A lot of effort and pain went into Sheetal's achievement.
First was the money. The expedition to the South Pole cost her close to Rs 40 lakh. She had to hunt down sponsors to raise the large amount. After a lot of effort and a lot of sponsors she had half the amount required.
Tata Motors gave her Rs 10 lakh. (They had given her Rs 10 lakh when she did her first jump over the North Pole too.)
Having seen his daughter's will earlier when she jumped over North Pole, her father Kamalakar decided to mortgage their house. That money and some more got by selling the family's land rounded off the required amount.
Now with the financial part done with, Sheetal had to find instructors for her Accelerated Free Fall. "While in the jump over the North Pole the parachute opened by itself, here at the South Pole, I had to free fall first and then open the parachute myself. For this I needed two instructors.
"I learnt that a few people from the Indian Navy had gone to Australia for an instructors training course. I approached the navy help but at first, in a typical snooty manner, they dismissed me, saying that I was a civilian and that they can't waste their time. I had to convince them and also agree to pay all expenses. After a lot of effort, the navy agreed to send two instructors with me.
Soon after I had completed the jump over Noth pole, a person named Mustafa Karampurwala contacted me and said he also wanted to do something like I did.
So I decided to take him along as my camera person. I also paid for Mustafa's training out of my sponsorship money and he trained in Australia to handle the camera during the jump.
She was all set to make history.
Image: Sheetal at the South Pole.
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