Bhubaneswar: A pall of gloom descended Bhubaneswar after first Odia Everester Kalapana Dash’s body reached Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) Sunday morning. People thronged Kalinga Stadium to pay their last respects to the departed soul.
The mortal remains of the daring soul touched BPIA at 9:30am. Later, her body was taken to Kalinga Stadium where all arrangements had been made by Odisha Government’s Sports & Youth Affairs Department for the public to pay their last respects.
Youngsters and elders — hundreds of them — gathered to get a last glimpse of Kalpana as the whole state came together to bid a tearful adieu to their favourite daughter.
Eminent personalities from different walks of life and representing various fields including sports, politics and entertainment thronged Kalinga stadium to see her one last time. Among the dignitaries were newly-inducted Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera, Sports Secretary Vishal Dev, sprinter Dutee Chand and a few others.
Kalpana’s family was inconsolable after seeing the body.
Dash was a lawyer and the state’s first woman to conquer Mount Everest. She achieved the rare feat May 21, 2008 along with a team of five members from the United States, Canada and Nepal. Even though she had attempted to climb Mt Everest twice before, once in 2004 and again in 2006, her efforts failed owing to bad weather and health conditions.
Her final successful trip to scale the Everest, however, turned out to be her last as the 52-year-old mountaineer died at the Everest Balcony area May 23 while descending from the summit. Kalpana, who had had left for Everest April 23, had complained of breathlessness while descending from the peak. Her body was recovered May 28 and was transported to Kathmandu May 31.
Mount Everest apart, she had climbed several peaks across Europe, South America, North America and Africa.