FROM THE PIT OF MISERY TO THE PEAK OF THE EVEREST














“Gold medals aren't really made of gold.
They're made of sweat, determination,
and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”

- Dan Gable


I watched the Hindi movie ‘Poorna’ along with my wife on 24th of this month. It was my wife’s  50 th birthday. It was, also, one of her happiest! Both, my wife and I, loved the movie a lot… After coming home, my wife posted on her friends’ group:  “POORNA… A very inspiring movie!”

Just the way great Sachin Tendukar is… 24th April is his birthday, too! I remember an inspiring quote from the Legend:
“Don't stop chasing your dreams, because dreams do come true.”

Till my friend, Vivek, told me about this movie, ‘Poorna’ - just two days earlier that was - I hadn’t heard about it. How ironical, how sad! “Watch it; it is very motivating for multiple reasons,” my friend had told me. It was only after watching the movie that I gathered what the ‘multiple reasons’ were…

THE FIRST REASON: Obviously, Poorna. This 13-year-old girl from Telangana was one of the youngest girls in the world to scale the highest peak of the Mount Everest. Her story - from the pit of misery to the glory of the Everest - is no ordinary story… It is, truly, inspiring!

THE SECOND REASON: Dr. Praveen Kumar, the Secretary of the Government Social Welfare School, where Poorna studied. He was an IPS officer and wielded a lot of power in the inner circle of the Chief Minister. Yet, at the height of his professional success, he decided to switch his work area… the social welfare and education and well-being of the underprivileged. It was he who spotted the hidden potential of Poorna and an older Dalit boy, Anand Kumar… and it was he who went all the way, against all the odds, to help these two to brave the Mount Everest. Once, this goal was achieved, he went back to his police position. So, ‘Poorna’ is a story of this top-cop, too.

THE THIRD REASON: Rahul Bose. I was inspired when I learnt that Rahul Bose liked the story so much, that he involved in the project fully by producing, directing and acting  in it (the role of Dr. Praveen Kumar). One can easily make out that it was beyond a professional or commercial decision… It was a personal mission!

“Sometimes we make choices, and sometimes choices make us.” This was one of the dialogues in the movie which I liked the most. The other moment that touched me the most was when Dr. Praveen Kumar, the mentor, tells Poorna and her co-climber, Anand Kumar, that even though they would be trained for the Everest mission, the decision to allow or not allow them to climb would be taken only when they came out with their respective reasons to do so. “Only if I find your reason bigger than the Mount Everest, I will give my permission.”

Anand Kumar had the reason ready. But, little Poorna took some days to visit the most harrowing space within her soul and come out and tell her mentor, “Sir, I found my reason.”

My heart stopped when I heard these words!

Long years ago, another battered and wounded brave-heart had screamed standing at the foot of the Everest:
“Mount Everest, listen to me… I will come back and defeat you… for, you can’t grow any taller… my courage can!”

If you have not yet watched this Tax-free movie, ‘Poorna’, please do. Yes, take a few young-kids along, even if they aren’t your own!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Internet


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