Well-known artistes come together in new initiative to give Mumbai mountaineer Krushnaa Patil, a leg up for her dream
Mountaineer Krushnaa Patil who once held the record for being the youngest Indian to summit Everest, when she climbed it at 19 years in 2009, (incidentally her youngest Indian record was broken by Arjun Vajpai a year later) has just got what one could term a little push up the ladder - or mountain to be more precise.
(From l) V Sathaye, K Patil, S Kirkire and S Moitra u00a0prove it is all about laughter, lyrics, fun and friendship
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Mumbai-based Krushnaa has the singular good fortune of having a concert held in order to raise funds for her future mountaineering attempts - scaling the K2 peak prime amongst them. Bollywood lyricist Swanand Kirkire, music director Shantanu Moitra, singer Shaan and stand-up comedian Vikram Sathaye are set to perform in an initiative called Bawraas, in support of Krushnaa Patil.u00a0
The concert is to be held tomorrow (Friday) at Bandra’s Rangsharda Auditorium. Since it takes more than a song to attempt to climb mountains, it takes money too, the performers hope to raise R10 lakh with this effort - proceeds would go to Krushnaa to help her in her forthcoming expeditions.
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Says Krushnaa (23) who is currently doing her Post Graduation in Political Science, “I know Swanand and Shantanu for nearly three years now. They would always tell me that they would hold a concert for me one of these days to raise funds so that I can go climb, but it is just amazing that these big names have come together and this has actually happened.”
Though the ‘Bawraas’ team says that the money raised is to help Krushnaa in her attempt on the K2, Krushnaa says that she is going to climb a number of peaks and the K2 is a distant dream, “in 2015 or 2016 at the most. We (Arjun Vajpai and I) have applied for permissions to the Pakistan Commission so, getting these itself may be riddled with some difficulty.”
Tough
Krushnaa though, says that she is taking small steps towards the ultimate K2 goal, which is actually, “the larger mission. I am doing a number of climbs as a precursor to K2. From April 1, I will be away for 2.5 months to climb the Makalu mountain southeast of Mount Everest on the border between Nepal and China.”
Krushnaa says the money collected from the concert tomorrow would also go to fund the precursor climbs to K2. “In the end, the K2 is such a challenge, a 100 times tougher than the Everest. it is like five Olympic Games all at once,” finishes this contemporary dance, skiing and cycling enthusiast.
Bawraas, which means mad in a lighter vein, is a foundation that wants to identify and help individuals who buck the trend or in propah language “pursue non-conventional careers.” The concert, besides raising funds, since it is a ticketed event, would also help raise awareness about Krushnaa’s achievements. While the first performance is in Mumbai, there are plans to follow this up with other concerts across the country. The overall aim is to identify and support about two individuals every year.
Money
Sameer Joshi, partner, Bawraas Entertainment says, “The artistes would be singing and playing songs like: Bawraa mann, Behiti Hawa saa tha woh, Ala barfi, Khoya khoya chand, Oh re chiraiya, Manjha and more and we hope to raise R10 lakh from the event itself.”
Stand up comedian Sathaye says that the initiative is “an opportunity to do something beyond our usual work. I have been doing stand up comedy for the past nine years and thought it was time I did a performance for family and friends. I along with Swanand Kirkire and Shantanu Moitra put up this show called Laughter, Lyrics and Music. It was very well received and was successful. That is when we decided, let’s do this on a different level wherein we can provide a platform to support a cause / talent.”
Kirkire says, “When I met Krushnaa Patil and heard about her achievements, spontaneously I said, ‘Arre yeh toh Bawri hai’, while Moitra adds, “Since I am into mountaineering, I knew about Krushnaa Patil. Through Bawraas we want to bring forth talents from varied fields, and provide them a platform.”
While Everest is the ‘glamour peak’, its highest status holding an irresistible lure for mountaineers, the K2 is far more dangerous and many mountaineers have perished trying to conquer this peak. Not for nothing has this peak earned the sobriquet ‘Savage Mountain’. Tomorrow though, such grave thoughts would be pushed back into the recesses of minds as the performers belt it out. All this so that one woman can edge just that little closer to her K2 dream and years later, hopefully proclaim: K2? Been there, done that.
About the K2: deadly and dangerous
K2 mountain is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest. It is located on the border between Baltistan, in the Gilgit Baltistan region, a disputed area controlled by Pakistan and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China. Its peak is at a height of 8,611 m (28,251 feet), making K2 the highest point of the Karakoram Range. It is also the tallest peak in Pakistan. It is a difficult mountain to scale and the high number of fatalities has earned it the nickname, Savage Mountain. The extremely high altitude, lack of oxygen, propensity for long severe storms, and steep, exposed routes that offer hardly any shelter during a storm, are some of the major problems with scaling the mountain. Climbers prefer to ascend from the Pakistani side than from the Chinese side.
Who is Krushnaa Patil?
Krushnaa Patil is an Indian mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest in 2009 at 19. She has climbed six of the Seven Summits (the highest peaks of the seven continents) of the world. Krushnaa is the second woman from Maharashtra to climb Everest, the first being Maj Ashwini who climbed the mountain as a part of an Indian Army expedition. Due to lack of funds, her parents took a loan from a bank to enable her to climb the peak. Once she had done it, the bank waived off the loan and the government awarded her cash prizes, which enabled her to achieve other dreams.
The concert
Date: Friday, March 15, 2013
Time: 7:30 pm onwards
Tickets: From R500, R750, R1,000 at bookmyshow.com and Rhythm House: 43222727
Venue: Rangsharda Auditorium, Bandra, Mumbaiu00a0
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