A day in the life of a sportsman..!
“No No, there is no requirement of any loan….I will pay in cash, but I want the delivery right now” Paramjit, informed the sales executive at the Mahindra & Mahindra showroom in his home town Bathinda. Wearing a white Kurta pyjama, he drove the brand new Scorpio from the show room, with his girlfriend, Mahima sitting next to him. Within minutes they were on the highway, smiling at each other, listening to “Baby ko bass pasand hai”. With the Olympic Medal still around his neck, the ambience was perfect for Paramjit to propose to his childhood sweet heart. But, suddenly he experienced darkness all around. The truck from the opposite direction hit them head-on and the brand new Scorpio rolled down from the highway.
Paramjit, woke up with a shock, at his hostel room in SAI Centre, Patiala. It was 3.30am, one hour before his alarm usually beeps. Waking up, he realized, he wasted one hour of precious sleep. Last evening his coach had already informed him of the schedule next day. It was off-season practice, which means endurance training is to be clubbed with strength training.
Three hours later, standing near the finishing line of the 400mts track, his coach was yelling at him “Nine more laps to go, 22 min remaining… speed up…. you are already 40 seconds behind”. Every muscles of Paramjit were sweating with pain. He was completely exhausted, unable to breathe properly. He could hardly hear what his coach was shouting. He was thirsty, his legs were not responding to his reflexes, he felt like giving up. He was continuously running for the last 63 minutes.
Looking at Paramjit limbs trembling, his coach started running along with him. As they were approaching the last lap, his coach cynically remarked “if you run in this speed, you will have to compete with women athlete in the Olympics”. The sarcastic remark from his coach aroused the sleeping tiger within Paramjit. He completed the last lap within one minute, a feat his coach was been trying to achieve for the last six months. ( only a coach knows the art of taking out the best from his students.)
Parammjit fell flat on the ground, trying to take some breath. His coach lifted both his legs and did some shaking before settling down to massage his thigh muscle.
“Very good …excellent beta”, complimented his coach
“Now do some stretching and get ready for the next session after breakfast”
“Coach Shahab, you continue your Olympic dream, let me go home and try my luck in farming” a tired Paramjit murmured “I am already 24, I am without a job and I am sure if this kind of training continues I will have to spend rest of my life without a bride too”.
At the breakfast table, the eggs, the breads, the butters, the banana’s, the milk shake’s where consumed within minutes. No he don’t require a dietician to check his calories, he only needs enough energy to burn in the next training session. After a short 30 min nap, Paramjit was back at the gymnasium. Next two and half hours were spent on rigorous circuit training. Even his coach sometimes wonder, it is his body which is lifting the weights or it is some extra celestial power which is doing the magic. Because it is not humanly possible to train so hard.
But the coach very well knows that only one guy gets to win that elusive medal and he has to be someone special. There are thousands of Paramjit sweating out across the world for that single Gold medal. The only difference is, in most of the countries, a team of support staff works along with the athlete to help him win a medal whereas here Paramjit and his coach is working all alone without a designated support staff.
After practice, Paramjit was doing stretching exercise on the floor when he asked “Coach Sahab, is my foreign exposure trip sanctioned ?”
“It will be approved, don’t worry” optimistic coach replied. He has been answering the same question for the last six months.
Post lunch, Paramjit came running to coach room, all excited. It was an offer letter from a Public Sector Company. Coach after going through the letter did not seemed to be very impressed. Last season, Paramjit broke the national record in 800 mts at the senior national athletic meet. This particular corporate promised to offer Paramjit an executive level post. But the offer letter was for a senior clerk. Coach called up the sports officer of the company. Since, Paramjit has not completed his graduation he cannot not be offered an executive post, came the reply.
Wonder how education qualification gets more preference when the post is created under sports quota.
That day, evening practice session went on quietly, without exchange of a single word between the Guru and the Sisha. Finally, with no other option remaining, Paramjit decided to join the company. After all, his father is growing old and he also has to support his two younger sisters in their education.
After dinner, Paramjit and his fellow runner’s lounged down to watch the training videos of some world class athlete. Watching the videos Paramjit, somehow started feeling confident of his future. He too had undergone such tough training and was clocking similar timings like the medal winning athletes. He pulled a pillow and adjusted it between his knees to comfort his aching thigh muscle.
The background music of the video aroused his feel good hormone. Slowly he went to his own dream world. He thought of the standing ovation he received after winning the national gold medal. He started dreaming of joining the new company and buying bracelets for his sisters with his first salary. Than as usual he recalled the conversation of a senior coach telling a journalist “Don’t be surprise if Paramjit wins a medal in the next Olympics”. Ever since he had heard this one sentence, his confidence level has reached a new level. Sportsmen don’t think much about monetary benefit. All his/ her life a players lives with memories of the compliments and applauses he/she receives for their performances during the playing days.
His tired muscle, with all the sweet pains, was calling for a sound sleep. He fell asleep thinking of the colour of the tractor he plans to gift his father on winning an Olympic medal.
His tired muscle, with all the sweet pains, was calling for a sound sleep. He fell asleep thinking of the colour of the tractor he plans to gift his father on winning an Olympic medal.
His coach quietly entered his room and covered his legs with a quilt. His tired legs should not be directly exposed to the ceiling fan for long. This pair of legs has to be taken care, because a country of one billion will be expecting a medal in the next Olympics. And only the coach knows of its importance.
My salute to all those Indian players and coaches who had given us many opportunities to feel proud of our country.
Abhijit Bhattacharya
ongc.abhijit@gmail.com
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