Your understanding of the world you live in, and the perception of life mostly comes from what you see from your own eyes. Your mind is trained to memorise and build on what it can visualise in its capacity. Most of the dreams you want to achieve, would have at least few visuals of what you want and where you want to see yourself in the future.
When you and I play even a simple blind fold, our legs immediately lose its usual speed as our sense of direction is lost. Mind starts fearing of hitting here and there. Have you ever wondered if your sense of seeing is lost, how would you manage to execute the plans to fulfil your dreams? Those who are born normal or luckily if they stay normal, would not even ponder about it during their lifetime.! No schools or colleges care or teach about how to deal with what might happen to us. If anything unfortunate happens, the battle is left to individuals and their families.
A Sporty Sikh and Dancing Sardar.
Amarjeet Singh Chawla had to leave studies after turning 13, as he was diagnosed with macular degeneration. He could not read from blackboards. The outdoor games could not be played anymore. His eyesight started ditching gradually, and around 40 he became totally blind.
Today at the age of 64, he has successfully conquered 130 Half Marathons, 5 ultra marathons, an intercity run from Mumbai to Pune (160km) and 4 times covered 300 km of distance from Mumbai to Shirdi as a part of rally walk for blind. He has won many medals in swimming also at state and national levels. He is the only blind person to scale 19,830ft. height Dolma Pass in Kailash Parikrama, Tibet (China) in June 2009, and complete 1,100ft. rappelling from Takmak Point in Raigad Fort (Maharashtra) in December 2009. He is also an only blind Indian to Paramotor at the 1000ft altitude in February 2020.
This Sporty Sikh does not skip dancing at the beats of Dhols, as dancing even for a few minutes energises him and he enjoys his runs more this way. He not only spoke in fluent Gujarati to our surprise but has won 7 times at Garba events organised by National Sports Club for the Blind.
Starting a sport career
In the year 2004, Amarjeet Singh, at the age of 48 ran his first official 7 km dream run at the first edition of Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. To his total surprise, in the last leg of the run, Kapil Dev himself escorted him to the finish line. Overwhelmed with the joy, Amarjeet Singh in his self talk got inspired to pursue running and see who he might meet in the years to come. The next year he was standing at the starting line to conquer his first Half marathon.
From his 130 Half Marathon list he has ran almost every Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon which now is called Tata Mumbai Marathon. Whether it is Airtel Delhi, Airtel Hydrabad, Satara Hill or Pink City Marathon, from Gujarat to West Bengal and from Punjab to Tamil Nadu, he has run in every part of India.
Sachin Tendulkar, Milind Suman, Anil Ambani, Vicky Kaushal and many celebrities have got chance to be featured with Amarjeet Singh. He has been awarded Star Belive Award by Start Sports, Inspirational Challenged Runner of the Year by Mumbai Road Runners, International Sikh Achievers’ Award by SatSri Akal Charitable Trust – India, Mumbai Mayor’s Award for Divyaang, Best Sportsman of the Year by National Sports Club for the Blind – Mumbai to name a few. He has also been featured in many videos and books and magazines.
How does he do it all and what challenges he face?
Amarjeet Singh says, without escort he can not run or trek. His outdoor runs or treks require someone to escort him, so availability of an escort is important. As he can not predict potholes, turns, bumps and others movements he needs to rely on his escort’s guidelines during the course.
Marathons are mostly crowded so tuning with escorts is crucial. He briefs his escorts before they start. During his Kailash Parikrama Yatra which has narrow and challenging patches, he was escorted by Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force jawans throughout the trek on the Tibet side.
Due to covid-19 situations, he can not run outdoors. But it could not keep Amarjeet Singh away from his passion. Now a days he runs his virtual runs, and do spot running using the stair railing. In between he takes rounds within his home for some 200-300 meters and gets back to spot running. This is how he does his 21 km runs.
During this time he will focus on preparing for Full Marathon and if gets a chance will like to do a few treks.
Future Goals
Amarjeet Singh who takes alpahaar, has a hunger to do everything in his capacity and does not want to get limited by the lack of sight. He wanted to accomplish his goal of 151 Half Marathons by the year 2021. But due to Covid-19, his record stands still at 130, and he has to push the goal of 151 to year 2022. From what he says we learnt that his virtual Half Marathons are not counted in the goal of 151 Half Marathons.
What we learned from Amarjeet Singh Chawla
Amarjeet Singh says that by god’s grace, he is happy with his life and feels joy when people appreciates his achievements. He has been a face icon at many running and NGO events, and has won many medals and awards.
Sadly we see very few participants from differently abled people at the public events. It is not that they lack something. It is us – the society, which fails to provide basic, secure and inclusive facilities. Even as a society, an event organiser and a government we fail to provide a much needed basic financial support.
Attaching a cause to the event for a year is good, but we need to keep working on those causes even when the event is over. At many events blind runners still have to pay registration fees not only for themselves but for their escorts also. Then we wonder why we see less participation. Financial aid is the first step towards building an inclusive society.
Those who are keen to fulfil their dreams will do someday even without our support. But with us holding their hand, they might achieve it sooner. More than our donations, they need proper sponsorships. So let’s not leave it on individuals and their families to do this alone.
Amarjeet Singh has proved that lack of sight can not stop him from dreaming big and setting higher goals. Even after starting late, he in his 16 years of running career, has achieved and inspired more than any abled people could do.
We hope, walking in Amarjeet Singh Chawla’s soles have inspired you to do better in your game. Let us know in the comment section how do you like his journey. Like him, please help us Share your story and make more wonderful Sole Stories.
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