“Unable
to bear the acute hunger, I had to eat mud and my mother silently watched the
horror with tears rolling down her eyes” Legendary athlete OP Jaisha told during the
course of an interview with a Journalist. She belonged to a very poor family
and her father was a daily wage earner. She is the fourth daughter of her
parents. They were able to survive with
the small earnings of her father. Her father met with a Bus accident, while
going for work and was bed ridden. There
after her mother had to suffer untold miseries, hardships, trials and
tribulations. Family income was totally dependent on a cow which was insufficient
for the treatment of her husband and two square meals for the children. Being
the youngest child, Jaisha was lucky to get some “Kanji vellam” (Rice boiled
with lot of water), while her sisters slept empty stomach on many days.
Fighting against all these odds, she became a
top class athlete. Her dedication, devotion and determination can be gauged
from the fact that with just 3 months training she participated in Mumbai
Marathon and not only won the race in 2:37:29 but also broke the 20 year old
record on her debut. Completing the
grueling 42 KM race itself is a stupendous task and breaking a 2 decade record
is unprecedented in the annals of the athletic history of the world.
Unfortunately such incredible achievements did not get the desired publicity
where as much lesser achievements of other sportsmen are prominently published
in all Medias and internet. In the recently concluded National Games, she won
gold in 10000 Meters in a record time of 33 Minutes and 8.55 seconds. She finished
far ahead of her competitors and even the second placed athlete was more than
one lap behind her, whereas generally such runs will end in photo finish. She
also won the 5000 meters race comfortably. Jaisha won several medals at
National/ International competitions including Asian Games, Asian Athletic
Championship and Commonwealth Games. She is a golden girl with nerves of steel.
Her performance is unparalled,
incredible, unprecedented and amazing. She is our best bet for an Olympic Medal
as she has the potential to improve tremendously.
Notwithstanding all her superlative
performance, she could not find a sponsor despite knocking several doors. While
we eulogies some sports persons, treat them as demy gods, shower them with
awards, rewards, medals, money etc, it is unfortunate that a highly talented
athletic prodigy could not get a sponsor. She is arguably the best athlete
India has produced after P T Usha. Legends are born once in a blue moon and we
should not allow slipping this opportunity. History will not forgive us for
this lapse. There is not an iota of doubt that given the best training, best
diet and much needed international exposure, she will make her career best
performance in the future sports meets and take the country to the pinnacles of
glory.
I am
surprised and dismayed that name of such a legendary athlete O P Jaisha is not
included in the list of TOP (Target Olympic Podium) announced by the Ministry
of Youth affairs and Sports recently. How anybody can ignore the incredible achievements
like breaking 20 year marathon record on debut, beating the nearest competitor by more than one lap
at the 10K race (Normally it used to be a photo finish) in the recently
concluded National games at Kerala is a million dollar question. There are innumerable reasons for her
inclusion in the TOP list, but there is not a single reason for her exclusion. I still believe that it was
an inadvertent omission and the mistake will be corrected sooner than later.
Her monthly net salary is around Rs 19000/=
(Rupees nineteen thousand only) and from this meager amount she has to look
after her aged and infirm parents, spend around Rs 5000/= for food and tips and
also to find money for purchase of costly shoes. She practices 35-55K on regular basis as a part
of her training. After all, she is doing such herculean tasks not for her
personal benefit but for upholding the prestige and status of the country in
the international forum
One pair of shoes last a little over one month and anybody except a stone hearted
person can understand her predicament. Since she switched to Marathon only recently,
her earlier shoes which are heavy are not suitable for marathon. This is not just denial of any facility but
cruelty to a world class athlete.
Government of Kerala had sanctioned Rs 5 Lacs
for construction of a house. The amount is woefully inadequate in this period
of skyrocketing prices. She is not able to get loan from Bank also as Bank
refused to give loan on the plea that there is no road connecting her house. In
India rules and regulations are used to harass and humiliate the suppressed,
oppressed and depressed class of society and they are misused, misinterpreted
and flouted to give undue favour to the rich and mighty. The mounting arrears
of NPAs in the banks are not due to release of loan to poor but due to non
recovery of loan from rich and powerful.
Let us fervently hope that she will soon get
a sponsor to fulfill the great Indian dream of winning an athletic medal at the
Olympics which was narrowly missed by Milkha Singh and P T Usha. The second largest populated country of the
world which represents 1/6th of the world population should not
continue to suffer the ignominy of not winning a medal in the most glamorous
event of Olympics i.e.; athletics.
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