Haryana cop Anita Kundu, who scaled Mt Everest thrice, kept her dream alive against odds
Chandigarh, December 18
She lost her father at the tender age of 12 and along with her mother, sold milk to earn and provide for her two sisters and a brother. But even in those moments of struggle, Anita Kundu never gave up on her dream to become a mountaineer.
The Haryana Police inspector has achieved her dream. She has scaled Mount Everest thrice and is looking forward to another expedition next year.
Recalling the challenges she had to face after her father’s death, Kundu told PTI that he passed away in 2001 when she was 12 years old.
“He wanted to see me as a top sportsperson,” the police inspector, who successfully summited Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, thrice between 2013 and 2019, said.
“With some support from my mother, I had to take care of my two sisters and brother. It was not easy to come out of the tragedy that had befallen the family, but my father’s words gave me encouragement,” she said.
“My father used to say that whatever be the situation, you have to fight and take it as a challenge. Those words gave me the strength to go forward,” Kundu, a resident of Faridpur in Haryana’s Hisar district, said.
She said initially, besides attending school, she used to sell milk.
“I had to work hard from 4 am till late at night,” recalled Kundu, who hails from a farming family.
From an early age, she had the desire to do something different. With time, her interest in adventure sports developed, though her father wanted her to become a boxer.
In 2008, Kundu joined the police service and expressed her desire to become a mountaineer to her senior officers.
She got herself enrolled in advanced mountain climbing courses and underwent training to survive in adverse conditions in high altitudes, even without food or water.
“I climbed Mount Everest for the first time in 2013 from the Nepal side. In 2015, I had set out to scale the peak again, but due to an earthquake, had to return midway. In 2017, I scaled Everest from the China side and in 2019, as the leader of an expedition, I again summited Everest,” the 33-year-old inspector said.
Kundu, who received the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award two years ago, said she has also scaled peaks in other continents. She was given the award in recognition of her unmatched dedication to land adventure.
Kundu thanked her sponsor SIS Group and its founder and group chairman R K Sinha for supporting her. “They played an important part in helping realise my dream of scaling the highest peaks in the world,” she said.
The inspector, who is posted in Karnal, is also a motivational speaker and regularly attends programmes in schools, colleges and universities to inspire youngsters.
She said things are changing in Haryana’s hinterland where, until a few years ago, girls did not get the encouragement to live their dreams.
“Things are slowly changing now and there has been a change in the mindset of people,” Kundu said.
“Till a few years ago, in my own village, people used to ask what could I possibly achieve. But now, girls are being encouraged and every family in my village wants their daughters to be like Anita Kundu,” she added.
Asked about many sportspersons from Haryana, including former hockey player Sandeep Singh and wrestlers Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt, taking a plunge into politics and whether she too had any such plans, Kundu did not rule out the possibility.
President Droupadi Murmu, who was on a two-day visit to Haryana last month, had heaped praise on the daughters of the state for presenting the best examples of women empowerment to the entire country.
Murmu had also interacted with some female sportspersons, including Kundu, and learned about their life experiences.
