Remembering Makhan Singh, The Man Who Beat Milkha Singh

Makhan Singh had once told his family he would be better known after his death. Maybe, he knew he would pass away in obscurity, as he did in 2002. Fourteen years on, he remains a largely forgotten figure of Indian sport, despite being one of the country's best athletes during his time.

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Makhan is the only one in India to have beaten Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, in the 400 metres race at the 1962 National Games in Kolkata. This achievement alone should have given him bragging rights for a lifetime. Besides beating Milkha, he was also part of the Indian men's 4x400 metres relay and 4x100 metres relay teams in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. But chestbeating did not come naturally to the Subedar Major of the Indian Army. He preferred old-fashioned quiet dignity.

His famed reticence when it came to speaking about his athletic prowess and achievements meant that when he was engaged to his wife-to-be Surinder Kaur in 1972, she knew him only as a truck driver, the profession he had taken to after retiring from the army. "One day, I stumbled upon a magazine which had carried a piece on my would-be husband. The piece called him a prominent athlete. I told my relatives about it but then asked them not to mention it to anyone," Kaur says, sitting in her humble dwelling in village Bathulla, which is two kms from Chabbewal town in Hoshiarpur.

"Once, he asked me to look for a particular photograph lying folded among the clothes. It was then that I found that iconic picture of him looking back at Milkha at the finishing line during the Kolkata National Games," she adds in a voice mixed with both pride and regret. "Ironically, it was o after the lower part of his right leg was h amputated in 1990 after a truck accident that he started talking about his o sporting career. He spoke of his achievements when even walking was no longer a pleasure for him," she says, wiping a tear.

Today, Makhan's many medals are stored in an old whisky carton which he had bought before his death. Kaur is planning to have a nice showcase constructed in their main room. "I intend to display his India blazers along with his Arjuna award and other medals," she says. The athlete had started his trucking career from Nagpur, where his sister lived. He returned to Punjab only after the accident. "At the time, his pension was Rs 700 and that was all we had to survive on and bring up our three kids," she recalls.

"In 2009, Union sports minister MS Gill called me to Delhi to extend a help of Rs 3 lakh. Many in the village wondered if my husband really was an Arjuna award winner. They had no clue," Kaur reveals adding. "The minister helped us after I called him up on the advice of Mikha's wife Nirmal Kaur to request him for support. We were in bad shape, surviving on the Army pension. It was with this money that I could repair our small house and replace the leaking roof."

In 2013, TOI was the first to report on Makhan's achievements and troubles after 'Bhag Milkha Bhag' was released. "Now people know more about him in the area," Kaur adds. The Union petroleum ministry and Union sports ministry had extended help of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh each. Her son, Parminder Singh, who till then was working as a temporary peon in a government office with a monthly salary of Rs 2,500, was appointed as a peon on contract at the District Sainik Welfare Office with a salary of Rs 7,000.

"Apart from his salary I get my late husband's pension of Rs 14,000 from the Army. It seems money and fame are reserved for only cricketers in this country," she says, putting the medals back in the whisky carton.