9-year-old boy from Pune scales Mount Kilimanjaro
New Delhi, Aug 14: Most nine-year-olds would find it difficult to even put a finger on Mount Kilimanjaro on a map, but not Advait Bhartia, who recently scaled the the highest free-standing mountain in the world.
Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, at 19,341 feet above sea level, is also the highest in Africa.
Fondly called 'Simbum ToTo' (Little Simba), Advait reached the top of mountain on July 31, under the supervision of his expedition leader Samir Patham.
To successfully accomplish the hike, the nine-year-old from Pune took the most recommended Machame route that begins at the southern base of the mountain.
Advait, who also successfully trekked to the Everest base camp as a boy of six in 2016, finished the summit in seven days.
"This trek was really difficult but fun at the same time. When I was summitting (sic) the Everest Base Camp, we were living in wooden houses but during the Kilimanjaro trek, we stayed in tents and it was a good experience being exposed to snow and the surroundings.
"I could have completed the trek faster but the mountains were very beautiful and I took a lot of breaks to take in the beauty," Advait, who has Europe's highest peak Mount Elbrus on his bucket list for next year, said.
He added that thin air, reducing atmospheric oxygen by approximately 50 per cent, and sub-zero temperatures ranging between minus 21 and 25 degrees celsius at higher altitudes were some of the challenges he braved during his expedition.
According to his mother Payal Bhartia, Advait underwent stringent training over a period of two months to gear up for the climb.
"His routine included swimming for an hour, cardiovascular training like playing football, cricket and tennis in the second hour and climbing 100 floors and practising Parkour (military obstacle training) was a regular part of the training during the third hour," she added.
Payal, who accompanied her son during the hike, had to cut short her journey by 1000 ft on the way up as she was unable to acclimatise to the increasing altitude.
"I am very proud of Advait and his dedication towards completing this trek. On the last day, Advait got emotional and he individually thanked the porters, the tent pitchers and the catering team for all their efforts," she said.
The trek was organized by Pune-based adventure and trekking company Adventure Pulse.
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TMC MLA Humayun Kabir apologises for claiming 'coterie' influencing Mamata's decisions
Kolkata (PTI): Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir has apologised to the party's leadership for his recent comment that a "coterie" was influencing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's key decisions.
Kabir, the MLA of Bharatpur in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, expressed his apology on Friday in reply to a show cause notice issued by the party's disciplinary committee.
"Yes, I have sent a reply. I will certainly follow party discipline. But I think being a person from the rural belt, not conversant with the ways of the city, I faced this situation for speaking my mind. However, I had not said anything against my party or its leadership," he told reporters.
"Our CM epitomises the spirit of 'Maa-Mati-Manush' and being a person of the grassroots level, I always stay rooted to the ground. Maybe I should have been more careful about my way of expressing," he said.
A senior member of the TMC's legislative disciplinary committee said the reply to the show cause letter was received, and a decision on it will be communicated soon.
Kabir, however, said some other TMC MPs had on earlier occasions made comments against party colleagues but were not censured.
On Thursday, he met the CM in the assembly's lobby where she had asked him to reply to the show-cause notice first.
On November 26, Kabir had said a coterie within the party was taking certain decisions to cement their position and was influencing the CM's key decisions for their short-term gains.
He had said this a day after the TMC national executive meeting where the party had categorically asked its leaders not to make comments in public against any internal decision and formed disciplinary committees at different levels.
Kabir had earlier advocated for giving more responsibility to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, reiterating that the Diamond Harbour MP was undoubtedly the number two in the party's hierarchy and those trying to undermine his influence would not succeed.
