She is scaling the summit, literally. But, the ground reality below her feet disturbs her more. Struggling to maintain her passion, 13-year-old Jahnavi Sriperamubuduru is staring at an uncertain future on the financial front.
Facing avalanches in her journey to attain stardom in the world of adventure sport is not new for the gifted mountaineer. However, it is ironical that this school student from Alwal, aiming to become the first and youngest girl from India to scale all the ‘Seven Summits’ in the world has to appeal for monetary support!
The first summit in Mt Kilimanjaro was successfully scaled on October 2 last year. The others scheduled are Mr. Everest (April), Elbrus in Russia (July), Aconcagua in South America (August), Mt. McKinley in North America (September), Mt. Kosciuszko in Australia (October) and then special training to master skiing in Switzerland before the last summit in Antarctica Mt. Vinson Massif (November).
Fresh from her two-week pre-expedition training in Lang tang Valley-Yala Peak thanks to the encouragement of two support staff Kajee Sherpa and her porter, this young champion athlete is back to the base camp after a tryst with an avalanche on February 19.
So far it seems that Jahnavi is destined to face the rough and tumble in every trip she ventures out to attain new levels of excellence. The latest mishap that stuck her was the loss of equipment due to the mismanagement of the passenger airlines forcing her to look to new equipment which she purchased in Nepal and some even lent by Pasang Bhai’s Company. The airlines concerned is yet to trace her baggage and the equipment used to trekking the mountains.
But, this young girl keeps trying, thanks to a few philanthropists like Dr. Uma Maheshwar Rao and Praveen, who supported her latest trip, to prop her morale. “I completely dedicate my Yala Peak summit to the Dr. Rao and Praveen uncle. The interesting part is that I never met them, but they were generous enough to support my cause despite that,” she pointed out even while reminding that they are willing to support her Mt. Everest expedition.
The world’s youngest person to climb the 6,153 metre-high Mt. Stok Kangri in Ladakh and the Mt Kilimanjaro last year, Jahnavi makes it a point to recall the contribution of Nagapuri Ramesh, SAI athletics coach, who gave her specialised training for mountaineering.
With the Mt. Everest expedition scheduled for April this year and which is part of her ultimate dream of scaling ‘Seven Summits’, the young daredevil pleads, literally, for financial support which she needs urgently . “My humble request to all of you is just guide me or give me some good leads, from where I can seek support or be sponsored,” says the young girl who yearns to be different from the rest of the crowd of her age.
Her plight is a sorry reflection of how some champions from the not-so-glamorous world of sport continue to struggle to chase their dreams for attaining excellence.
