13 December 2006

Iqbal Part II

A poor family..

All it needed was Roti kapda makaan.....

Family shifted to PUOUKKOTTAI in search of the same.

Father started to work as a brick slain worker in some construction company…

Mother working as a maid in some household….

Family was blessed with a daughter…..And the family cursed God for giving her a girl….

They all ate ganji..(last resort of a food, prepared by water and a little bit of salt and rice grams)

They couldn’t afford to get her to the school…….

A few athletes spot the child and coach her to run fast and smart….

She learns to run and wins hearts…..

She wins at state level national level events…

Selected to represent the country at international level…

Wins a place in finals at Asian games 800 mts running….

Steps back for the lack of sponsores….

Some brave hearts from home town sponsor for her practice and her track suits…

Steps in for the country with renewed hope and aspirations………

Secures second place, beating a whole lot of acclaimed international athletes……..

And thus starts the career of one of the up-coming Indian athletes..
A girl from a poor background making it big at an inter-national compitition of huge importance………

One word that can sum-up the story… : INCREDIBLE!!
And this lady is 25 year old SOUNDARAJAN SANTI.

She has made India proud with her brilliant performance.

Her brief profile is here :

Name SOUNDARAJAN Santhi
Country India
Date of Birth 17 APR 1981
Gender Female
Height 161cm Weight 54kg
Discipline Athletics
Residence PUOUKKOTTAI


And why am I telling you this story??
Yes, its the way India glows and its the way Indians par!!
Everyone can become Santi and every child in India has that zeal in him to make India proud.
And it shows India has something outside cricket

UPDATE :
Shanti failed the gender test. This is a highly disgracing and emberrasing news that one can hear. At once I thought of deleting the post, but finally decided to keep it as I feel this would be a good lesson to others practicing such. This might be a story of other Shanti who really achieved glory. Let me keep the post and all the comments. Thanks to everyone for dropping by the post.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very thoughtful post SRIK. This is indeed an amazing story and every one of us should be proud of this girl. As I keep saying, every drop of water counts and you have done your bit by making sure that the story reaches more people. Kudos !!!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful info srik, is there anyway we can help her to raise sponserships? I agree with you totally that its time that india has to look at other sports too outside cricket...

Anonymous said...

oops

i forgot to add my name earlier post by usha

Srik said...

DS,
I thought about it as and when I saw the Asian games results on news paper in the morning. Thanks for repeating the golden words. And yes, you are right. We need to bring up many more Santis and make the country a sporting destination too.

Usha,
We can now help her by applauding for her. Since she's won at Doha asian games, she's been feliciated by the Govt of Tamilhnadu with good sum of money amounting to 15 lakhs and she might also get some encouraging gifts from the centre too. So, all that we can do now is to appreciate her and encourage. Otherthan that we can also help some other athlete who is waiting for the help.

Lets keep an eye on them!!
Thanks for the comments.

Anonymous said...

a real life story of a great achiever we must salute those sports people who took her cause and are responsible for this and the poor girl who landed into this earth not to bring cheers at that time but now has brought glory to the country state town and her own parents hats off. people should identify and encorage like this hani hani gudidare halla hege halavaru kade prathibegalu hora bandare idu thumba olleya kelasa
Srik again a well written post on a subject optly posted at right
time asian games keep going ..................

Anonymous said...

I really liked the post.. No cribbs & no complains but just wishes & being proud about ourselves.
This reminded about Chinnari Mutta... The song aase iddare saake hakkige beku baanu bayalali haaruta taanu mEle haarokke by baby Rekha...!
Amazing girl is the heroine of this story.. Iqbal part 2 antha nodi mostly DHOOM & DHOOMII antha ankonde.. full Topi :-)

mouna said...

very true, more of the rural talent has to be untapped, to make things happen. and abt cricket, it's just one of the over-hyped issues, that the country resorts to, a waste of all things valuable!

reborn said...

just yesterday when I read about our athletes performance in Doha , i was just thinking that they need more encouragement.. Hope govt wakes up now...and we too ...

Anonymous said...

Good work Srik!!

Srik said...

Pranesh avare,
Yeah these people are fit to be called Heros. This post is a small attempt at saluting those people who trained and sponsored her cause and also to Santi herself who didnt allow her personal difficulties to come in the way of her achievement. Its an amazing success story which everyone needs to take it home at the end of the day. These things must be highlighted by the media, not the old political dramas, I agree. Thanks for your lovely comments, as alway :-)

Veena,
Glad you liked it. It must be a morale booster for millions of such highly talented souls across the country. Whats more heartening is in spite of failures at shooting and hockey, our team has done a great job at Doha. We must support these un-sung heros of our sporting culture.

mouna,
Yes, India lives in her villages. Only thing is we have more or less become urban concentrated society for long, but now these things have made us understand the rural set up and the talents emerging from the same domain.

reborn,
I have a feeling that Govt. is now coming to terms with all these things. Our athletes have fared faily better this time. We must appreciate their efforts, irrespective of the monitory benifits they get as compared to their cricketing counterparts, they have made us proud. Hats off to them. We have to encourage our local circuits to see India a major sporting destination in coming age.

OI,
Thanks, as always.

Anonymous said...

Srik,

I am sure we don't have any reservations in this category otherwise you would have even hated it right :-)
When somebody want to reach the destination, they have many ways.. such small things like reservations can never hold them back.. This is my experience! I am neither pro nor against the reservation! Thanks for the return reply about being the Moral booster etc.,

Anonymous said...

Just I was viewing TV saw news of shanthi failing in gender test!!!!! what is this strange??? likely to be striped of silver medal in 800m what sad thing if is happens

Anonymous said...

Yenu Srik?

Santhi turns Santha Kumar?

Sad state of affairs.

Srik said...

Yes, Vani and Pranesh
Its really shocking in deed. I might have to delete the post if the charges are proved, but let me still keep it as a reminder of our own foolishness.

It might just be a case where poverty has provocated a wrong path for this family, very sad in deed.

I have no hands in this, believe me. ;)

Anonymous said...

Update!

TN Govt awards Santhi / tha for her / his achievement in DOHA Games.

Howz that?

Anonymous said...

I didnt read the complete news though, Is the word disgusting right to use? I mean I thought it was for no fault of her ankonde.. Okay, may be I don't know much to talk about this here.
Let me leave it.

Shruthi said...

Srik, I don't think it is her fault after all, from what I can make out from the papers. She has not called herself "female" out of an intention to cheat - there just seems to be ambiguity in her gender - it is a misfortune by birth. But it only remains to be seen if the authorities were aware of it or not.

Anonymous said...

Terrible that people want to ruin the sport in this way, good that (s)he has been disqualified. Hope India will take proper measures against this fraud-person.

Srik said...

Shruti,
I think you are right.
Now theres a high level war going on between politically string TN Govt and the IOA. Lets see whats gonna emerging out of it.

DutchDerk,
As Shruti has updated here, and also others, we can not yet call her a fraudster. Lets wait until some verdict is out and we're convinced Shanti called herself a "Woman", not being one.