Passion makes people push boundaries. A case in point is IPS officer Atul Karwal who dons several caps at a time. Mr Karwal, presently the Director of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA), is a multifaceted personality who has not only received plethora of awards and medals during his 33 years of service, but he is also the first bureaucrat to scale the majestic Mount Everest and put the Indian Bureaucracy on the global map of mountaineering. His love for fitness has also inclined him towards adventure sports, athletics etc.
In an exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Karwal reminisced about his journey, career, and his passion for fitness and other sports activities.
CHILDHOOD AND LOVE FOR MOUNTAINS
Mr. Karwal’s father was a civil servant with Punjab Civil Service (PCS) and was later promoted to the IAS. He stayed in very small places like Palwal, Moga, Nawanshahr etc. but fourth standard onwards he was posted in Chandigarh where Mr. Karwal completed his education.
Mr. Karwal is the youngest of three siblings. He completed his graduation in Mechanical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College (PEC) and pursued his MBA from the Punjab University (PU). Vacations play a big role in a child’s life. During childhood, a young Atul spent most of his vacations in nearby hill stations like Shimla and Kullu-Manali. “So, I had a deep connect with mountains from my childhood days,” he told Indian Masterminds.
GETTING INTO CIVIL SERVICES
Growing up in a civil servant’s family did have an impact on Mr. Karwal. He said, “My late father came up from the lower most section of the society and had faced several struggles. As a young man he used to sell milk and biscuits in the village but was very hard working.”
Mr. Atul Karwal’s father Sh. SP Karwal did his B.Sc. in Physics from DAV College Lahore before partition and used to study under streetlights. Due to his hard-working nature, he got through the state civil services exam. “His life left an indelible impact on his family, on colleagues, and the people he served. I too decided to serve the nation by clearing UPSC rather than taking up a cushy private sector job”, he said. He cleared the Civil Services Exams in 1988 and was allotted the Gujarat cadre in IPS.
POLICE EXPEDITION TO MT. EVEREST
Having a deep connection with mountains right from the days of his childhood, it was a blessing for Mr. Karwal to get an opportunity to scale the majestic Mt. Everest. He said, “I had a passionate desire to save money and trek to the Everest Base camp so that I could at least see the Everest, the High Priestess of all Mountains. One fine day, in February 2007, I got a call from a colleague about a police expedition to Mt Everest. This changed the next one and a half years of my life as it was kind of once in a lifetime opportunity.”
He immediately enrolled for the Basic Mountaineering Course from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarakhand. Mr. Karwal had also experienced some high altitude trekking of Kailash Mansarovar and the Hot Springs on the Indo-China border but had never been through a hardcore mountaineering experience which the expedition required. That’s why he undertook this intense training. He was so dedicated that he abandoned all distractions like socializing, partying, friends, movies, etc., for preparing for this expedition.
THE TRAINING AND EXPEDITION EXPERIENCE
Mr. Karwal contacted several mountaineers who had already summited Mt. Everest and read a lot of books to understand how people prepared for the expedition. The training included yoga, pranayama, lot of cardio exercises like running and strengthening his legs and back.
He said, “Twice a week I used to walk on the Ahmedabad roads, carrying 25-27 kilograms of weight on the back, from midnight to five in the morning. I used to come back from the office at around seven in the evening, have dinner and sleep off by eight, get up at midnight and put on my trekking gear to walk for five hours, come back home for a quick bath and sleep till nine and so on. Once a week I used to climb stairs to a friend’s apartment on the twelfth floor and do this 15 times, carrying the same load. This was approx equivalent to a 2,000-foot climb.”
Despite so much practice and preparations, the actual climb wasn’t a cakewalk. “During climbing, I often felt completely exhausted as if I have already walked 100 kilometers and still had to cover another 100 km. The exhaustion was beyond imagination but my passion to the summit was so strong that it overcame the feeling of turning back,” he says in a cheerful voice. He adds that the support of his wife, Mrs. Anita Karwal was crucial in his success.
ULTIMATE FITNESS FREAK
During his childhood, he used to get bullied by other students. That’s why he developed a knack for fitness. It was limited to the point when he joined college and got into the IPS. The basic training in the SVP National Police Academy did wonders for him as he also achieved the ‘Best Officer Trainee’ in his batch. The fitness streak still persists and his fitness might shame people 15-20 years younger to him.
He is an ultra-marathoner who has completed 50 km and 100 km runs, a Half Ironman triathlon, the 12-week Police Commando Course with National Security Guard (NSG); won a Silver Medal in Individual Tent Pegging in All-India Police Equestrian Meet, is a Black Belt in Martial Arts and is also trained in Scuba Diving and Skydiving.
HONOURS GALORE
During his service he was awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2010, the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2016, Police Medals for Gallantry on Republic Day 2020 and Independence Day 2020 for leading two operations in Kashmir.
He has also been awarded the Kathin Seva Padak for his duties in Srinagar, and the Parakram Padak for injuries sustained in an operation in Kashmir.
