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The Paperclip

6 Nov, 9 tweets, 2 min read

Major (retd.) H.P.S Ahluwalia was born #OTD in 1936 in Sialkot, Punjab. In 1958, he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Indian Army Electrical-Mechanical Engineering branch. From his early days, Ahluwalia was fond of rock climbing (1/n)

On 29th May, 1965, an Indian Army team led by Capt. M.S. Kohli scaled Mt. Everest - it was the first successful scaling of the highest point on Earth by an Indian team. Ahluwalia was member of Capt. Kohli's successful team (2/n)

This expedition put 9 mountaineers on the summit - a record that lasted for 17 years. Shortly thereafter, Ahluwalia suffered a cruel twist of fate. In the India-Pakistan conflict of 1965, Ahluwalia, promoted to captain by then was hit by a bullet (3/n)

It struck his spinal cord and left Ahluwalia confined to a wheelchair. He was honorably discharged from the Forces with honorary rank of Major. But the Major was not one to accept this setback so easily (4/n)

He travelled to England where he underwent extensive treatment for recovery. In the coming days, Major Ahluwalia organized a number of pioneering adventure events like Skiing expedition to Mt. Trishul (5/n)

For the benefit of people suffering from spinal injuries, Major Ahluwalia, with the help of his friends, set up the Indian Spinal Injuries Center (ISIC) in New Delhi in 1993 (6/n)

He has held a no. of important positions like President of Indian Mountaineering Foundation & Delhi Mountaineering Association, Chairman - Special Ability Trust, Chairman - Rehabilitation Council of India... (7/n)

Chairman - Planning Committee of Persons with Disability, Member - CII Core Group on Disability, Member - International Spinal Cord Society among others. He has authored 13 books & also produced an award-winning series called "Beyond Himalayas" (8/n)

Paperclip pays salute to the indomitable spirit of this courageous man.
Image source: By Majorahluwalia - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?cu…

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