Despite roots in one of India’s most conservative rural Haryana state notorious for its skewed sex ratio in favour of boys, Nungshi and Tashi Malik, by 23 years old had achieved several global gender iconic milestones.
They are the world’s first siblings and twins as well as youngest persons and the first South Asians to complete the ‘Adventurers Grand Slam’ (scaling highest peaks in all continents including Everest, and skiing to North and South Poles). Guinness World Records has already featured them for several of these including ‘first female twins to scale Everest, first twins and siblings to scale the Seven Summits and youngest person to complete Explorers Grand Slam’.
Popularly known as ‘Everest twins’, Nungshi and Tashi dedicated their adventure mission to Indian girl child with the motto ‘Gender Equality Now: Fight Female Feticide’. They use their climbing as metaphor for the ‘invisible’ mountains of gender discrimination, exclusion and denial of basic rights that millions of girls in India have to climb daily.
Last year they started ‘NungshiTashi Foundation’ with the twin objectives of promoting Outdoors Leadership and girl empowerment through Outdoors.
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Show notes
Where they are based at the moment
Where they were brought up
Travelling a lot when they were younger,
Growing up as girls in India
Being trend setters and where it came from
How their mum helped to support them with their goals
Their 3rd sister
Dealing with fears and what drove them
Not understanding the desire to fit in within the group
Why they wanted to be the best version of themselves
Where the love for the outdoors came from
Developing leadership attributes and self awareness through mountaineering
When mountaineering turned into a passion
Planning and climbing their first 19,000 ft mountain
Who first mentioned Everest and why it was a calling from the mountain
How they made their dream a reality
Why to achieve your goals it comes down to commitment
The struggles to achieve their goal over 4.5 years
Getting the go ahead from their mum!
Being labelled as fragile!
The challenges and struggles they faced to achieve their Everest dream
Funding the challenge
How they trained to get in the best physical condition possible before the challenge
The historic moment on the summit
The journey back to basecamp
Deciding to do the 7 summits!
Getting home and taking the time to celebrate
Dealing with the adventure blues..
Losing friends in the mountains
mission2for7
Completing the explorers grand slam at 23 years old
What they’ve learned from doing these challenges
Why exploration has become a spiritual journey
Why they strike a steel plate on the summit of every mountain
Nungshi and Tashi Foundation which aims to empower girls
Heading to study in New Zealand
Final words of advice to motivate and inspire you
“With passion and commitment, miracles do happen”
Social Media
Facebook - @TashiNungshiMalik
Instagram @twinclimbers
Twitter - @NungshiTashi
Website - http://nungshitashi.org
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