Hey readers!! Apologies for not posting a single piece of writing for such a long time! But today, I'm back with something which will make you ponder and spark a train of thought in your minds.
India quivered with joy when "Thangavelu wins first gold medal at Summer Paralympics, 2016" was the blaring headline on every single news channel. With a contingent of 19 athletes, the largest delegation our country has ever sent to a Paralympic event, expectations of improving India's Paralympic medal tally had been roused. Their superb display of talent certainly outdid everybody's expectations!
Citizens from all around the world go on a rave when the Olympics draws nearer, and it is fitting too; the prestigious event is hosted only once every 4 years! But how many of us; truly know and eagerly follow the proceedings of the event, equally as important as its predecessor, and which follows soon after it draws to a close? We know of Sindhu, Malik and Dipa Karmakar's struggles. Can we even begin to imagine the struggles the Paralympic contenders face?
I succumb to admission: I too, didn't know much about these silent heroes who were biding their time, waiting for their perfect chance. But after watching this year's Indian medallists, something fiery lit up inside me and I decided I wanted to know more about them and share their beautiful stories.
It is my strong belief that all 19 athletes must have had huge reserves of determination and worked their socks off to even qualify as a a contestant. With raised levels of competitiveness, qualifying is a great achievement! 4 of them brought back flashes of gold, silver and bronze and made the country's chest swell with pride!
Thagavelu secured his first ever gold medal. He says that his leg had been reduced to a stump due to the carelessness of an absconding, drunk driver in his childhood. He says, "However, I never viewed myself any different from the other able-bodied children." After winning the gold, he truly brought Tamil Nadu onto the Paralympic world map!
Just a few days later, when this excitement had begun to die down, another great piece of news had everybody's adrenaline coursing through their bodies. 3 other athletes had also achieved laurels, one of them a woman!
Devendra Jhajhariya, who previously, had already earned a gold; broke his own record by adding another gold to his medley!
Deepa Malik- wheelchair-bound, scripted history by becoming the first Indian female to win a Paralympic medal. Aged 45, she also became the oldest woman to reach new heights! Proudly clutching her well-deserved silver, she exclaimed," This is proof of what I fought and the result of hours of tremendous hard work!"
A young 21 year old, Varun Bhati's name flashed on the third place of the Men's High Jump board. Diagnosed with a rare type of polio in his early days, he believed he'd never be able to walk again. He believed his eyes were playing a game of deception when the bronze was awarded to him.
Like these, Parathletes from all over the world endure hardships we cannot describe! Let alone pull through; which in itself is a mark of greatness, these dark horses do their respective countries' proud by winning medals by the dozen!
Thinking about them, I mused over the number of complaints we make each day. Do our worries compare to the problems that Life hurls their way every now and then? They possess different and extraordinary levels of determination, and their fierce passion acts as fuel which burns with new dazzling light each day to push them harder and keeps them going. They perceive the world in a different way, through eyes which were hitherto clouded and have now been cleared from the curtains and veils of disease and struggle.; the way a cataract patient surveys his surroundings with a new twinkle in his eyes; the way a newly born butterfly will take in its environs after being trapped in its cocoon for so long! They have broken through the various shells of the cocoons of hardship, which had been woven around them tightly, nearly strangling them. However, they burst out with renewed hope. Their experience with a long, difficult struggle is far worse than we can imagine; to free themselves of the shell which was their ultimate obstacle....
After finally breaking through, they're not cured of their disease. Instead, they have emerged victorious in their long-fought battle against it; and are insistent on not letting it become a hindrance in their destined path to success, the destiny in which their names have been engraved, and who were bound to attain and break through every possible limit. The sky's only the beginning for them.
The Paralympic spirit remains a flourishing and epic inspiration for each one of us. The contenders resist the temptations of complaint, instead; turn those sorrows into motivation for achieving greatness. Standing on the podium must mean a 100 times more to them than it means to us! Parathlete Abdellatif Baka, the winner of a particular track event performed even better than the person who had won the gold in the same track event at the Rio Olympics! This means that Parathletes could very well perform and outdo the Olympians!
The Paralympic motto is very fitting: 'A New World' ; a world where their different abilities don the capes of success. This special event is for the "fallen" to rise to great glory; a platform which teaches both them and us the gifts self-confidence has the power to unwrap.
Dipa Karmakar, P.V. Sindhu, Jitu Rai and Sakshi Malik were recently conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, which is the country's highest athletic honour. I do believe that these sports persons have brought Indians, pride at different points in time, and that their achievements are solely due to their own hard work. However, I feel that these Parathletes, who have undergone a period of great distress and have played victim to far worse hurdles are more deserving of this award. In the history of Indian Paralympics, not a single Parathlete has been bestowed with this honour. Is it not a shameful thing that we have failed to recognize equally talented peoples' hard work and appreciate it? The Khel Ratna is a prestigious accolade, and in my opinion; shouldn't just be given away.Many will disagree, but these youths' talents can be further tapped into and dug deeper to strike gold.
Dipa did not have a good vault Produnova to practise on. Instead of awarding them with this Ratna at such an early stage of their sporting career, their facilities can be increased and improved; to enable them to achieve even more for the country! It is our responsibility to applaud the immense efforts of the Paralympians.
I do hope that their lives and achievements will serve as vast reserves of inspiration and a constant source of encouragement to us in our darkest times. With this,
India quivered with joy when "Thangavelu wins first gold medal at Summer Paralympics, 2016" was the blaring headline on every single news channel. With a contingent of 19 athletes, the largest delegation our country has ever sent to a Paralympic event, expectations of improving India's Paralympic medal tally had been roused. Their superb display of talent certainly outdid everybody's expectations!
I succumb to admission: I too, didn't know much about these silent heroes who were biding their time, waiting for their perfect chance. But after watching this year's Indian medallists, something fiery lit up inside me and I decided I wanted to know more about them and share their beautiful stories.
It is my strong belief that all 19 athletes must have had huge reserves of determination and worked their socks off to even qualify as a a contestant. With raised levels of competitiveness, qualifying is a great achievement! 4 of them brought back flashes of gold, silver and bronze and made the country's chest swell with pride!
Thagavelu secured his first ever gold medal. He says that his leg had been reduced to a stump due to the carelessness of an absconding, drunk driver in his childhood. He says, "However, I never viewed myself any different from the other able-bodied children." After winning the gold, he truly brought Tamil Nadu onto the Paralympic world map!
Devendra Jhajhariya, who previously, had already earned a gold; broke his own record by adding another gold to his medley!
Like these, Parathletes from all over the world endure hardships we cannot describe! Let alone pull through; which in itself is a mark of greatness, these dark horses do their respective countries' proud by winning medals by the dozen!
Thinking about them, I mused over the number of complaints we make each day. Do our worries compare to the problems that Life hurls their way every now and then? They possess different and extraordinary levels of determination, and their fierce passion acts as fuel which burns with new dazzling light each day to push them harder and keeps them going. They perceive the world in a different way, through eyes which were hitherto clouded and have now been cleared from the curtains and veils of disease and struggle.; the way a cataract patient surveys his surroundings with a new twinkle in his eyes; the way a newly born butterfly will take in its environs after being trapped in its cocoon for so long! They have broken through the various shells of the cocoons of hardship, which had been woven around them tightly, nearly strangling them. However, they burst out with renewed hope. Their experience with a long, difficult struggle is far worse than we can imagine; to free themselves of the shell which was their ultimate obstacle....
After finally breaking through, they're not cured of their disease. Instead, they have emerged victorious in their long-fought battle against it; and are insistent on not letting it become a hindrance in their destined path to success, the destiny in which their names have been engraved, and who were bound to attain and break through every possible limit. The sky's only the beginning for them.
The Paralympic spirit remains a flourishing and epic inspiration for each one of us. The contenders resist the temptations of complaint, instead; turn those sorrows into motivation for achieving greatness. Standing on the podium must mean a 100 times more to them than it means to us! Parathlete Abdellatif Baka, the winner of a particular track event performed even better than the person who had won the gold in the same track event at the Rio Olympics! This means that Parathletes could very well perform and outdo the Olympians!
Dipa Karmakar, P.V. Sindhu, Jitu Rai and Sakshi Malik were recently conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, which is the country's highest athletic honour. I do believe that these sports persons have brought Indians, pride at different points in time, and that their achievements are solely due to their own hard work. However, I feel that these Parathletes, who have undergone a period of great distress and have played victim to far worse hurdles are more deserving of this award. In the history of Indian Paralympics, not a single Parathlete has been bestowed with this honour. Is it not a shameful thing that we have failed to recognize equally talented peoples' hard work and appreciate it? The Khel Ratna is a prestigious accolade, and in my opinion; shouldn't just be given away.Many will disagree, but these youths' talents can be further tapped into and dug deeper to strike gold.
Dipa did not have a good vault Produnova to practise on. Instead of awarding them with this Ratna at such an early stage of their sporting career, their facilities can be increased and improved; to enable them to achieve even more for the country! It is our responsibility to applaud the immense efforts of the Paralympians.
I do hope that their lives and achievements will serve as vast reserves of inspiration and a constant source of encouragement to us in our darkest times. With this,
A MASSIVE SALUTE TO ALL PARATHLETES!!!!
Very inspirational, indeed!
ReplyDeleteThank you!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!!
ReplyDeleteHow do you write so well???!!?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteHow do you write so well???!!?!?!?!
ReplyDelete