A Journey of Unbreakable Will and Triumph Over Tragedy
A beautiful soul born on 20 July 1989 in Ambedkar Nagar near Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Arunima Sinha was an accomplished national-level volleyball player with dreams of serving her country through the paramilitary forces. Born and brought up as a humble person, she was from service-driven family background that shaped Arunima’s early values and discipline.The life took a dramatic and tragic turn in April 2011 when she boarded a train to Delhi. While resisting a group of robbers attempting to snatch her belongings, she was pushed off the moving train. Another train on a parallel track ran over her leg. She lay on the railway tracks the entire night, severely injured, as 49 trains passed by without help. When she was finally rescued, doctors at AIIMS had to amputate her left leg below the knee to save her life.
Any human being would have been broken by such a brutal twist of fate — but not Arunima. With immense support from her family, she underwent intense rehabilitation and learned to walk again with a prosthetic leg within months. Yet her goals extended far beyond recovery — she set her sights on a challenge no woman in her condition had ever dared to attempt.Just two years after her accident, on 21 May 2013, Arunima etched her name into history by becoming the first female amputee in India — and the world — to summit Mount Everest, as part of Tata Steel’s Eco Everest Expedition. Her conquest of Everest was only the beginning. She went on to scale six more of the world’s highest peaks, including Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mount Elbrus (Europe), Mount Kosciuszko (Australia), Aconcagua (South America), Denali (North America), and Mount Vinson (Antarctica) — completing the Seven Summits challenge in January 2019.
Arunima's courage and resilience have earned her several prestigious awards, including the Padma Shri (2015), Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, First Lady Award, Yash Bharti Award, and the Rani Laxmi Bai Award. Her memoir, 'Born Again on the Mountain' (2014), narrates her extraordinary journey from tragedy to triumph. Today, Arunima is not only a mountaineer but also a motivational speaker and changemaker. She is committed to building a sports academy in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, for the underprivileged and differently-abled, empowering others to rise beyond their limits — just as she did. Her life is a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit, proving that even in the face of unimaginable adversity, it is possible to rise, rebuild, and inspire the world.
