The 91-year-old had tested positive for COVID-19 on May 19 and remained home isolation at his residence in Chandigarh after he was found asymptomatic. However, later, on May 24, the legendary athlete was admitted to the ICU of Mohali's Fortis hospital due to "COVID pneumonia". He was then moved to PGIMER in Chandigarh on June 3.
His death came just five days after his wife Nirmal died due to post-Covid complications. His wife Nirmal Kaur, was a former captain of the Indian women's volleyball team. Milkha Singh met her in Ceylon in 1955. They married in 1962 and had three daughters and a son, the golfer Jeev Milkha Singh. In 1999, they adopted the seven-year-old son of Havildar Bikram Singh, who had died in the Battle of Tiger Hill.
I had a chance to meet "flying Sikh" in the early eighties through one of my friends, Toshi Saini. The wife of Milkha Singh, Nirmal happened to be the real Bua (aunty) of Toshi Saini. Toshi and Prof Harbans Singh had joined me in running the New & Feature Agency, MNFA from Chandigarh. Toshi was the lone survivor of a passenger bus massacre when terrorism was at its peak. in Punjab. Terrorists had shot dead all Hindu passengers of the Bus in Hoshiarpur district but Toshi survived the shots pierced into his body. He pretended as dead after terrorists checked that each body was dead. He became a hero for the media and later he often used to curse the media for exposing him to the increasing threat of terrorists.
Despite being among the top elites of 'city beautiful' Chandigarh, Milkha Singh jee was a down-to-the-earth man and athlete to the core. Till his last, he used to be on the track and whenever someone wanted to meet him, he would call him after 11 AM by the time when he reached home.
He would often tell media persons how pitiable was the conditions in the fifties and sixties on track. "Flying Sikh' would run bare-footed in ordinary dress. There were no facilities, no coach, and no one to guide. Despite all odds, Milkha Singh made his name in the track and field, winning four gold medals at the Asian Games. He also won a gold at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.
He narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal, finishing fourth at the 400m final of the 1960 Rome Games. Milkha Singh finished the race in a time 45.73 seconds. It remained a national record for nearly 40 years before Paramjeet Singh surpassed it in 1998. Milkha Singh had also taken part in the 1956 and 1964 Olympics. He was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army.
Singh was persuaded by Jawaharlal Nehru to set aside his memories of the Partition era to race successfully in 1960 against Abdul Khaliq in Pakistan, where a post-race comment by the then General Ayub Khan led to him acquiring the nickname of The Flying Sikh.
It is said that he set a world record of 45.8 seconds in France, shortly before the Rome Olympics in the same year but the official report of the Games lists the record holder as Lou Jones, who ran 45.2 at Los Angeles in 1956. At those Olympics, he was involved in a close-run final race in the 400m competition, where he was placed fourth. Singh had beaten all the leading contenders other than Otis Davis, and a medal had been anticipated because of his good form. However, he made an error when leading the race at 250m, slowing down in the belief that his pace could not be sustained and looking around at his fellow competitors. Singh later rued that these errors caused him to lose his medal opportunity and they were his "worst memory"
Milkha Singh was born on 20 November 1929 in a Sikh family in Govindpura, a village 10 km from Muzaffargarh city now Muzaffargarh District of Pakistan. He was one of 15 siblings, eight of whom died before the Partition of India. He was orphaned during the Partition when his parents, a brother and two sisters were killed by Muslim mobs in the violence that followed after partition. . He was a silent witness to these killings.
Escaping the troubles in Punjab, where killings of Hindus and Sikhs were continuing, Milkha Singh reached Delhi in 1947. He lived for a short time with the family of his married sister.
His popularity went across the nations and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Run Milkha run), a biographical sports drama film was made in 2013. Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the script was written by Prasoon Joshi. The story is based on the Milkha Singh and his daughter, Sonia Sanwalka's autobiography, titled The Race of My Life. Singh sold the film rights for one rupee and inserted a clause stating that a share of the profits would be given to the Milkha Singh Charitable Trust. The Trust was founded in 2003 with the aim of assisting poor and needy sports people.
Made on a budget of Rs. 410 million (US$5.7 million), the film released on 12 July 2013 and garnered acclaim from critics and audiences alike. It performed very well at the box office, eventually being declared a "super hit" domestically and hit overseas. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is the sixth highest grossing 2013 Bollywood film worldwide and became the 21st film to gross Rs.1 billion (US$14 million).
In 2008, journalist Rohit Brijnath had described Milkha Singh as "the finest athlete India has ever produced". Undoubtedly, he is the greatest athlete India has ever produced.
Milkha last wish was that an Indian athlete would bring back the Olympic medal that he dropped in track and field. Alas, no Indian could fulfill his last wish during his lifetime.
(Chander Sharma With Inputs From Net )
No comments:
Post a Comment