Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president HS Dhami honoured Malkiat Singh (53), who has his roots in Fatehgarh Sahib and is a citizen of New Zealand, during a function held at SGGS World University on Tuesday for being the first Sikh from that country to climb the Mount Everest and hoist the
Khalsa flag there.
He donated his dress and other items worth 10,000 dollars to the SGPC to keep it in the museum as a source of inspiration for youngsters.
The SGPC president appreciated Malkiat’s efforts and said he had brought laurels not only to the nation but to the entire Sikh community. He said his attire and other equipment would be kept in the museum. He further said Malkiat gave the message that nothing was impossible and with hard work and determination even Mount Everest could be climbed.
While talking to The Tribune, Malkiat said when he was a student of Punjab Public School, Nabha, he had received an award from Sir Edmund Hillary — a legendary mountaineer-cum-New Zealand’s high commissioner to India — during his visit to the school in 1987 for an annual award ceremony.
Hillary, along with Tensing Norgay, was the first to climb the Mount Everest in 1953. He said that he was impressed by listening to his mountaineering tales and was fascinated by his and Tensing Norgay’s triumph. Malkiat said he had joined PAU in 1988 to pursue BSC (Hons) in agriculture, following which he joined the ONGC, and moved for greener pastures to New Zealand in 1998.
He said he again met Edmund Hillary at his residence in New Zealand and it was in 2022 that the idea of scaling Mount Everest struck him. He said he started running 10 km in morning, followed by yoga in the evening.
He said when he left the third camp to join the fourth one, he was physically exhausted that he had no strength to keep going. On his way, he also saw many dead bodies, which could not be lifted as no helicopter could reach there, but with God’s blessings, he was able to succeed.
