Neeraj Chaudhary tested positive for COVID-19 on the day he was to start from Kathmandu for the Mount Everest but that did not deter the IIT Delhi alumnus who returned to the base camp within weeks of his recovery and ultimately managed to hoist the institution's flag, besides the tricolour, atop the summit.
While the country was reeling under the aggressive second wave of COVID-19, Mr Chaudhary's family members in Rajasthan were hooked to their phones waiting for an update about his well being.
Mr Chaudhary, 37, did his MTech in Environmental Sciences and Management at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi during 2009-11 and he is currently working with the Rajasthan government's Water Resources Department.
He took to mountaineering in 2014, and in 2020 got selected as a member of Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) Everest Expedition under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. However, the expedition was postponed due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
This year, amid the uncertainty posed by the pandemic, he reached Kathmandu with the team to begin the expedition. "But I hit a roadblock when I tested positive for Covid and had to return to Jaipur. I was feeling fatigued since a few days but I had no other symptoms," Mr Chaudhury told PTI.
"In that moment as well, I wasn't really thinking of Covid. All I could think of was how much effort I had put in and the preparations I had done to reach there and that was my chance to complete it. I think that motivation of not having a second chance anytime soon helped me push my body harder and there I was," he added.
He tested positive on March 27 and was back in Kathmandu in April itself. He managed to scale the peak on May 31.
Mr Chaudhary recalls that once he was back in Kathmandu, after recovering from the infection, the news updates from India about the Covid situation worried him, while his family was on tenterhooks due to updates of cyclones in subsequent weeks.
"It wasn't easy mentally, and mountaineering is not just a physical effort. When I reached there, then also it took me three attempts within 36 hours to ultimately reach the top but once there, it was the best feeling. I managed to scale the peak on May 31," he said.
Crediting IIT Delhi for shaping his career and the alumni association for helping him start a fundraiser of Rs 24 lakh for the expedition, Mr Chaudhary took the IIT flag with him.
A flag in ceremony was held at IIT Delhi on Friday to mark the achievement.
"It's a matter of great pride that an alumnus of IIT Delhi Neeraj Choudhary, MTech, (Shivalik hostel) successfully scaled Mt Everest summit (8848.86m AMSL) on May 31. Neeraj carried the IIT Delhi flag with him and hoisted it on Mount Everest."
"He started the summit push directly from Camp-II (6400m AMSL) on May 30 and after the summit on 31st, returned directly to Camp-II in a continuous effort of almost 36 hours," IIT Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Covid Caused Cancer Tumours To Shrink In Mice: Study AIIMS, IIT Delhi, And University College London Collaborate To Advance Healthcare Innovation COVID-19 Was Not A Lab Leak, Emerged From Animal Market, New Research Shows Internet Snapped, Schools Shut As Violence Over Mosque Survey Kills 4 In UP Winter Session Of Parliament Begins Today, Waqf Bill In Focus: 10 Points Manipur Cops Walk 3 Hours To Raze Poppy Farms, Face "90 Armed Miscreants" Watch: Man Flees With Money Garland From Wedding. Then A Chase From Groom UP Cabinet Approves DPR For Noida Metro Aqua Line Extension 'Dystopian' AI Workplace Software That Tracks Every Move Has Employees Worried Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.