NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 4 Conquering the Summit — Let us discuss
Book page 169 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
Read the statements given below and explain each statement in your words. 1. Arunima Sinha is considered a beacon of hope and resilience.
Answer
A beacon is a light that guides people, and resilience is the ability to recover quickly from a difficulty. Arunima is called both because of what she did after the worst night of her life.
In April 2011 she met with a train accident and one of her legs had to be amputated. Lying in a hospital bed she did not merely hope to walk again — she vowed to climb the highest mountain in the world. Two years later she stood on the summit of Everest. Anyone who is told that their life is over because of an accident or an illness can look at her and see that it is not.
In your own words: She is a light for others because she did not simply survive her loss — she used it as a starting point, and she keeps showing people that a body's limits are not the same as a person's limits.
Q2.
2. Arunima decided to climb Mount Everest despite losing her leg.
Answer
Most people in her position would have set themselves the goal of walking normally again. Arunima set the hardest goal on earth instead.
The text says that as she lay in hospital with one leg amputated, she “made a vow that many would deem impossible: not only to walk again with a prosthetic leg but to scale Mount Everest”. The decision came while she was still recovering, inspired by an article about Everest that she read during her physiotherapy.
What the statement really means: The size of the goal was the point. A small goal would have kept her thinking of herself as a patient. A goal that huge forced her to think of herself as a mountaineer — and in 2013 she became the first Indian female amputee to reach the summit.
Q3.
3. Bachendri Pal's guidance was crucial in Arunima's journey to the summit of Mount Everest.
Answer
Bachendri Pal was the first Indian woman to summit Everest, so she knew exactly what the mountain demands. Arunima approached her to guide her in the endeavour, and the text says Bachendri Pal “instilled confidence” in her.
Her words were: “My child, you decided to climb Mount Everest in these situations with a prosthetic leg — you have conquered the Everest within you; the world will realise it later.”
Why this mattered so much: Arunima had the will and the training, but she was attempting something no Indian woman amputee had ever done, and everyone around her called it impossible. What she still needed was one person who believed she could. Bachendri Pal supplied both the technical guidance of a summiteer and the self-belief that carried her through 52 exhausting days.
Q4.
4. Arunima's achievements go beyond just physical endurance.
Answer
Climbing Everest with a prosthetic leg certainly required extraordinary physical endurance. But the text says plainly that “her story is not just about physical endurance but also about mental fortitude and the power of a positive mind set”.
What lies beyond the physical:
Mental strength — she survived a night she never expected to survive, and then chose a goal instead of a grievance.
A changed way of thinking — “Failure is not when we fall short of achieving our goals. It is when we don't have goals worthy enough.”
Achievements off the mountain — an autobiography, the Padma Shri, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, an honorary doctorate from the University of Strathclyde, and the thousands of people she has inspired.
Persistence over years — after Everest she went on to complete the Seven Summits, finishing with Mount Vinson in Antarctica in January 2019.
In your own words: Her legs took her up Everest; her mind took her everywhere after that.
Q5.
5. Arunima's autobiography inspires readers around the world.
Answer
Her autobiography is Born Again on the Mountain: A Story of Losing Everything and Finding It Back. The text calls it a record of “her incredible journey to the top of the world… a story of triumph over adversity, a testament to the human spirit's capacity to rise above the most challenging circumstances”.
It inspires readers because:
It is true, and told by the person who lived it.
It does not hide the hard parts — the accident, the amputation, the pain, the doubt.
Its message is simple enough for anyone to use: “Never give up and work hard. Always remember your goal and work on it.”
Readers who will never climb a mountain still recognise their own “summits” in it — an examination, an illness, a lost job.
In your own words: The book turns one woman's climb into a method that any reader can borrow — choose a goal worth having, respect it, and work.