Meet Sarita Shinde, the rock climber of Mumbai Police

In 1998, Shinde, who is attached to the main police control room in South Mumbai, did a month-long basic course in mountaineering from Darjeeling’s Himalayan Mountaineering Institute followed by another month-long advanced course from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarakhand. Cut to the present, Shinde has participated in various competitions and won six medals.

“After completing my course in 1998, I participated in a zonal event in Bikaner. I cleared that to participate at the national level in Delhi. I had goosebumps attempting my first climb but I managed to win,” she says.

There was no looking back. She took part in various competitions, winning medals, until 2013 when, while scaling a 56-feet wall in an indoor rock-climbing competition, she slipped. Since then, she has not participated in a contest. Talking about the incident, she says, “There are three types of rock-climbing – fast, rhythm and dramatic. In fast climb, you scale the wall fast. In rhythm and dramatic, there are only a few footholds and handholds that makes it tougher. I was doing a dramatic climb when I lost balance.” But the accident hasn’t deterred the 40-year-old to explore the mountains. “I trek a lot now and have scaled various mountains in and around Maharashtra,” she adds.

Her passion also acted as a cupid. Shinde’s husband Anand, a Naik with the Special Branch of Mumbai Police, too is a climber who has scaled over 30 mountains across the country. “Mountaineering brought us close and sealed our marriage. I had enrolled for the mountaineering course along with Anand. After completing the course, my friends decided to go climbing in Shahpur, but my male colleagues stopped me, arguing that since it was a single rock, it would be difficult for a woman to climb. I was not able to do it. But in 2000, Anand took me to Shahpur and we scaled it together,” she says.

Shinde has scaled many summits, including the Draupadi-ka-Danda near Uttarakhand, BC Roy Peak in the Himalayas and Manali’s Friendship peak. “High-altitude climbs require good preparation. You have to know the topography of the place, its climate, decide on what you need to carry, plan an escape route in case of an eventuality, travel light, ensure you don’t touch any tree or branches for support as it can get uprooted, burying the climbers in ice,” says Shinde.

The couple has floated a group for trekkers called the Sahyadri Adventure Club that organises climbs. “What is life without a passion,” she exclaims. “We all are born, we take up jobs to survive. A passion though adds meaning to our existence. For me and my family, its mountaineering,” says Shinde, whose sons – 13-year-old Aditya and 8-year-old Samrat – are her new trekking partners.