Remember,
When Milkha Singh crosses that finish line in Pakistan,
When he gets titled as ‘Flying Sikh’
We are happy,
And it is just not because we want India to win here,
It is great because Milkha ran and fought against,\ Something inside, his fear, his dread,
Going back to the place,
Where his entire family was slaughtered, in his presence,
To a place from where he ran away to be alive,
Never looking back, no chances to go back,
Even having the chance to say goodbye to dead,

And we root for him, because we know him,
We know his struggle, we know his escape,
We know the pain, when we read through,
Or just watch the movie, we relive these moments,
Of her sister getting raped within her marriage,
Or him running away from police when caught stealing,
We know the transition, from running bare footed,
To just wanting to join army to get good food,
To him wearing a blazer with India’s name on it,
To him gifting his sister the earrings she had to sell,
To her not recognising this all dressed up man, and
Asking yes, what work do you have?

And we root for him because when he won each race,
It was this hope,
“You will achieve whatever you want, if you work hard enough”,
This belief wins,
Because every time, he trained, preservered, focussed,
He worked a little harder, pushing himself to another limit,
And every time he wins, it is these miseries he had to go through are overcame,
Opponents don’t matter, it is about Milkha and his win we cared for,

I am writing this now because maybe someday,
If there is a doubt, something inhibiting you, just remember him,
His life, that will to live and these lines I found in his autobiography,\

“ Mita de apni hasti ko agar koi martaba chahe,
ki dana khak may mil kar gul-e-gulzar hota hai”

“Destroy your entire existence if you want to reach the zenith,
’Cos a seed has to become one with the dust to sprout
and blossom into a flower”