“I needed to take Tripura greater – actually and metaphorically.”
When most individuals say they’re balancing work and health, they often imply a jog after work or squeezing in a yoga session earlier than a consumer name. However for 30-year-old Aritra Roy, a software program engineer with Tata Consultancy Providers, Bengaluru, the phrase “stability” meant one thing way more bold: biking from Agartala to Nepal, scaling Mount Everest, and ending off with the world’s highest-altitude marathon, all whereas working a company job.
In Could 2024, Aritra turned the primary individual from Tripura to summit Mount Everest, finishing a self-conceived “triathlon to the highest”; a feat that fused his ardour for endurance sports activities, sustainability, and his deep-rooted delight in representing the Northeast.
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In dialog with The Higher India, he shares that his story isn’t of a full-time athlete or a sponsored adventurer. It’s a couple of common middle-class techie who turned his 9-to-5 job right into a stepping stone moderately than an impediment. He didn’t give up his job. He didn’t get huge funding. However he did get a imaginative and prescient and the sheer will to observe by.
Rising up in Agartala, Aritra by no means considered turning into a mountaineer. “Journey sports activities weren’t even a factor in Tripura. We didn’t have publicity or entry,” he shares. However what he did have was an innate drive for bodily exercise. Operating, biking, swimming, he embraced all of them as a part of every day life, particularly post-2020 when the COVID-19 waves spurred him into long-distance coaching.
“I used to be commonly taking part in marathons, open-water swimming occasions, triathlons. Someplace alongside the best way, I obtained fascinated by the concept of human endurance,” he tells The Higher India.
The seed for Everest, although, was planted throughout a random scroll on the web. “I got here throughout a Swedish athlete who cycled all the best way to Nepal, climbed Everest, after which cycled again. That picture simply stayed with me. I assumed if he can do it, why not somebody from India? Why not somebody from Tripura?”
That query slowly reworked right into a mission. Not solely would he climb Everest, however he’d additionally cycle to Nepal and end off with the Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon held yearly on Could 29, commemorating the primary profitable summit by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
“I needed the entire journey to be land-based and low-carbon. Journey doesn’t have to go away a big footprint,” Aritra provides.
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On the wheels for 21 days, protecting 1,200 km
On 16 March 2024, Aritra took his first pedal stroke from Agartala, setting out for Nepal on a cycle loaded with fundamental provides. The trip took 21 days, of which 14 had been lively biking days, protecting roughly 1,200 kilometres.
“I cycled round 80 to 100 kilometres a day and took relaxation days in between. I at all times began early within the morning and by no means cycled after sunset. Security was essential,” he says.
The route wasn’t straightforward. From scorching warmth to mechanical failures and unpredictable roads, he needed to keep self-reliant all through. “There have been stretches the place I wouldn’t see a good eatery or restore store for hours. However in some way, I didn’t really feel lonely. I used to be doing this for a motive.”
That motive, for Aritra, was at all times greater than only a private report. “Tripura is rarely within the dialog relating to mountaineering or journey sports activities. I needed to alter that. I needed to encourage younger individuals from the Northeast and present that even should you’re working a company job, you’ll be able to dream huge.”
Fellow bicycle owner and pal Debabrata Majumdar, who accompanied Aritra on a part of the expedition, recollects a strong second from day one. “We had been confronted with excessive ascents from the 2 lengthy mountain ranges of Tripura – Baramura and Atharamura. It was extremely popular and humid, and most of us weren’t capable of trip because of dehydration. Aritra managed the group correctly, planning the trip interval, getting hydration from close by villages, and thoroughly selecting the halt location. He saved encouraging the complete staff and made us relaxation when the warmth turned insufferable. He’s a real chief.”
Attaining the feat of getting onto the very best peak
After reaching Nepal, Aritra rested for a number of days earlier than starting the Everest Base Camp trek and acclimatisation. On 29 April 2024, he started the ultimate push.
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The Everest climb is notoriously gruelling with harmful icefalls, skinny air, and sub-zero nights. “There have been moments throughout the summit push once I thought, ‘Why am I doing this?’ However then I’d bear in mind all of the individuals again residence cheering for me, the sacrifices I’d made, and the accountability I felt representing Tripura.”
At round 4 AM on 21 Could 2024, Aritra reached the highest of the world.
“It was pitch darkish once I summited. The solar hadn’t risen but, and all the things round me was silent simply my breath, my heartbeat, and the crunch of snow. I took a small flag of India out of my pocket, held it up, and broke down, recollects the mountaineer whereas talking to The Higher India.
Debabrata, who witnessed Aritra throughout all three legs, biking, climbing, and working, shares, “What really stunned me about Aritra was his emotional stability below intense stress. Most individuals both rush or freeze when issues go sideways, however Aritra appears to enter a zone of complete readability. That calm confidence held the staff collectively greater than as soon as.”
He provides, “For an expedition like Everest, an important half is preparation. And I’ll give full marks to Aritra for the way meticulously he ready. Whether or not it was the Ladakh Marathon or biking to Khardung La, he educated with function, endurance, and an obsession for element. His success wasn’t luck, it was inevitable.”
Finishing a marathon at 17,500 ft
Most climbers would think about the Everest summit the ultimate purpose. However Aritra had yet one more feat left , the Everest Marathon, which begins at base camp and descends over 42.2 km by rugged Himalayan terrain.
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“Operating at that altitude, proper after the summit, was the toughest factor I’ve ever executed,” he laughs. “My physique was exhausted, my muscle groups sore, however I used to be mentally locked in. I simply needed to end.”
Debabrata places it in perspective: “A full triathlon often occurs over a number of hours on a marked route with crew help. However Aritra’s triathlon spanned two and a half months and 1,600+ km, and far of it was self-supported. The psychological resilience that’s required is past something most individuals can think about.”
“If I needed to describe Aritra’s expedition and conquering Everest spirit in a metaphor, I’d say: He was like a flame that discovered to burn brighter within the skinny air. Everest doesn’t simply check energy—it strips you right down to your core. However Aritra didn’t simply endure—he thrived.”
The lady behind the mountain man
Whereas Aritra’s physique was climbing Everest, his emotional anchor stayed grounded in Bengaluru – his spouse, Ashirbani.
From budgeting to ethical help, Ashirbani performed an important position in preserving Aritra’s dream alive. “We weren’t financially well-off. We needed to take a private mortgage for this expedition. Half the funds got here by financial savings, and the remainder by credit score,” she tells The Higher India.
Initially nervous about his security and the monetary pressure, Ashirbani says, “At one level, I requested him, are you positive you need to do that whereas working full-time? However his willpower satisfied me. He was doing it not only for himself however for a whole area.”
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She additionally dealt with logistics and saved his morale excessive throughout troublesome moments. “I used to be monitoring his GPS location each single day. The few occasions he might name from the mountains, I simply reminded him how proud all of us had been. That was sufficient.”
Balancing the keyboard and the Karakoram
What makes Aritra’s story stand out is how bizarre his life seems from the surface. No sabbaticals. No elite athlete funding. Only a man logging into work every day and logging miles within the morning and night.
He educated for Everest whereas managing consumer calls, coding initiatives, and the occasional enterprise journey. “My firm was supportive, however there have been no particular favours. I used my leaves correctly and deliberate my coaching round my work hours,” he explains.
Early morning biking, weekend swims, and late-night gear analysis turned the norm. “It was exhausting, however it taught me learn how to find time for my goals as a substitute of ready for the fitting time.”
He even used his journey to advertise sustainable journey. “I didn’t fly to Kathmandu. I didn’t take a chopper to base camp. Each kilometre, I attempted to cowl on foot or wheels. I needed to indicate that journey may be intentional.”
Inspiring the Northeast and past
Since his return, Aritra has been flooded with messages from aspiring mountaineers, athletes, and younger individuals throughout India particularly the Northeast.
“Many individuals from Tripura informed me they didn’t know somebody from their state might climb Everest. That broke my coronary heart but in addition made me really feel accountable. We want extra tales from our area,” he says.
He plans to conduct workshops in colleges and faculties in Tripura to advertise health, endurance sports activities, and psychological energy. “We have to spend money on younger individuals’s confidence. They’ve the hearth. They simply want somebody to indicate them the trail.”
As Arjun superbly summarizes: “If I needed to describe Aritra’s expedition in a metaphor, I’d say he was like a flame that discovered to burn brighter within the skinny air. Everest strips you to your core. Most flicker out. However Aritra thrived. The upper the stakes, the stronger his resolve.”
A narrative that’s simply beginning
Whereas most would retire from journey after such a feat, Aritra is already dreaming up his subsequent problem, one thing much more accessible, inclusive, and sustainable.
“I don’t need this to be about simply me. I need to construct a neighborhood of endurance athletes from the Northeast, from common working backgrounds. You don’t want 1,000,000 followers or huge sponsors. You simply want to start out.”
Again in Bengaluru, between stand-up conferences and dash planning periods, Aritra is simply one other man at his desk. However in his coronary heart, he’s nonetheless on the path, carrying the flag of India to new heights.
As Ashirbani places it, “He may be a software program engineer by career, however in spirit, he’s an explorer. And that is only the start.”
