Anjali: 'I don't wish for a place on Everest...

...I wish for a place in my father's heart".

He is her hero, her idol, her superstar. She looks up to him endlessly and from time immemorial, her only dream has been to be like him. But she is his biggest failure, she is his life's biggest regret, she is his daughter. She knows it and it devastates her.

Two months ago, Anjali Singh Rawat couldn't care less about mountaineers. Today, she is almost one, all set for her first expedition none other than Everest itself. It's quite incredible sometimes how one incident, one experience and one revelation can change our lives almost instantly. For Anjali, that is the fact that she is not a son. But daddy's little girl is not so little anymore. Being born a daughter was not in her hands but that is no reason why she cannot achieve for her father what would conventionally require a 'son'. There are women in Indian Armed Forces but since Anjali cannot work towards that given time constraints, she goes for the next best thing: fulfilling her father's broken dream.

Col. Abhiyanker says that completing the Everest Summit teaches how to live life. Hopefully, it will help Anjali get what she craves for the most in her life: her father's love. Without it, she can never be complete.

Being loved unconditionally is a child's right. Heck, parents unconditionally love their physically or mentally challenged children.

I hope Everest journey teaches Anjali that valuable lesson.

But when she goes on the expedition, she will learn that the journey itself is the important thing, not the goal.

With the friendship of Akash and guidance of Colonel she will learn to dream for herself, not on behalf of her father.

Thank you for your replies, everyone! Much appreciated :)

Thank you, Swetha. Nice to see you again. Hope you're doing well :)

Well, she might 'learn' to live without it but there will be something missing in her life. She worships the ground her father walks on and it is not wrong to want his love and presence in her life. If she has to live without it, she will, but you can't tell me it will be fulfilling for her. She has loved him so much for so many years, you don't just grow out of that.

You make a very valid point and I am sure this has crossed everyone's mind at some point. Of course it not Anjali but her father at fault here but does that matter at the end of the day? She craves for her father's love, right or wrong and she is willing to fight for that, rightly or wrongly. If after going through all this, her father still doesn't see her worth then she can give up trying but till then, what's wrong in what she's trying to do? Hopefully, in the end, Brig. Rawta will see the errors in his ways and so will those other parents in the world who feel sons are worthier children to have even if they love their daughters equally. The flaw is not in the concept but the society.

It is said that only one moment is needed to change life and that what happened in Anjali life. His one decision to persue mountaineering open many doors in her life. Her father dream is now her life's sole aim, I want to quote determinant spirit in this way

I can't wait to see her starting and completing Everest expedition