Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, no this is not the title of the famous Bollywood movie, but the champion runner sprinting to Heaven, which has occupied space in our collective minds and hearts. It is less than 24 hours after the Flying Sikh departed, to catch the Flight to Heaven, where he will again be united with wife Nirmal Milkha Singh.
Call it tragedy or call it a continued love affair. The famous couple spent their last few weeks in a hospital in Chandigarh, fighting Covid19. The wretched virus, which has taken away so many lives, did not spare Milkha and his wife, too.
The beauty about Milkha is everyone knows him despite not knowing him. It’s like following your favourite Bollywood hero, Amitabh Bachhchan — for me. I can repeat his dialogues from almost any movie from the 70s till the latest ones where he is a mellowed figure with a French Cut beard.
I don’t know AB nor does he know that I exist. Yet, the fan-hood and familiarity continue for me as I watch videos of his AB’s old songs where he floors almost every starlet across generations.
Likewise, though I did not watch Milkha run in his three Olympics (1956, 1960, and 1964), I have always known him as the Flying Sikh. You do not necessary need to be an athletics buff to be a fan of Milkha. Yes, I have met him a few times, when he was in his 70s. He died at 91. What stood out was his warmth, dress sense and touching hearts of people by calling them “Beta.”
Milkha has spoken to thousands of scribes and never thrown tantrums. He cut across all generations. When I was in school, to describe any good athlete was “Yaar, ye to Milkha ke tarah bhaagta hai…” So, the Bhaag Milkha had caught on in many decades before the movie.
Today, if you want to use YouTube for reliving glory moments of cricketers and matches, it is so easy. Not in the case of Milkha. There is not much archival footage available of his exploits but if you have heard the true life stories about the legend from people in athletic circles, Milkha was true Singh is King.
The beauty about this man — immortal — is he touched everyone’s hearts and lives and stays intact. There are many sporting champions we idolise, from PT Usha (fourth place in Los Angeles Olympics 1984) to Anju Bobby George (4th place in 2004 Athens Olympics). You also have fourth place legend in 110m hurdles Gurbachan Singh Randhawa (1964 Tokyo Olympics).
One can watch with joy what Usha and Anju did as TV footage is there. Yet, even these champions have shown utmost respect to Milkha by posting beautiful messages on social media. To talk of Milkha is as easy as talking about Sunny Gavaskar’s exploits against the most ferocious fast bowling attacks or Sachin Tendulkar savaging Shane Warne in the famous Sharjah desert duel.
Each of these names mentioned has an emotional connect with the fans. When Ayrton Senna left millions of F1 fans weeping in after he was killed in Imola in 1994, where his car went up in flames to Diego Maradona dying in 2020, the sporting fan had heart attacks. Milkha’s departure saddens everyone from you and me to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind.
Yet, if there is one man who must be grieving the most, it has to be son Jeev Milkha Singh, the golfing legend. To lose both parents in such a short gap is horrible. And I say it, having lost both my parents in a short gap of time three decades ago.
They say, time heals. No, it does not. It is just on paper. Agony and tears are personal. The loss of dear ones does not necessarily have to be spoken about daily. You weep within, you wipe the tears within, daily.
Similarly, Jeev Milkha needs prayers and best wishes from millions of Indians. He is a sporting icon himself in golf but he knows he is not Milkha Singh Sr. If you want to pray, pray for Jeev to deal with this colossal emotional crisis.
It is heartening to note Milkha Singh will get a state funeral. He deserves it and the one-day mourning in Punjab should motivate many more young Sikhs to take up running like him. He ran bare foot and then with spikes.
Milkha’s race in life began when he fled from Pakistan during partition. At that time, he lost both parents across the border. The Sardar led a hard life in New Delhi, did odd jobs to eat two meals. Then began his race in life when he joined EME Secunderabad.
From there, till the time he grabbed headlines for his exploits at the Asian Games and Olympics, Milkha was all speed. Old timers say he trained so hard he would collapse at the end of his session, even throwing up blood. You obviously do not expect today’s generation to train like Milkha. India has produced many legends in track and field but the first in the list will always be the Flying Sikh.
For those in teens, maybe it would not be a bad idea to watch the movie Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.
What stands out for me when I think of Milkha is his dress sense. He was not an officer in the Indian Army but had all the OLQ (Officer Like Qualities), dressed nattily in a blazer and red tie, the turban starched crisp. It is these memories I want to retain, not that of a legend fighting Covid-19, a virus created by China in a lab in Wuhan.
Travel well, Sir.