Tale of an unsung mountaineer

Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru, a 13-year-old mountaineer, who already set two world records, hopes to be the youngest Indian girl to scale all the seven summits in the world

Inspiration comes in many forms and can strike you randomly. From a soldier’s bravery on the Warfield to a small kid making a world record, inspiration can be drawn from everything if observed closely. Though reality shows and social media do a great job in bringing out inspirational stories to the world, sometimes the important moments get lost in the cacophony.

One such story which was off radar is of Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru. At a tender age of 10 months, Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru started her career as a mountaineer. What inspired her to take up mountaineering is her father, Dr Krishna Rao – who is also a trained mountaineer.

Recollecting her first trek, Jaahnavi says, “My first high altitude trek experience was at Roopkund in Uttarkhand at the age of nine.” The 13-year-old girl created history by scaling Mt Kilimanjaro (5896 mts), Africa on October 2 and Stok Kangri (6125 mts), Ladakh on August 14 last year, both of which went unnoticed. But the determination to achieve the target she has set for herself keeps her going.

Now, Jaahnavi aims to scale the seven summits in the world, the biggest challenge and dream of any mountaineer, of which she has completed one, Mt Kilimanjaro by taking the toughest route-Machame –though some raised dreads about her safety. By the end of May, Jaahnavi would be flying to Australia to scale Mt Kosciuszko and in the month of July to Mt Elbrus in Russia to come closer to her dream.

“While I was taking my daughter to the peak, there were foreigners who said ‘you won’t be able to do it’, but after she did, they came and said, ‘yes you are true Indians’. I always wanted to give my daughter something different and wanted to provide something to the society through her. Education is not enough, with that you need to do something to develop your personality. She is not just a mountaineer, but also a dancer, a painter and knows martial arts,” says the proud father.

Mountaineering comes with many risks; talking about them, Jaahnavi says, “Adventure without risk is Disneyland. I love nature and mountaineering is a way to enjoy and come closer to it.” Recalling her Mt Kilimanjaro trek, Jaahnavi says, “It was tough but I wanted to reach that height, had to cross many layers to reach to that peak. Oxygen level was dropping; cold made me numb but the determination took me there.”

Jaahnavi’s passion for mountains will enthrall you; her journey to high altitude treks will take you to another world and the difficulties she is facing in managing funds to fulfill the dream of making the country proud will leave you depressed. Even today, people segregate talent on caste; similar is the case of Jaahnavi. “When we approached a senior official, he asked about our caste and simply denied help.

Even the government is not doing much,” laments Dr Rao, adding that the latest mishap that stuck them was loss of equipment due to the mismanagement of airlines in the month of February while travelling to Nepal. Her quandary is a sad reflection of how the not-so-glamorous world of sports is still struggling to chase dreams. With some support, Jaahnavi could be the first and youngest Indian girl to scale all seven summits in the world. To lend a helping hand to the young mountaineer, log on to www.jaahnavi.com or sponsor.jaahnavi.com.

By:Meenakshi Sengupta