By Harjap Singh Aujla
During the mid nineteen seventies I was a sub divisional engineer and was taking care of the buildings in Fort Bahadurgarh just outside the princely city of Patiala. Many times I used to travel at night between Chandigarh and Patiala. While travelling after sunset, I used to see a tall thinly built dark skinned athlete either running at Rajpura or at Patiala and occasionally entering Fort Bahadurgarh.
This gave me a vague idea that this man was preparing to be a marathon runner. I talked about this mystery man to Mr. Guriqbal Singh Bhullar, the then commandent of 82nd Battalion of Punjab Armed Police (PAP), which was stationed inside Fort Bahadurgarh. He talked to the athletics coach of the battalion, who told him that this man was constable Lal Chand hailing from Hoshiarpur. Then I talked to the coach and he told me that Lal Chand comes from a very poor rural family, he eats the ordinary constables food costing five annas a meal, which is dirt cheap and not very nourishing. He further told me that the way this highly determined man is sweating out, he will very soon suffer from mal-nutrition and work out related physical burn out. This revelation shocked me. I sincerely wanted to help him out.
I asked the coach as to what I could do for him. The coach told me that even one kilogram of milk a day can be of some help. I could easily afford this. I gave advance money to the owner of the canteen for one month. The amount was a little more than rupees one hundred per month. I kept giving this amount for several months, as I was seeing the results in front of my eyes. His timings were improving. In the annual PAP athletic meet, which takes place in winter each year, he came first in his own battalion and third overall in PAP. His achievement was noticed by the highest authorities and they picked him up for intensive coaching and better need based diet. Then on one fine wintery day Lal Chand came to my office, saluted me and told me about his recent performances. He told me that I had done enough for him and he had become the champion marathoner of Punjab Police. He gladly told me that by now his department has started giving him a strenuous athlete’s diet and he requested me to stop the money for his daily allowance of milk. I was glad my small help could serve a poor budding athlete in his career. From then on this man touched my feet, every time he met me. Later on I became an executive engineer and was posted in the Head Office of Punjab Public Works Department Buildings and Roads branch located at The Mall in Patiala and lost my touch with him. I was subsequently told that Lal Chand had become a national caliber athlete. On the strength of his performance, he became an assistant sub- inspector and later on a sub-inspector. Later on when I left for the USA, Lal Chand served my younger brother G.S. Aujla IPS as his security officer.
I thought it appropriate to share this story with a happy ending while the Tokyo Olympics are being held in Japan and India is doing moderately well.
harjapaujla@gmail.com