Extraordinary lives of everest climbers Nungshi and Tashi Malik

They did not want to do something ordinary with their lives and so they chose to climb mountains, making them join the few Indian women who have done so in their lives. And while on it, they chose to set standards high for twin siblings in the world. One after the other they kept on setting Guinness World records starting from becoming the first ever twin sisters to ever reach the Mount Everest in 2013. They believe that they had to do it and that too together. For Nungshi it was a matter of challenge to reach the highest peak in the country and for Tashi, it was a matter of her inner spirituality that she found in the mountains.

The twins talk about being the only girls in an all-men crew while trekking and hearing things like “oh you can’t bear that much weight.”

Born to retired Indian Army officer Col Virendra Singh Malik in Haryana, they took up mountaineering to keep themselves busy during holidays. Their father always encouraged them to do the unique and out of the ordinary stuff.  Their first trek took about three years to happen overcoming the technical, financial and mental obstacles. However after that, they only seemed to stop after they had peaked all the seven highest peaks in the world.

The twins talked about being the only girls in an all-men crew while trekking and hearing things like “oh you can’t bear that much weight.” Or “you are a girl, you can’t trek such a long distance.” But they proved all of them wrong and set an example for all the parents having only daughters. They say gleefully that now wherever they go, all the parents see them as “their own daughters” and “feel excited” to meet them.

In less than two years, the two sisters scaled all the highest peaks and became the only twin sisters ever to do that. They say that their love resides in mountains and for whoever who thinks that girls can’t do it, “well, the mountain don’t see you as a man or a woman. They see you as a human being,” the two sisters smile.