation from the government of India from his hands. The chief minister of Telangana gave 25 lakh cash prize, a 2-bedroom house, five acres of agricultural land to each family, and even the necessary help for their education.
11. Difficult times
Throughout her training, Poorna showed a bit of fear only twice. The first one was during the Bhongir Rock where her legs shook. The second one was when she fell ill at the Everest advanced base camp due to insufficient acclimatization.
12. The motive
When she got this opportunity she decided to grab it as she wanted to prove that girls can do anything. Once she started this adventurous journey she just fell in love with the mountains and continued doing the same ahead in life.
13. Optimism
When she saw Mount Everest the very first time she told her coach that it wasn’t that tall we could climb to the top in just one day. This confidence was a result of all the training that she had been doing for months. She even climbed the mountains in Ladakh and Darjeeling, had a protein-rich diet, and ran twenty kilometers every day as a part of her training.
14. Inspirational story
She wanted her message to reach every nook and corner of India that girls can do anything. This journey of her life has also been published as a book. She even got a spot in the Forbes list of self-made Indian women.
It’s not just a single mountain that the girl conquered but she did reach the top of the tallest peaks in six different continents. She is a living example of how you can achieve any height in your life if your goal is set clearly in your head and your heart is purely in love with the idea too.
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