Just a day away from scaling Mount Everest, Anmish Varma was faced with two choices — to conquer the summit which was his dream or to save a life. Varma chose the latter and has no regrets about it.
The 25-year-old MBA graduate decided to abandon his expedition and head to Nepal instead to save the life of a fellow mountaineer from Visakhapatnam who had taken ill and was in a critical condition. The sherpas who brought him to the base camp could not communicate about his illness due to a language barrier. Varma volunteered to help and flew to Nepal for the treatment of the mountaineer. A dream remained unfulfilled but a life was saved.
A choice to remember
“I had to take a quick decision. In such situations people usually panic, but my years of training in martial arts has taught me to remain calm in difficult times and maintain a sportive spirit. I could think clearly and make the right choice,” says Varma who has been practising karate for the past 15 years.
Varma inherited the love for martial arts from his father and grandfather who practised sword and stick fight. He was formally introduced to karate at the age of 10 through martial arts class at his school. However, those 45 minutes of the class were never enough to satisfy Varma’s hunger to learn more. Eventually, he joined karate master Kanaka Rao’s coaching classes.
“The night before joining the class, my excitement didn’t allow me to sleep. I changed the time in all the clocks at home and woke my mother saying it was 5 am when it was only two in the night. Even today, I have the same enthusiasm for the sport. My day begins at 4 am and I practise for at least eight hours every day,” he says.
Claim to fame
Under the guidance of Rao, Varma won several national and international championships. The total tally of his gold medals stands at 57. Currently, he is gearing up for World Kickboxing and Karate Union’s (WKU) World Championship to be held in Greece this October. Varma has been winning the bronze medal in this championship for the past three consecutive years.
However, his journey to these laurels was no bed of roses. Having worked hard to hone his skills by perfecting every kick and punch, Varma had pinned all hopes on the WKU’s World Championship.
However, he felt helpless when he could not attend the championship in 2013 and 2014, despite qualifying, due to financial constraints. After missing the chance to attend the World Championship twice, Varma self-financed the tour to Spain in 2015 and brought home the bronze medal. From then on, there has been no turning back.
But he feels that the Government needs to give each sport equal attention and support sportsmen by helping them with finance.
“Apart from a few selected sports, others are struggling to survive in our country. Unfortunately, sportsmen have to abandon their practice and roam around asking for sponsorship to represent their own country,” he adds.
Varma recalls people taunting him for pursuing a sport which had no future. He says, people discouraged him as they thought the sport could never earn him a living. However, over the years, people’s perception towards the sport has been changing. With more emphasis on self-defence, parents now want their children to learn martial arts.
“Exposing children to new things is important. This helps them in exploring their talents and understanding about their strengths and weaknesses,” he says. With more number of people now looking towards martial arts, Varma hopes that the Government takes steps to encourage the sport.