President Droupadi Murmu on Friday conferred the country’s highest award in adventure sport on Uday Kumar, a 36-year-old Calcuttan who had lost a leg in a train accident in 2015.
The Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award was bestowed on Kumar months after he had conquered air, mountain and water in Africa.
“Dreams do come true,” he told The Telegraph over the phone from New Delhi soon after receiving the award in the land adventure category.
While travelling on a train in Calcutta in 2015, Kumar was using the washbasin near the door when a jerk flung him onto the tracks. One of his legs came under the train’s wheels which changed the way he looked at life.
“Nothing would have been possible without the support of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling, the ministry of defence and Group Captain Jai Kishan (former HMI principal) as people don’t stand by divyangs (differently abled),” said Kumar.
Three years after the accident, Kumar began running marathons on one leg and became a well-known face on the circuit. About two years ago, Kumar approached the HMI and expressed his wish to take part in adventure sports activities.
“We made a special provision to train him over the years,” said Jai Kishan.
As part of a six-member team from the HMI last year, Kumar climbed Mount Kilimanjaro — dragging himself up 19,341ft on crutches that repeatedly got stuck in the volcanic ash — and then tested his skydiving skills over Tanzania after just four days of training. He rounded it off with a bout of scuba diving in the Indian Ocean off the Zanzibar archipelago.
The young man from Belghoria was all praise for Jai Kishan, who was also the recipient of the award in 2010 and 2021. “The way he handled me was unimaginable,” said Kumar.
Jai Kishan was the leader of the expedition that was styled “Kanchenjunga-to-Kilimanjaro” or K2K. It began in March last year, with the HMI team helping Kumar climb Mount Rhenock (16,500ft) at the Kanchenjunga National Park in western Sikkim. The African leg came in August.
“He exhibited exceptional courage and determination by successfully climbing Mount Rhenock (16,500 feet) in Kanchenjunga National Park of West Sikkim and displayed 780 Sq ft Indian flag,” the X handle of Rastrapati Bhasan said.
Jai Kishan said he wanted to enhance the climbing skills of Kumar and improve his public speaking. “I believe he can be a great motivational speaker. A person achieving this feat after losing his leg and going through suicidal tendencies is awesome,” said Jai Kishan.
While Kumar received the award in the land adventure category, Sayani Das from East Burdwan bagged the award in the water adventure category. Das had swum across the English, Rottnest, Molokai and Catalina channels.
Jithin Malayilakathutt Vijayan from Kochi, Kerala, who holds the record for the longest freefall in flat flaying and skydived for 18 consecutive days, received the award in the air adventure.