Talking about a brave heart, who more than achieving great heights has overcome his own spirit and difficulties. Here we have the story of this young lad from Nagpur – Ashok Munne, rightly known as the One Legged Wonder of India.
Ashok lost his right leg in a train accident in 2009 and was left bedridden for over a year due to an operation that went wrong. In 2012, he got his prosthetic leg planted in Pune from where began his journey of becoming a Hero.
He Dared to Dream and Worked Hard to Achieve It!
While many lose their heart and spirit and drown their lives in the sorrow of being a cripple, Ashok promised himself to fight his disability and prove to the world that he was nowhere less. Ever since then there has been no stopping. Ashok was already a trained Gymnast, Martial Artist and had practiced various yogasanas before his accident. After recovering from his operation that gave him his artificial leg, Ashok thought of never wasting a single day. He instantly started working on his body and exercised for hours each day. With the dream of climbing the Mount Everest in his heart, Ashok planned each day with the thought of preparing himself for the Himalayan peak, not letting his disability to come in his way. From Cycling to swimming, running to yoga and martial arts, he leaves no stone unturned to make himself physically fit to follow his dream of climbing the Everest in 2016.
Where There Is A Will, There is a Way!
Ashok’s first achievement has been of becoming the first physically disabled person to climb the Mt. Mera Peak (21,247 ft.) in Nepal in 2012. These were his first steps to success. In 2013, Ashok became the first man with physical disability to ride a bike on the world’s highest motorable road to Khardung La (18,380 ft.) While continuing to practice the various physical exercises, Ashok runs half marathon in 2 hours at the Satara Hill Marathon each year. He swims 3-4 kms every day and continues to practice his martial arts and yogasanas, all this in the preparation to realize his dream of climbing the Mount Everest.
Not wallowing in self-pity but rather living with dignity, Ashok’s life has lots of lessons of courage and inspiration to be taken from. Not only to fight our weaknesses, Ashok also teaches the world yet again that where there is a will, there is a way!.
He is running on Sunday, 14 February, 2016 with us. Are you??