Even before she crossed the finish line to take gold with a national record in the women’s 35 km race at the national race walking championships, Manju Rani knew who would be the first to call her. It was her father Jagdish Ram.
“I had just changed out my clothes when my father called. He didn’t know what the result was. But he asked how the race had gone. I told him I had won gold. He was so happy, and on hearing how happy he was, my happiness also grew,” says Manju, who clocked a time of 2:57.54s.
Jagdish didn’t need to call his daughter to find out how she had done. The race, like all national championships, was being streamed by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). “I know the race is streamed. But my father doesn’t know how to use an android phone. I’ve tried to teach him, but he has never been able to learn. But he’s happy to hear I’ve done well. He has never seen me compete in any race. He doesn’t understand my sport. But he has always been my biggest support. This win isn’t just for me, my family or my state but also for my father,” says the 23-year-old who became the first Indian woman to break the three-hour barrier in the 35km race walk. She also made the qualification standard (2:58.30s) set by the AFI for the Asian Games.
Manju, who grew up in the village of Khaira Khurd in Punjab’s Mansa district, says she has always been close to her father. Their bond has been inseparable after Manju lost her mother to a drowning accident near the village well when she was just two years old.
“My father was only 27 when my mother passed away. After her death, many people told him to marry again. But he refused. Later I found out from others that he said he didn’t want to marry again so that he could focus on raising me and my brother who is two years older than me. He always said he wanted me to do better than he did and be happy, I never knew my mother, but my father and grandmother were like my mother to me,” says Manju.
Khaira Khurd is part of a relatively rural and underdeveloped part of Punjab with a poor sex ratio and female literacy rate (According to the 2011 census, the sex ratio for the village was 818 while the literacy rate for women was just 18.2 per cent).
For Manju, the path to a better life led through sports. “I used to go to school and enjoyed playing sports. When I was 14 years old, one of my teachers told me there was a selection trial for hostellers at the Sports Authority of India centre in Badal village. Our teacher took me and a few other girls for the trials,” she recalls.
At the trials, Manju took part in her school uniform – a white salwar kameez – even as girls from other parts of the state came in T-Shirts and track pants. “At that time I felt a little embarrassed but I knew I had to manage with what I had,” she says.
Although she was selected in the trials, there was another hurdle – the opinion of other villagers. “People say our village is Bagdi ka gaon hai. (small-minded rustic in colloquial Haryanvi). Padhe likhe nahi hai (they are not educated). They said it was a bad thing for me to leave home and go somewhere so far away. People said I didn’t have a mother and would run away from home and get into bad company. Even some of my family members didn’t want me to go,” she says.
It was her father who put his foot down. “My father is also uneducated, but he insisted I should go. He told me ‘I’m permitting you but only want one thing from you. Just keep my head high and one day, stand on your own feet,’” she recalls him saying.
Jagdish did more than give his daughter permission to travel to Badal. “He also bought me a pair of Gold Star canvas shoes and two T-shirts. That was the first time I’d ever had a sports kit,” he says.
Even though the results have started to come, Manju’s father still isn’t sure about what she does. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
At SAI Badal, Manju says she was determined to justify her father’s faith. “When I left the village, I wanted to make everyone who doubted my father realise their mistake. I also wanted to do well so that more girls got the chance to pursue their dreams,” she says.
It was at the hostel where her coaches determined, with her height – she stands 164 cm – and low gait, that Manju was suited best for racewalking. At 15, she won her first state medal – a bronze in two months and a silver at her first school nationals a year later.
As his daughter improved, Jagdish supported her as much as he could. “Although I was part of the SAI hostel, I always needed extra money for fruits, nuts and shoes. My father is a farmer. We have two acres of land in which we grow rice and wheat, but whenever I needed money, he would find a way to send it to me. He used to take loans just so that I could train well. He used to be under a lot of tension because of the interest he had to pay, but he would never tell me so that I could concentrate.” she says.
Having started her senior career in 2020, she came10th in the women’s 20km event at that year’s Racewalking nationals and improved to sixth at the same competition a year later. More significantly, she got a sports quota job with the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) paramilitary. “I’m only a sipahi (lowest rank). I wanted a good job but didn’t want my father to struggle for my career. I needed to stand on my feet,” she says.
With the security of a steady job, better results would follow. To improve further she travelled on her expense in August 2021 to Bangalore, where she trained alongside India’s national campers. “The cost for travel, rent and board for those four months came to 80,000 rupees. Even with my job, it was a lot of money, and my father quietly gave me some money to help. It was a big risk, but I knew I had to take the chance if I wanted to win a medal at the senior level,” In 2022, she placed second in the women’s 35km event at the Race Walking nationals and won another silver at the National Games in Gujarat.
Even though the results have started to come, Manju’s father still isn’t sure about what she does. But he is as supportive as ever. “We speak every day, and he tells me the same thing – to work hard and try my best. He doesn’t understand what racewalking is or what the rules are. He’s a very simple man. He has never played sports or watched it. His life has been spent on the farm. But he is always interested to hear me speak,” she says.
Now with her first senior national gold and a record to boot, Manju is looking to do even better. Although she doesn’t take part in the women’s 20km event, which is part of the athletics events at the Games, she has her sights set on the 35km mixed team event. “Right now, the qualification criteria for that event isn’t out, but I hope I will be able to qualify for the Olympics,” she says.
Should she accomplish that goal and make it to Paris, she has another wish. “My father has never travelled far from the village. The one time he travelled on a bus was when he took me to the SAI centre in Badal. He has never even been on a train or a plane. And he has never seen me compete. If I qualify for the Olympics, I want to take my father to see me there,” she says.
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