The Psyche of the Flying Sikh- Milkha Singh

Watched the much awaited ‘Bhaag Milka Bhaag’ and it left me on a high! Kudos to Mehra’s team for the way they have portrayed the character - Milka Singh. Not only did Farhan Akhtar do justice to Milka Singh but the message goes much beyond Sport! I was watching the movie thinking it covers the major tenets of Psychology that needs to embed into the psyche of every athlete. Not just in Sport but every arena of life requires motivation, dedication, passion and goals to accomplish; else we just go on living like we have an eternity to pursue our dreams.

                One of the most outstanding people in athletics of India is Sir Milkha Singh. He represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Thereafter, he won gold medals at the 1958 Asian Games. He progressed to win a gold medal in the 400m competition at the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games, making him the first gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games from independent India. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he finished second in all of his 400m races prior to the final, improving his time on each occasion. In the final, Milkha Singh went off the blocks and took an early lead. He slowed a bit midway into the race and the others overtook him there. He increased his pace and gave his best in the last lap but finished fourth by just 0.1 second in the heart breaking final. However, his effort did not go in vain as Milkha's agonisingly close finish at Olympic glory in Rome, brought his countrymen the belief ‘we can' and the gold, nearly half a century later, through  Abhinav Bindra.

                It all started when Milka Singh- a fresh recruit at EME Centre, Secunderabad, heard an announcement one night in 1951: ‘Tomorrow, there will be a cross country race’. He recalls after making it to the Elite 10, “I was moved to tears by the thought that from being nobody the night before, I had become somebody”. “Havaldar Gurdev Singh charted my climb to the top,” the mentor quick to spot his protege's potential.

Determined to be the best and realising his talent as a sprinter, the jawan took to training five hours every day. He says, “Discipline. You have to be disciplined if you want to be world class’. Guided and motivated by his coach Havaldar Gurdev Singh, he left it to the elements to hone his craft -- running on the hills, the sands of the Yamuna river, and against the speed of a metre gauge train. “I'd race against the metre-gauge trains that criss-crossed Secunderabad localities such as Bolarum and Cavalry Barracks”. Legend has it that so intense was his training that very often he vomited blood and would collapse in exhaustion.

Forty years on, that failure in Rome still haunts him. After clocking a world record 45.8 seconds in one of the 400 metres preliminaries in France, Milkha Singh finished fourth in a photofinish in the Olympics final. The favourite for gold had missed the bronze by a fraction. .... "Since it was a photofinish, the announcements were held up. The suspense was excruciating. I knew what my fatal error was:  After running perilously fast in lane five, I slowed down at 250 metres. I could not cover the lost ground after that -- and that cost me the race." "After the death of my parents, that is my worst memory," says Singh, "I kept crying for days." Dejected by his defeat, he made up his mind to give up sport. It was after much persuasion that he took to athletics again. Two years later, Milkha Singh won two medals at the 1962 Asian Games.

Subsequently, he earned the `title' of the "Flying Sikh" from General Ayub Khan after defeating Abdul Khaliq, Asia’s celebrated runner in year 1962 in the Indo-Pak meet at Lahore. The whole stadium was packed to see the key contest between two of Asia's finest runners. Milkha Singh outran Abdul Khaliq of Pakistan, in the 200 metres. It was said that Milkha did not run the race but he flew, hence the title. The movie has captured it very well with the General applauding him, “tum bhaag nahi teh, oudd rahe the’.

The movie depicts the story of Milkha Singh, an orphaned Sikh refugee from Pakistan who grew up to join the Army and became India’s prized track and field possession. It also tells the story of Milkha Singh who, at the 1960 Rome Olympics, looked back for a split-second and heartbreakingly lost the bronze medal and the Olympic glory. Yet, he did what no other Indian had done- instilling the hope in Indians and rightly became a legend. More interestingly, it uses Milkha Singh as a metaphor to tell another story — the story of India. This intent is embedded in Joshi’s dialogue. He gets Farhan Akhtar to scream for all to hear: “Milkha Singh ban gaya India”. The message I took from this was ‘nothing is impossible, if only you set your heart and soul on it’.

For Akhtar, whose been training akin to a professional athlete, the training gave him insights into the ‘mind of the athlete’. In an interview, he remarked: “When you look at an athlete entering a stadium in any sport they look like they own the place. This state of mind, this swagger, can only come from your self-belief as an athlete, and the self-belief comes from hard training. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as energetic and strong and optimistic as I felt during the making of this film.” Farhan rightly acknowledged hard-work but not everyone who works hard has the same kind of ‘self-belief’, and if that essential ingredient is missing- all the hard work goes down the drain.

Akhtar further adds, “When you come into the final 100m or so, your brain begins to feel like it’s going to blow up. Every part of your mind and body is telling you to just stop; your legs have packed up. I have no idea how athletes speed through that final section.” Guess, that’s where professional athletes know they have to push themselves beyond everything in the final lap as it’s what they’ve worked for; the trick though is to train your mind much in advance along with the physical!

                
The movie doesn’t simply tell the story of one of India’s finest athletes but also addresses some of the challenges in Indian Sport.  The turning point for me was when he walks up to the Coach in the flight and asks for the world record for 400 metres, just after failing to Qualify at the Melbourne Olympics. Recall reading in ‘The Winning Way’ by Anitha and Harsha Bhogle how we need to learn lessons from failure and not let it define us. We all berate ourselves upon failing in a particular task/challenge but we’re doomed if we choose to brood on it, instead of moving on. Icons from any field have made it big by rising from failure every time. I tell the athletes to see the wonderful lessons failure teaches us, especially in practice and smaller competitions- so it does not repeat at major competitions!

Remember hearing or reading that Milka Singh lost the Medal because he ‘turned’ to see how far others were, and ended up losing the race. After researching on every aspect about Milka Singh, I did not see any explanation given by the former athlete himself. The movie has dealt with a metaphysical aspect where Farhan makes peace with his past, and flies the race beating Pakistan’s favourite in Pakistan. We’re not sure whether it was the nerves of competing at the highest level which athletes normally encounter or to see where his opponents were or the past or something else?  We are but human after all, yet as I was watching the movie yesterday, was just thinking ‘only if the buried memory had been dealt with earlier’, it probably would have been history! It just goes on to emphasise the ‘power of the mind’ which every athlete needs to train- be it thoughts about our past or a particular opponent!

Also, it’s amazing how Milka Singh is at first extrinsically motivated and that pushes him to excel in the race, and later it’s more internal. In fact, he manages to finish the first Army race despite a stomach catch just by focusing on milk- and chanting ‘dudh’ till the fag end. Next, he realizes that the ‘India Blazer’ gets more respect, and he wants one. Beating all odds, even being beaten up by insecure ‘senior Indian players’, he goes on to break the National record with bruised, bleeding legs! Failure at Melbourne Olympics makes him a much more disciplined and hungry athlete- this is where motivation was internalised. In fact, his eyes were never off his goal- so immersed was he in it. He used to run at night to ensure he doesn’t miss on training-  determination is the key for success. One cannot hope success will just fall at their feet. This raw passion, dedication and hard-work are what take an ordinary person to the heights of pinnacle. Blood dripping and you still persevere. If we falter at the drop of the hat, there is no way things will just happen. No one ever said it is easy to reach the top but when you do- it conveys everything you’ve done to reach it!

The girl in Australia distracts him but he learns from his mistake, and aims to break the world record. Thereafter, the only thought running in his mind is to break the record. Interestingly, he even declines the ‘top swimmer’s’ interest and says, ‘yeh meri khudh se ladayi hai’ (this is my personal battle). A pressing issue today is how young athletes get distracted and lose focus on their goal and sometimes it is too late to make a way back. Agree an athlete gives up a socially enjoyable life and it’s difficult while others their age are having fun but they also get a lot more respect and adulation for their achievements! One question which I feel everyone ought to ask is ‘what do I want’ and ‘why am I training so hard’- definitely not to kill time right?!  Eyes on goal and the feeling of accomplishment is what drives an athlete.

The support network of the athlete is also extremely important- and this is portrayed by the Coaches, his sister and the supposed lover (whose role was dampened i feel)! Love the beautiful way in which the Mentors- two coaches groom the young athlete, clearly depicting how important a Coach is to an athlete. The chamata (slap) he gets from his first Coach when he tries on the Senior Indian’s Blazer might have physically hurt but what he says is truly inspiring, ‘you’ll have to beat the likes of this guy to represent India and only then can you get the blazer’. Recall a former Basketball Player who was struggling due to missing the first conditioning camp saying how the ‘Indian jersey’ was very important. We got her to keep it in Mind when she did challenging practices, pushing herself when her teammates were much ahead. The ‘Indian Jersey’ not only ensured her a place in the Indian Team but she went on to have a great tournament too. That ‘junoon’- raw passion is a must to achieve but even before that is having a ‘clear goal’.

Also, goals need to be modified and upgraded, else staleness and mediocrity will creep in. If an athlete is already a National Champion- he/she ought to be aiming higher than staying a National Champion. Unfortunately, as Mr. Nobbs- the recently sacked Hockey Coach said, ‘some are just happy being an Olympian’. I have seen top athletes aiming only to qualify at Olympics or other International Meets, then what? We have to get ourselves out of this mediocrity trap to really make it at a World Level. Why have we stopped dreaming big or setting challenging goals? I think we just keep looking at the past or generalise it as, ‘Indians can only go up to this level’. I got irked when a layman commented, ‘India will never reach anywhere in World Sport... Look at ‘X’, he’s nothing compared to an International star’. I said, ‘he’s at least trying his best to get to his best potential, and this will inspire the younger generation’. What we aspire will determine the effort and motivation required to reach the goal; else we’ll end up a lost potential or a mediocre.

The finale of the movie was Milka Singh’s rebirth in Pakistan after visiting his home-town which resulted in the integration with his scarred inner child; thereby dealing with his traumatic past. Yet, to come up to the highest glory despite such a tragic past is a magnificent feat in itself.  The mind-set and clarity just before this race where they show him visualising how he covers the entire track in a milli-second (in the mind) talks about methods used by most Olympic medallists to clear it first in the mind- a very powerful technique to convince your mind and self. It aids in believing ‘I can’. Salute the Fighting Spirit of Milka Singh, and hope his dream of India winning gold  in Athletes at the Olympics is realised very soon.
The need of the hour for India and Indian sports is to recognise the making of champions like Milka Singh- it takes time, humungous effort, passion, sweat, blood, discipline, belief in self, dedication and much, much more to become a legend. A wonderful way to inspire today’s youth- who believe in quick-fixes! Salute Milka Singh for what he’s done and wish this instils hope in many more champions.

PS: I know it’s a tad too lengthy but I just didn’t know how to shorten the article anymore!