Reach for the Top

When Santosh was born, her father went to a holy man to get a name for the child. The holy man was surprised because, in the Yadav family and in the region generally, sons were always preferred over daughters. Yet he blessed the girl child and gave her the name Santosh (meaning ‘contentment’). His surprise reflected the conservative attitude of the society that Santosh would go on to challenge all her life.

Santosh had moved away from home for her studies. While living near the Aravalli Hills, she observed some mountaineers scaling a cliff face. Instead of being frightened or indifferent, she was immediately fascinated. She walked up to the climbers, spoke to them, and decided on the spot that she too would learn climbing. She enrolled in a course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and began training. Her first sight of real mountaineers sparked a lifelong passion and set her on the road to Everest.

Santosh firmly rejected the tradition of early marriage. In her village, girls were expected to marry young and take up domestic life. Santosh told her parents clearly that she had no intention of marrying at the expected age; she wanted to study and pursue her ambitions. She backed this up by leaving home — an act of great courage for a girl from a conservative Haryanvi family. She convinced her parents eventually and won their support through her determination.

The chapter, through Santosh’s story, suggests several qualities: physical fitness and toughness (Santosh trained rigorously); mental strength and conviction (she never gave up even in the face of family opposition); compassion (she risked her own life to save a fellow climber); discipline (she adopted a Spartan lifestyle in training); and an indomitable spirit that refused to accept defeat. Together, these qualities made her not just a great climber but a great human being.

Maria left home at nine years of age, moved to a foreign country without her mother (who was refused a visa), trained at an academy where she faced older and stronger competitors, and went without the comforts of a normal childhood. Those early years were deeply painful. Yet she transformed that pain into discipline. She trained harder than anyone, refused to be distracted, and kept her eyes fixed on the top. Her Wimbledon title at 17 was not a gift; it was the direct result of years of suffering, loneliness and relentless effort — making her success a genuine story of pain, sacrifice and hard work.

Maria has lived in the USA since she was nine, trained there, and built her career internationally. She could easily have adopted a cosmopolitan or American identity. Her emphatic statement that she is Russian shows that despite all the time abroad, she has never forgotten her roots. It is significant because the chapter’s theme includes the importance of identity and roots. Holding on to who you are — even while reaching the top of the world — is presented as a strength, not a limitation. It also mirrors Santosh’s pride in India.

Santosh’s cost: She gave up a secure, conventional life; she defied family and community expectations; she risked her life repeatedly on dangerous mountain slopes; and she lived a demanding, austere lifestyle throughout her training years. She also faced social disapproval for refusing to wear the ghunghat and for seeking independence uncommon for women of her background at that time.

Maria’s cost: She gave up her childhood and her mother’s company from age nine; she suffered acute loneliness in a foreign country; she trained under brutal conditions; and she sacrificed the ordinary pleasures of growing up with family and friends. Both stories teach us that behind every great achievement lies an equally great sacrifice.

The title is both literal and figurative. Literally, it refers to Santosh Yadav reaching the top of Mount Everest and Maria Sharapova reaching the top of the world tennis rankings. Figuratively, it is a message to all readers: no matter where you come from, you can aim for the highest goals in life. The phrase captures the spirit of ambition, courage and self-belief that runs through both biographies.

Maria channelled her loneliness into fierce competitive drive. She told herself that suffering was a step towards greatness. Her father’s presence gave her emotional support, and the discipline of the academy kept her focused. She turned her pain into motivation: every time she missed her mother or felt lost in a foreign country, she worked harder on the tennis court. This mental transformation of pain into purpose is what makes her story extraordinary.

The name Santosh means ‘contentment’. It is ironic because the real Santosh Yadav was never content with a conventional or ordinary life; she always pushed beyond what was expected of her — leaving home, defying tradition, scaling the highest mountain on Earth — twice. The very quality her name suggests (being happy with what you have) was the quality she most lacked, and that restlessness drove her to greatness.

Santosh Yadav is a woman of remarkable courage and indomitable spirit. Born into a conservative Haryanvi family where girls were expected to marry early and stay within tradition, she refused to accept any limits on her life. From childhood, she wore shorts instead of traditional clothing, rejected the ghunghat, and insisted on her right to choose her own path. She pursued education against the grain of family expectations, discovered mountaineering almost by accident, and trained with iron discipline at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. Her twin Everest summits (1992 and 1993) made her a legend, and her act of saving a fellow climber’s life on the mountain showed that her courage went hand in hand with deep human compassion. Awarded the Padma Shri, she remains a role model for women across India, proving that determination can overcome both geography and tradition.

The lives of Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova are living proof that determination and hard work can overcome every obstacle. Santosh was born in a Haryana village where daughters were unwelcome, yet she refused the limited life society offered girls. She insisted on education, left her village, trained rigorously and went on to scale Mount Everest not once but twice, the only woman in the world to do so. Maria Sharapova faced a different but equally hard struggle. At only nine she left Russia and her beloved mother to train in America, enduring loneliness, poverty and the hostility of older girls at the academy. Instead of breaking, she let her pain harden her resolve, training with single-minded discipline until she became World No. 1 in tennis. Neither girl was helped by easy circumstances; both were powered by willpower and tireless effort. Their stories teach us that obstacles — whether prejudice, poverty or loneliness — can be conquered by anyone determined enough to keep reaching for the top.

“Reach for the Top” gives us two inspiring biographies. Compare and contrast the challenges faced by Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova on their paths to success. What common qualities helped both women achieve greatness?

Model Answer: Santosh Yadav faced social and family obstacles in conservative Haryana, where girls were expected to marry young and follow tradition. She overcame gender norms, left home for Delhi, trained rigorously at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, and became the first woman to scale Everest twice. Maria Sharapova, on the other hand, faced the obstacle of personal sacrifice and loneliness: she moved from Russia to Florida at age 9, lived without her mother for two years, and trained at a demanding academy in a foreign country. Despite these very different challenges, both women share key qualities: an indomitable will, willingness to sacrifice, fierce determination, the ability to turn hardship into motivation, and a strong sense of national identity. Their stories prove that the path to greatness runs through sacrifice and self-belief, regardless of the field one chooses.

How did Santosh Yadav show courage both on and off the mountains?

Model Answer: Off the mountains, Santosh showed courage by defying her conservative family, refusing the ghunghat, wearing shorts, leaving home for Delhi, and insisting on her right to study and pursue her ambitions at a time when society expected her to marry and stay home. On the mountains, she showed even greater physical and moral courage by scaling Everest twice — the second time at tremendous personal risk — and by stopping to save a fellow climber’s life by sharing her oxygen on Everest, an act of compassion at extreme altitude that is rare and remarkable.

What does the story of Maria Sharapova tell us about the price of success?

Model Answer: Maria’s story shows that success at the highest level demands enormous personal sacrifice. She left home at nine, lived without her mother for two years, spent her childhood in the gruelling routine of a tennis academy in a foreign country, and worked with a discipline most children her age could not imagine. The chapter presents her story not to romanticise suffering, but to show students honestly that every great achievement has a cost — and that the willingness to pay that cost separates great achievers from those who merely dream.

The chapter “Reach for the Top” is a lesson in women’s empowerment. Discuss with reference to both parts.

Model Answer: Both Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova are powerful examples of women’s empowerment in their respective contexts. Santosh challenged the deeply patriarchal norms of rural Haryana — refusing the veil, refusing early marriage, insisting on education and freedom — at a time when few women in her community dared to do so. She then conquered the highest peak in the world, not once but twice, planting a flag for every Indian woman who has been told her ambitions are too large. Maria, in a different way, showed that a young girl can leave family comfort behind, endure years of hardship in a foreign country, and compete with and beat the world’s best. Both women remind us that there is no summit too high, no barrier too strong, for a woman with determination and self-belief. Their lives are an argument for giving every girl the same opportunities, encouragement and respect that any boy would receive as a matter of course.

Read the extract: “She was given the name Santosh, meaning contentment. As a young girl she was not content with a conventional life. She wore shorts rather than conventional Indian clothes. She refused to wear the ghunghat.”

(i) What does the name ‘Santosh’ mean? — Contentment.

(ii) Why is there an irony in Santosh’s name? — Her name means ‘contentment’, yet she was never content with a conventional or ordinary life; she always pushed beyond what was expected of her.

(iii) What does refusing to wear the ghunghat tell us about her character? — It shows she was brave, independent, and determined to reject the social restrictions placed on women in her community, even as a very young girl.

(iv) Find a word from the extract meaning ‘traditional’. — “conventional”.