The only woman in the world who has scaled Mt Everest twice was born in a society where the birth of a son was regarded as a blessing, and a daughter , though nor considered a curse, was not generally welcome. When her mother was expecting Santosh, a travelling holy man giving her his blessing assumed that she wanted a son. But, to everyone's surprise, the unborn child's grandmother, who was standing close by, told him that they did not want a son. The holy man was also surprised Nevertheless, he gave the requested blessing and as destiny would have it the blessing seemen to work. Santosh was born the sixth child in a family with five sons a sister to five brothers. She was born in the small village of Joniyawas of Rewari District in Haryana. The girl was given the name Santosh which means contentment. But santosh was bot always content with her peace in a traditional way of life. She began living life on her own terms form the start. Where other girls wore traditional Indian dresses, Santosh preferred shorts. Looking back she says now, from the very beginning I was quite determined that if I chose a correct and a rational path, the others around me had to change, not me. santosh parents were affluent landowners who could afford to send their children to the best schools even to the country's capital New Delhi which was quite close by. But, in line with the prevailing custom in the family, santosh had to make do with the local village school, so, she decided to fight the system in her own quite way when the right moment arrived and the right moment arrived and the right moment came when she turned sixteen. At sixteen, most of the girls in her village used to get married santosh was also under pressure from her parents to do the same.