The life of ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh, is an open book and he has had no qualms talking about it.
His age is inversely proportional to his energy and his steady frame makes it hard to believe that he is 84. Milkha, who was in the City recently, says that he has only one regret. And that is he could not clinch the gold medal at the Rome Olympics.
“I am sad that I couldn’t do that one thing for my country which I could have done. I lost out on the opportunity. No one knew Milkha Singh back in 1947 when I was at the New Delhi railway station, hungry and homeless. I tried to get into the Army thrice but was rejected and finally, my brother helped me get in,” he says.
It was the Army that instilled the passion of winning in him. “When I was new in the Army, I did not know what cross-country racing was. In fact, I was informed about one such race in the evening after roll call. I decided to take part as walking barefoot to school for ten kilometres had given me a lot of stamina. I stood sixth in the race and at night, when I went back to the barracks, my friends encouraged me to take part in more such events,” he says.
Ask him about the movie Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and he immediately clarifies that it was not able to portray even half of what he had faced and yet it brought tears to his eyes.
“Farhan Akhtar and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra did a fabulous job. They had taken permission from me before the shoot but since it is a film, some parts have been modified. I was so touched by the movie that tears welled up when I saw the film,” he says.
“In fact, they show that some top athletes had tried to sabotage my career and had broken my leg. It’s true. The doctor advised me against running. Yet I ran and won the competition and got selected for the Olympics.”
He adds, “I enjoy the weather in Bangalore. It is perhaps the best weather to train in.” Giving all the credit of his achievements to the Army, he says that today, he is famous because of it.
“The kind of discipline that the Army instills in you is amazing,” he concludes.