Top-notch: Woman hailing from Gondia scales Mt Kilimanjaro, says ‘for father and daughters’

NAGPUR: An example-setting mother. A daughter living the life mantra given by her parents. Rakhi Nagrani, who hails from Gondia, was all these and much more when she climbed atop Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain at 5,895m. The 43-year-old, now settled in Charlotte in the US, finished the daunting challenge in February this year. Going by Nagrani’s feat, it is hard to believe that she grew up in a conservative Sindhi family having six children. Nagrani’s father, Santoshkumar Hassani, a school teacher, never allowed societal limitations to stifle her. He told his daughter to explore newer horizons. Her mother, Mayadevi, taught her to have faith and a smile while facing every adversity.
Nagrani managed to make it to the summit, Uhuru Peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, with her all-women, all-Indian origin expedition team after toiling over eight days and seven nights under tough and sometimes life-threatening conditions. “The toughest challenges of Mount Kilimanjaro expedition are its rough terrains, freezing cold, rain, winds and hailstorm. A day before the final day of the expedition, we were hit by severe hailstorm and strong winds. We felt everything would be blown away. Something heavy fell on one of the tents, forcing all of us to start praying,” said Nagrani, adding that they thought about calling off the expedition at one point.
She derived the strength to carry on from her mother, Nagrani said. “My mother always had a smile while facing difficulties in life. She taught me the art of controlling the mind with positive thoughts,” said Rakhi, whose brother Vinod Hassani is a renowned Chartered Accountant in Nagpur. The expedition team started the final leg at night.
“As the rising Sun started to light up the surroundings, the thrill was overwhelming. Having worked for six months, I was overwhelmed with a whirl of emotions after reaching the summit,” Nagrani said. “I remembered my father after reaching the peak. He taught us to follow our dreams and not get bogged down with societal norms. I also wanted to set an example for my daughters Aarya and Aarna,” said Nagrani, whose husband Naresh works with a IT company in Charlotte. Nagrani’s husband supports her adventure pursuit and looks after the daughters when she is away chasing her dreams.
Her passion apart, an amateur marathoner-turned-hiker Nagrani wanted her two daughters to get inspired and learn from her feats. “I want them to learn how to control or cheat your mind. During expeditions, and also while facing tough challenges in life, it is important to trick your mind into believing that everything is okay and all right. Mind plays over your body,” Nagrani said.
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest free-standing mountain in the world above sea level. Nagrani and her team started the final leg at 10pm and toiled hard for 12 hours to reach the highest Uhuru peak. “We had started in the night so that the scary tough terrain and death traps along the way don’t scare and distract us. In the light of the headlamp, all you can see is the place where you are stepping and the feet of the person ahead. During daytime there are chances of a panic setting after seeing the glaciers and tough terrain,” said Nagrani, who works in the insurance sector. “Another reason for opting for the night trek was a problem posed by Sun. During daytime the heat and light is too much to bear. We used special goggles,” she said. Apart from the challenging terrain, such expeditions can also put an individual into a vacuum of loneliness.
“During our trek, the mobile network was available only in twothree areas. It was the only time we spoke with our family members. Rest of the time, we were cut off from the rest of the world. It also helped us in saving cell phone batteries and we were able to click loads of photos after reaching the summit,” Nagrani told TOI over phone from Charlotte. Recalling the thrilling expedition, Nagrani said that the all-women team, whose youngest member was 21-year-old Rhea Bhagia and oldest was 61-year-old Anita Juneja, crossed five unique ecological zones before reaching the summit. “The beauty of each of these places like Mountain Rainforest, Lava tower, Barranco Wall and Karanga Valley, had their own charm,” said Nagrani, adding that Tanzanian porters cooked their foods and managed their luggage including setting up the tents.
During her student years, Nagrani represented Gondia’s Aadarsh Sindhi School in athletic events. She completed her engineering, in computer technology, from Manoharbhai Patel Institute of Engineering and Technology in Gondia. After shifting to the US with husband Naresh, Nagrani developed a liking for long-distance running and started participating in marathons. In 2022, she completed the New York Marathon (running over a distance of 42km) before beginning the training for the Mount Kilimanjaro expedition under her hiking mentor Indu Vaidhyanathan. It was Vaidhyanathan who motivated Nagrani and her team to come out of the ‘comfort zone’ and take up new challenges.
After starting as a solo hiker, Vaidhyanathan set up her own company, Industrek, in 2018, to lead expeditions. Nagrani trained under Vaidyanathan for six months for the Kilimanjaro expedition. “Initially, it was a 40-minute workout four-five days in a week. On Saturday, I started hiking for around four hours and climbing 365 stairs with 16 pounds weight strapped across my body to increase endurance,” said Nagrani, who also organized awareness campaigns for the American Heart Association.
In 2019, Rakhi also trekked to the Mount Everest Base Camp (5,364m) following the wish of her best friend Meghna Joshi.