FOUR days ago, he celebrated the 20th anniversary of being the first Malaysian to peak the tallest mountain in the world. In ten months, he will celebrate another anniversary – of finding the love of his life.

Many people would “go to the moon and back” or “cross oceans” for their paramours, but this man climbed up 8,848m and made sure he came back down to tie the knot.

He is none other than M. Magendran. 

Originally, the 53-year-old had planned to marry V. Senthamarai, before he climbed Everest, but thought the better of it and postponed the wedding to give him something to look forward to.

He had told his in-laws of his plan to climb the mountain and they gave him their blessing. They had also called to congratulate him after he conquered Everest on May 23, 1997.

“I knew I was going to do a dangerous task. I might not come back alive, I didn’t want my wife to be tied down to me should I not come back.

“I love my wife, I didn’t want to prove to only myself that I could do it (climb Everest), but also to prove my love for her,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

However, upon returning to Malaysia on June 3 that year, his plans to marry Senthamarai had to be postponed again as he had to report for duty as a teacher.

 And on July 1, he was transferred yet again to the Education Ministry.

His application to study at Universiti Malaya also bore fruit when he was offered to do a bachelor’s degree in Sports Science. That was when he decided he could not wait any longer to marry the love of his life.

“I applied to the university before scaling Everest. So, while I was planning my wedding, I had to work to pay for my tuition and study at the same time,” he said.

Now the proud father of two sons – Jagdeishwar, 18, and Sidheshwer,12 – and a daughter – Bindyabashini, 17 – Magendran said he would support his children should they want to climb Everest or any kind of sports.

“They are proud of their father as a national hero. I’m leaving it to them to decide and will support them in any kind of sport that they want to do,” he said with a chuckle.  

Magendran said given the chance, he would love to scale Mount Everest again. He did try to organise an expedition to scale Everest in 2008,  but had to cancel his plans due to financial constraints.

“I would love to do it again.

“I did try to climb the Everest again, but as civil servants under the Youth and Sports Ministry, I was only allowed to take 35 days unpaid leave and climbing Mount Everest takes about 75 days.

“Because of this, many of us had to cancel the plan. The training was supposed to be two years in Nepal.”

Magendran married Senthamarai, 44, on Feb 1, 1998.

Every year, he climbs Mount Kinabalu with a few selected students who share his love for climbing.

He has also furthered his studies, earning a Master’s in Physical Education at Universiti Malaya and is currently a senior assistant teacher for co-curricular activities at a school in Subang Jaya. – May 27, 2017.