Milkha Singh - The Flying Sikh

 "Flying Sikh"

 

When I reflect upon my life, I can clearly see how my passion for running has dominated my life. The images that flash through my mind are those running….running…running…

 

Popularly known as "the Flying Sikh", Singh won four Asian gold medals and finished fourth in the 400m final at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

In 2013, his story was turned into the Bollywood film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag - Run Milkha Run.

Singh's wife, Nirmal Kaur, a former volleyball captain, also died with Covid earlier this week, aged 85.

Singh had contracted Covid-19 last month and died of complications from the disease in a hospital in the northern city of Chandigarh late on Friday.

Known as the "Flying Sikh," Singh was one of India's most successful track and field athletes. He won four Asian Games gold medals and became India's first Commonwealth Games champion in 1958. The following year, Singh was honored with the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors. 

 

Remebering  

Captain Milkha Singh (20 November 1929 – 18 June 2021), also known as The Flying Sikh, was an Indian track and field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. He is the only athlete to win gold in 400 metres race at the Asian Games as well the Commonwealth Games. He also won gold medals in the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. He represented India in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his sporting achievements.

The race for which Singh was best remembered is his fourth-place finish in the 400 metres final at the 1960 Olympic Games, which he had entered as one of the favourites. He led the race till the 200m mark before easing off, allowing others to pass him. Various records were broken in the race, which required a photo-finish and saw American Otis Davis being declared the winner by one-hundredth of a second over German Carl Kaufmann. Singh's fourth-place time of 45.73 seconds was the Indian national record for almost 40 years.

From beginnings that saw him orphaned and displaced during the Partition of India, Singh has become a sporting icon in his country. In 2008, journalist Rohit Brijnath described Singh as "the finest athlete India has ever produced".

 

 

 

Some famous quotes 

 

• Discipline, hard work, will power….My experience made me so hard that I wasn’t even scared of death.” But one story reflects his desire clearest.
  
• You can achieve anything in life. It just depends on how desperate you are to achieve it.
• I was moved to tears by the thought that from being nobody the night before, I had become somebody.
•    I would not stop till I had filled up a bucket with my sweat. I would push myself so much that in the end I would collapse and I would have to be admitted to hospital, I would pray to God to save me, promise that I would be more careful in future. And then I would do it all over again.

 

what to learn from his life 

• It takes courage to get through grief

Born and brought up in Govindpura (now in Pakistan) during the British rule, Milkha Singh experienced the cruelties of life at a very young age. Some of the incidents from his childhood were scarring to say the least. Not only did he witness his country being torn apart overnight, but also watched his parents being beheaded in the riots that followed. He was left with no option but to flee his village and fend for himself through unethical means. Nevertheless, Singh was sensible enough to escape bad company, let go of grief and work hard towards a respectable future. It took a whole lot of courage and resilience to do this.

• No one will believe in you if you do not believe in yourself

For a long time, Milkha Singh was living with his sister and brother-in-law in a refugee camp set up in Delhi by the government of India. He moved out of that place in order to make something of himself. Destiny led him in the direction of the Indian army - a dream that he hoped to achieve since a very young age. It was here that he landed his first opportunity as an athlete: a cross-country race among all the cadets, whose winners would compete at the state-level. Not only did Milkha Singh clear all the rounds, but also challenged the toughest of competitors. He believed he could and so he did.

• There is no substitute for hardwork

Milkha Singh wished to join the Indian army from a very young age. However, success did not come to him in the first shot. His application was rejected thrice in a row before he finally got through. When he was selected to compete at the state-level, he had to balance army training with running practice. He would pull all-nighters trying to improve his strength, speed and stamina. Eventually, he went on to represent India at international sporting events. He gave his blood, sweat and tears to prepare for these competitive races and won as many as 77 out of the 80 he took part in.

• Do not forget who was there for you when no one else was

When Milkha Singh was selected to compete at the state-level during his army days, he was assigned a mentor who taught him everything from scratch. It was from him that he learned how to run wearing spiked shoes and keep a tab on his time while training. Besides being a coach, he was his cheerleader and confidante. Singh was super attached to him and saddened that he had to take the first flight of his life without him. It was, after all, under his guidance that he could participate in international tournaments. After breaking the 400m world record, he came back to his coach and handed over his medal to him as a mark of gratitude.

• Success means more than awards and accolades

With so many victories to his credit - from the Commonwealth Games to the Asian Games, Milkha was bestowed with countless medals during his career as an Indian athlete. However, he does have a single of them with him today. Instead of decking up his home with trophies, he decided to give them away to Jawaharlal Nehru University. Things like his name being printed in school textbooks, having a renowned filmmaker such as Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra have so much respect for his story that he decided to make a biopic about him, mean much more to him than anything else.

 

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