Height of resilience: IIT-Delhi alumnus fights off Covid-19, scales Everest

NEW DELHI: At one point, Neeraj Choudhary wondered if his lungs were up to it, having been infected by Covid-19. After all, the lungs are super important for scaling a peak of Mt Everest’s height and repute. But the 37-year-old, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, was patient. He had planned to ascend the world’s highest mountain since 2015 and he wasn’t going to let a coronavirus come in the way.
At IIT-D recently, there was a short ceremony. Choudhary had climbed atop the world on June 3. Ramgopal Rao, director of the institution, said of the mountaineer, “When we meet our alumni, we tell them to scale new heights, reach the peak. What do you tell an ex-student who has scaled Mt Everest? And what more affection can he show his alma mater than unfurling the IIT-D flag on the summit?”
An officer in the water resource department of Rajasthan government now, Choudhary worked hard to fulfil his long desire. He undertook mountaineering courses and saved money for the venture. Finally, on March 27, with Rs 26 lakh in accumulated funds to boost his confidence, he started his journey to Kathmandu en route to Everest.
With flights disrupted by the pandemic, Choudhary took the road. Near Sunauli on the Indo-Nepal border, he learnt he had tested positive for Covid. He didn’t have the typical symptoms, but did feel a lot of weakness. He went back to Jaipur and isolated himself, not even going home to Sikar to avoid putting his family at risk.
“Before leaving for Kathmandu, there was a lot of travelling involved. That was when I must have contracted the virus,” Choudhary told TOI. “When the first test after my recovery was negative, I didn’t want to take chances and got re-tested. It was negative again. I wanted to make trebly sure, so I went for a CT scan of the lungs. It is believed that Covid affects the lungs and I had to be certain I was fine.”
His lungs were in fine fettle and he began anew for Kathmandu on April 19. On June 3, he stood on Everest’s peak and unfurled the flag of IIT-D, where he had got a master’s degree in environmental engineering in 2011.
It was the culmination of an emotional, spiritual journey for him. “I had undergone intense physical training with para commandos in 2014-15. I used to run 17km every day, and that helped me build immunity,” smiled Choudhary.