It is at this time of the year that a huge event takes place in Mumbai. Stars and politicians all gather at this event, Media houses from all over the country converge on Mumbai, and thousands participate in this event. It is at this time of the year that the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon takes place. Partcipants from India, Africa and in some cases from Europe participate in this event. The city kicks of this grand event from early morning and continues on till late Afternoon. Over the years, looking at the crowd attendance, the Mumbai Marathon is as celebrated as the Marathons of New York, London and several other cosmopolitan cities. The Mumbai marathon shows the spirit that this city has. This spirit was seen last year when I and our bunch of Friends did something quiet special.
We were given a class project to cover the Mumbai Marathon. However, the main focus of the project was going to be on a particular individual running the Marathon. This individual was Blind, but this did not deter him from participating in the Marathon. This man's name is Jatin, and he had raced in the Marathon for the past 2 years. We focused on Jatin and his training, as well as what his friends and his parents had to say about him.
On Marathon day, he was getting ready along with his running mate for the Half-Marathon, which ocnsisted of 21 kilometres. Among the thousands that started, he was lost among them. But, thanks to the alertness of our friends, we could spot him and he was running quickly. With the help of our friends, we could track his whole journey and we were waiting for his return. Time passed by, but he was no where to be found. Particpants who had participated in the full marathon, which was of 42 kilometres were finishing the race. On the horizon, we spotted Jatin, who was indeed fatigued.
Remarkably, he had finished the race. The touching aspect was that he finished the race with dehydration and foot cramps. The spirit and determination shown by him was worthy enough of a medal from a prominent Marathon Coach, as well as from his other running mates. After that, we watched the footage and edited out to fit into a two minute news item. We got the best marks in class, along with several other news items that were presented.
Looking at the footage though, I was realizing that how ordinary we as Normal human beings are. The fact that a person with a disability showed such spirit and determination made me wonder wether we have understood the meaning of life. The fact is that we being normal, we like to take things quiet casually and on a platter. We need to look up to people like Jatin and get the meaning of what life's true aims are really. It is people like Jatin who give us a reason as to how life should be approached, and that it is all in the Heart. Jatin is not really disabled, for he has shown us the way life should be seen. Detremination, Spirit, a Big Heart, Support from the ones we love are the essential ingredients for a person to achieve some things. Hence, Jatin is indeed an achiever.
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