Harmanpreet Kaur’s fellow-Arjuna awardee, basketballer Prashanti Singh’s mother helped the cricketer get ready for the function. (Source: Renuka Puri)
On Tuesday morning, Harmanpreet Kaur was perturbed on two counts. One, her parents wouldn’t be in the audience at Rashtrapati Bhawan when, later in the evening, she would be honoured with the Arjuna Award. Second, the thought of draping herself in a six-yard fabric for the official function made the country’s favourite cricketer and World Cup star’s head spin. “There was curfew in Moga so my parents haven’t been able to make it. I didn’t want them to take the risk. They were very excited to travel, had even got new clothes stitched. I will miss them,” she said regretting how godman Gurmeet Singh’s trial, and the related violence, ruined what could have been her most memorable family outing.
With her mother, Satvinder Kaur, not with her at the hotel, Harman dreaded the moment when she would have to switch from her favourite jeans and t-shirt to the shining maroon sari. Though, things did fall in place. Harman’s fellow awardee, basketballer Prashanti Singh’s mother would have her hands full helping two sporty girls get ready for the formal evening when the country’s best sportspersons were being honoured.
Harmanpreet would cut a lonely figure at the hotel as the other awardees, accompanied by family and close friends, were posing for pictures on this red-letter day. At the lobby, before heading out for the awards function, parents were leaving nothing to chance. Even a strand of hair which was out of place was pasted back before phone cameras were switched on.
Hockey star Sardar Singh’s extended family waited patiently in the hotel lobby as he finished giving sound bytes to the media.
Wrestler Sakshi Malik, the Rio Olympics bronze medalist and a Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna winner, tugged at the sleeve of the blazer of her husband — wrestler Satyawart Kadian, an Arjuna awardee this year — to ensure the length was just right.
Arokia Rajiv, the 2014 Asian Games bronze medalist in the 400 metres, kept fidgeting with his tie before he posed for a photo with his parents. They had travelled from Valithiyur village in Tiruchirappalli.
Rajiv’s parents were not the only ones who experienced their first tryst with the capital city. Race walker Khushbir Kaur from Rasulpur Kalan in Amritsar was delighted that her mother Jasveer was able to travel to Delhi. In fact, Jasveer is venturing out of Amritsar for the first time in her life.
“I have never left my home town all these years. To travel to Delhi, to be invited to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and to watch my daughter receive an award from the president is a dream come true,” Jasveer said as her eyes filled up. Khushbir’s father had passed away when she was six years old and the family of six made do with the income from selling milk from a cow they owned. “I owe everything to my mother. I have three sisters and a brother and we really struggled to make both ends meet. My mother was the one who encouraged me to take up athletics,” Khushbir said.
Devendra Jhajharia, the paralympic javelin thrower, has a similar story of being cajoled by parents not to lose hope after his left-arm had to be amputated following an electrocution. “When I went to participate in my first school competition in Churu, people taunted me because I was differently abled. But because my parents had always backed me, I was confident. I won the gold in my first meet,” Jhajharia, a double paralympics gold medalist, said.
Boxer Devendro Singh, the 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medalist, was waiting for the day his parents, Jugindro Singh and Maklembi Devi, would be in the audience when he was feted. “They have not been to any of my competitions or seen me receive medals. This is a special day for me because the family is together,” Devendro said.
Harmanpreet had been hoping against hope that her parents could travel to Delhi. She had suggested that they take a flight from Chandigarh or Amritsar. But they could not reach the airport because curfew was lifted only at 6 am on Tuesday and taxis and buses started to ply only post noon.
The cherished family picture at the Rashtrapati Bhawan with Harmanpreet wearing the maroon blazer over the matching saree and holding the bronze statue while being flanked by her parents, could not be clicked.
Back home in Moga, they resigned to their fate. At 4 pm they switched on the television and watched the function live from the halls of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. “We are watching the ceremony on television and seeing Harmanpreet getting the Arjuna award means a lot to the whole family,” Satvinder said.
