Key Takeaways:
- Telangana Bal Puraskar winner Karthikey completed the Seven Summits, reaching Mount Everest on 27 May 2025.
- He survived extreme hardship on Everest, including five days without food and three days without water, subsisting on chocolates and Coke.
- Back home he balanced studies with mountaineering, using AI tools like Perplexity to prepare for JEE Mains.
- The award has opened connections for environmental work and future climbs such as Lhotse and Manaslu.
Vishwanath Karthikey Padaganti, a 17-year-old from Hyderabad, stood before President Droupadi Murmu to receive the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, an honour that recognises his exceptional achievements in mountaineering and youth service. The award crowns a year in which he completed the Seven Summits, topping Mount Everest on 27 May 2025.
Telangana Bal Puraskar winner’s climb and recovery
Karthikey’s Everest expedition stretched over 50 days and tested his physical and mental limits. He described the final stretch as brutal, with temperatures plunging to minus 40°C, fierce winds and ladders spanning deep crevasses. Communications failed, leaving the team without mobile contact. Fatigue compounded the descent; he suffered blood coughs and lost his voice for a week.
In a striking example of endurance, the last five days saw the team with no cooked meals due to a missing burner. “So I survived on chocolates,” Karthikey said. Water also ran out for three days; he managed on two bottles of Coke. Back home, he acknowledged how unlikely the scene sounded, yet framed it as part of the cost of pursuing a singular goal.
From Hyderabad gym mornings to global peaks
His journey began far from the high Himalaya. Growing up in Hyderabad, a patriotic film and his elder sister’s interest in mountaineering sparked his own ambition. His mother would wake at 4am to take him to the gym. Diet, discipline and mental training became routine parts of everyday life, preparing him for high-altitude hardship.
With Everest complete, Karthikey has now finished the Seven Summits challenge. He says the award is more than a medal; it provides recognition that can help him reach more people and promote mountaineering, particularly environmental responsibility in fragile mountain regions.
Bal Puraskar opens doors to environmental work and studies
Receiving the Bal Puraskar has already led to new opportunities. Karthikey has connected with Green Earth Guardians and intends to work on reducing the waste left by climbers and trekkers. “Many people go to the mountains and spread garbage everywhere. I want to work on that,” he explained.
Once back from expeditions, Karthikey shifts focus to academics. He did not study on the mountains, but relied on school support until Class 10 and later used online resources to catch up. In Classes 11 and 12 he turned to YouTube and AI tools, notably Perplexity, which he says helped shortlist chapters, generate study plans and create mock papers for physics, maths and chemistry as he prepared for JEE Mains.
Meeting fellow awardees also made an impression. He met children who had faced enormous hardships and families of those honoured posthumously. Looking ahead, he hopes to attempt Lhotse, then Manaslu, and several 6,000- and 7,000-metre peaks, circumstances and sponsorship permitting.
For now, Karthikey is absorbing the national recognition and the responsibility it brings. A boy from Telangana who once survived on chocolates at the top of the world now has a platform to advocate for cleaner mountains and to inspire other young Indians to aim high, whether in sport, study or service.
