Nikhat commences challenging trek back to the top post Paris

The mountains of Kashmir were delightfully appealing yet dreadfully drenched when Nikhat Zareen landed on their foothills. It, however, couldn't deter the boxer from going ahead with what she'd set out to do, and what her local guide - who didn't know what this tourist did for a living until Nikhat told him before leaving - thought was beyond her: embark upon one of the more challenging treks of Gulmarg.

- Rutvick Mehta

Minutes after her Paris Olympics exit, Nikhat was still teary-eyed when she expressed her longing to go on an experimental solo trip for her post-Games reboot. Even though not technically, she was accompanied by her sister - the Kashmir adventure was for all practical purposes a solo trip. "I was mostly spending time by myself," Nikhat said. And so, after her first day's trek plans got dampened, Nikhat was adamant in not letting weather come in the way the next day too. "It was risky. But I told the guide, 'chahe kuch bhi ho jaye, I want to complete this trek'," she said.

She did, even though it poured. "It was so peaceful on top," Nikhat said. "And once I came back down, mann ko shanti mili (my mind was calm)."

Months ago, that mind was all over the place when, on another expedition to touch the peak of winning an Olympic medal, Nikhat faltered. Among India's top medal hopes, the two-time world champion was sent packing from the pre-quarters in her first Olympics by eventual gold medallist Wu Yu. The Gulmarg trek, and Nikhat's stubbornness in finishing it, was to clear the clutter of that Paris tumble.

"I found it weird to front up to my own people. My parents had huge expectations, and I wanted to do it for them more than anybody else. Which I couldn't. It was heartbreaking. I was broken," Nikhat told HT from her home in Hyderabad.