Rise of a Hero
Born on 1 July 1937 in Bathulla village in Punjab Hoshiarpur district, Makhan Singh took to athletics after joining the Army in 1955. His first major win was in the Cuttack National Games when he won a bronze medal, and a gold medal in a short sprint, and a silver medal in the 300 m race the following year.
Two years later came the victory that defined his career when he defeated Milkha Singh in the 1962 National Games in the 400m race.
In one of his interviews later, Milkha went on to say, “If there is one person I feared on the track, it was Makhan. He was a superb athlete, who brought the best in me. I would rate him even higher than Pakistan’s Abdul Khaliq.” In the same year, he made the nation proud again by winning a Gold in the 400m relay and a silver in a quarter-mile race at the Asian games.
He took part in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and was part of the 400m relay team as well as the 800 m relay team. The same year he was awarded the Arjuna award.
Difficult Times
Life was never easy for Makhan Singh, even after representing his country in the world’s biggest sporting arenas he had to struggle to make the ends meet for all his life.
After leaving the Army as a Subedar in 1972, Singh began driving trucks to Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, and other cities for pick-up and distribution of goods. In 1974 he married Salinder Kaur and had three kids. Two of which passed away at a young age from recurring illness and lack of medical support in 2013, and the eldest kid is physically challenged.
The runner met with an unfortunate accident in the year 1990, injuring his right leg. He did not take his wound seriously and was later diagnosed with gangrene. Unfortunately, no medical aid was provided to him by the government.
In the year 2002, at the age of 65 he died of a cardiac arrest in Chabbewal, his family continues to live in poverty.
Prateek Sharma, the writer of his book “A Forgotten Hero: The King of the Racing Paths” wrote, “Makhan Singh had died a painful death and his family had reached such a poverty-stricken state that they were thinking of selling his award as well as his sports blazer, just to make their ends meet.”
As of now, his wife is getting his pension from the Army of Rs.14000 every month and his son is appointed as the peon on contract at the District Sainik Welfare office with a salary of Rs. 7000.
Parting Note
It is a sad reality of our country, we praise the athletes when they are at their peak, but after that, no one bothers to know where they are either by their fans or the government.
Athletes like Makhan Singh deserve to be remembered, for they never cared about their name or fame, but played for a greater purpose, they played for the pride of their country, India.