By : Satyaki Paul
On June 18, 2021 our country’s one of legendary athlete Milkha Singh died from COVID19 related complications at a north Chandigarh hospital. He was 91. The millennials and zillennials came to know of his fame through the Bollywood film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag which was released in 2013. After few days his wife Nirmal Kaur also passed away from COVID19 related complications.
Honorary Captain Milkha Singh was popularly known as “The Flying Sikh”. He was recruited as a Sepoy in 1951. A track and field sprinter, he was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. He was the only Indian athlete to win an individual athletics gold medal at Commonwealth Games till 2012. 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.
Nonetheless, his feats on the track and field are legendary across the world. The inspiration of running came from his father, as because due to partition his parents were brutally murdered. His father’s last words were: “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”;this exhorted his son to run for his life. The most well-known feat was defeating Abdul Khaliq of Pakistan. Mr. Milkha Singh went to Pakistan and defeated him in spite of heavy support to his rival in the race. In due course of the race, Mr. Milkha Singh went on to win that race, while Abdul Khaliq took the bronze medal. This is where the then General of Pakistan bestowed the title of “Flying Sikh” to Honorary Milkha Singh.
He was humble down to earth humble person. To end this article, I would quote some lines from his autobiography “The Race of My Life” (2013): “Life’s game was neither started by me nor it will end with me. I have only spent a small part of a century with my fluttering body and one day, I will leave this stadium leaving the other players between their activities”. Even if he is dead today his deeds will inspire the future generations of athletes and army men to never give up or lose hope. The author works as a Ph.D. Research Scholar at the Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta, and the co-author of the book Anthropology For All (2021).