My fellow-BootanMandians – Priya Ambedkar

 

My fellow-BootanMandians – Priya Ambedkar

I have been writing in my blogs about my fellow residents of Bootan Mandi, my native place in Jalandhar, who have done well in life. My eyes and ears fell prey to yet another fellow, in the course of time,

Priya Ambedkar

Priya Ambedkar, a young lady of 28. I thought of writing about her as a matter of appreciation and pride. Priya has excelled herself in not only in academics but in the adventure sport of Mountaineering.  Here we go.

Priya is the proud daughter of her parents, an ordinary low middle class family of Bootan Mandi. Her father Ashok Kumar nick-named Gokha is engaged in leather business for their living, the traditional family business of her grandfather Hari Ram. I was happy to listen from Priya that their family was an ardent follower of Babasaheb Ambedkar and as such her father always encouraged her in pursuing her educational and sports interests and also other extra-curricular activities. They belong to Mal clan of Bootan Mandi but out her sheer dedication towards Babasaheb Ambedkar, she has added Ambedkar to her name. I first heard her speaking at Guru Ravidass Dham at Bootan Mandi a year ago at the Constitution Day function and came to know about her interest and engagement with Mountaineering, an activity generally reserved for the children of sophisticated elite. I was impressed. Now some days ago I came across a posting in the Facebook  about Priya Ambedkar and was really over-whelmed to know that since then Priya has taken many strides upwards in her chosen vocation Mountaineering and has earned much due and deserved recognition in the process. My curiosity grew to meet her and know a bit more about Priya with view to felicitate her on her achievements and express my appreciation as a fellow BootanMandian. My nephew

Mahesh Chander was handy, as always, and he invited her to his residence, our traditional family house where my brother Krishan lives, for a meeting. Priya came with her Tai ji (Auntie). I was further impressed by her confident demeanor and a good sporty look as an imposing young lady. Priya did her Bachelor of Arts from HMV College Jalandhar and Masters in Political Science from Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar. She informed with a sense of enthusiasm that she was interested in doing Ph.D on a theme pertaining to Babasaheb Ambedkar, her icon. As regards her interest and involvement in mountaineering, she said with a characteristic simplicity that somehow from the very beginning ‘she wanted to do something different’ which generally girls of common families with marginalized social and economic backgrounds don’t do. Priya was a cadet of the Army Wing of the NCC. Priya told me that she discussed her interest with the Commanding Officer of her NCC Battalion. He was somewhat amused and said that it was not easy. Priya insisted and succeeded in obtaining NCC back-up and sponsorship for a short course at Himalaya Mountaineering Institute at Darjeeling in West Bengal in 2016-17 and climbed various Hills and Mountains in and around Darjeeling. Priya continued and pursed her training at the Institute even after her first NCC sponsorship, this time with a sponsorship of Ambedkar Chetna March of Jalandhar under the stewardship of Dr, Surinder Kumar. She successfully did higher climbs from 800 feet to 1200 feet and also a difficult feat of a Glacier of 14600 feet in Sikkim in 2019. It was gratifying to note spark in her eyes when she said with a quite innocence that all of a sudden ‘she had become a hero and a kind of celebrity in the social media’. Replying to my query as to how she felt on becoming a celebrity over night, she said it was pleasant and encouraging and added that she was determined to do more by scaling higher peaks of 1600 and 18000 soon and was all set to join her Institute. Her zeal and determination, I felt, was already at the Everest when she informed that she had decided to name her next higher climb as “Bhima-Koregaon” as a tribute to our brave fore-fathers. While talking to her I could feel a little sense of remorse in her heart that whereas she was getting all support and engorgement from outside, of late from the media too, but her own in Bootan Mandi, except her parents and immediate family, did not take any notice of her activities. I could feel her pain as a humble BootanMandian. I said, with a view to assure her that I had spoken to two of the BootanMandians working at the higher echelons of the hierarchy; IAS Babita and PCS Anupam and informed about Priya and her excellent achievements. In turn they had wished her all the best. She was happy that she was in our thoughts.

 With this, I take this opportunity to wish Priya Ambedkar all the very best in her strides to scale higher heights in the days to come. WE the BootanMandians are proud of her. I also request and urge the community leaders to kindly see, consider and chip in to hold and support Priya in her further pursuits. This request is on my own; Priya is proud and steadfast.

अपना मुक्कदर आप बनाते हैं एहले दिल;

हम वह नहीं जिन्हें  ज़माना बना  गया.