Milkha Singh is no more. The 91-year-old sprint legend, whom generations of Indian sports lovers have grown up to know of, passed away in Chandigarh on June 18 due to post-COVID complications. Or simply, he didn't want to live without Nirmal, his soulmate and partner of 58 years who passed away five days earlier on June 13. He leaves behind three daughters Dr Mona Singh, Aleeza Grover and Sonia Salwalka, and son Jeev Milkha Singh.
The life and legend of Milkha Singh is well known and documented in Indian sporting annals—through school books, movies, and even through Bournvita quizzes. The four-time Asian Games gold medal winner was India's most celebrated track athlete. He won the gold medal in track events in 1958 Tokyo Games (200m and 400m), and 1962 Jakarta Games (400m and 4x400m relay) events. He was also the 1958 CommonWealth Games champion in the 400m race.
But it was and will always be about the one he did not win—the 1960 Rome Olympics. He missed the bronze medal by 1/100th of a second. No Indian has come that close at any Olympic final race. There have been sprint starts. Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, for instance, won the gold in decathlon in the 1962 Asian Games and came fifth in the 110m hurdles in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. There was also P.T. Usha, the golden girl of Indian athletics, but Milkha Singh was always the tallest. His record and achievements were the ones to beat.
That did not happen till 38 years after the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. On November 4, 1998, 26-year-old police officer Paramjeet Singh overcame Milkha Singh's national record of 45.73 in 400m at the Indian National Open Athletics Meet in Kolkata. In Rome, Milkha Singh had run on a cinder track and his performance was recorded manually, but Paramjeet ran on a synthetic track with electronic timers in operation. Milkha questioned Paramjeet's feat, asking how manual and electronic timings could be compared. He had earlier offered a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone who broke his record.
It was his autobiography co-written by his daughter Sonia—The Race of my Life—which fuelled the imagination of a new generation, a generation which sadly had no gigantic track and field athletic stars at home to look up to. The book led to the making of the film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and starring Farhan Akhtar in lead role. The film did justice to the life and times of Milkha, and went on to becoming a massive hit at the box-office, a rare feat for sporting, biographical movies from Bollywood at that time. Milkha reportedly took Rs 1 for selling the movie rights of his book, but insisted on sharing profits from the movie with the Milkha Singh Charitable Trust set up to help poor and needy sportspeople.
But, the legend of Milkha Singh is not just about his achievements on the track. It is equally about the circumstances which shaped him. The bloody partition of India in the wake of Independence had young Milkha witnessing the killing of his family—parents, a brother and two sisters—and his house being set ablaze during riots in Gobindpura, West Punjab. Youngh Milkha escaped and reached Delhi. A struggle to survive ensued, and after two attempts, Milkha finally cleared an army recruitment exam to become a jawan. At EME Secunderabad, his first posting, he came under the tutelage of his first coach Havaldar Gurdev Singh. The moniker 'Flying Sikh' was given by none other than Pakistan's army chief general Ayub Khan, after Singh outran Pakistan's Abdul Khaliq at an international race in Lahore.
His achievements on the athletics track saw him being promoted from jawan to the post of Junior Commissioned Officer. He subsequently quit the army to join the Department of Education, Punjab state government, as sports director. He was decorated with the Padma Shri after his achievement in 1958, and rejected the Arjuna Award offered to him later, stating in his characteristic blunt way that the award was for young achievers.
Life post-retirement was all about family, grand children and golf. He could be spotted out for a jog around Sukhna Lake, close to his Sector 8 home in Chandigarh, where he settled post retirement. Often spotted following his son Jeev in action in golf tournaments, he would talk about golf with as much passion as athletics. Life was settled after a turbulent start. His wife Nirmal was the centre of his life and his home.
Milkha Singh's life has been all about struggle, hard work and discipline right till the end. He may have left this world, but his legend and achievements will live on amongst generations to come, unparalleled.
