“Main hamesha yo soch ke rotta reya ki chhora hota to desh ke liye khushti me gold lata, yo baat mere samajh me na aayi, ki gold to gold hota hai, chhora laave ya chhori..”
“Mhari choriya chhoro se kam hai kay…”
Many of us whistled, clapped or cried out of excitement when Aamir Khan delivered these two great dialogues in one of his best movies ever – DANGAL.
But, hardly any of us would have taken that inspiration back into our life except one man – Ramesh Rawat.
Ramesh Rawat, a resident of Noida, quit his government job at the customs department to help his daughters pursue boxing and wrestling professionally. Since his childhood, Ramesh was interested in pursuing these two sports.
But like what happens to most of the childhood dreams, his dream also succumbed to death because of lack of family support.
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Hardly Ramesh knew that destiny had different plans for him.
When his daughters expressed their interest in the sports, Ramesh decided that he would provide the best possible support to them.
Speaking to the Navbharat Times, he revealed how ‘Dangal’ inspired him. And, in order to dedicate maximum time to training his daughters, he quit his job and started taking up small-time opportunities.
It might have impacted the family’s financial condition, but their passion is quite inspiring.
In order to keep his daughters motivated, Ramesh makes sure that he is part of the strenuous training. He gets up at 4 am every morning along with his daughters for regular training including sprinting, squatting and other stamina building exercises.
And, his efforts brought results when the elder daughter, Mansi, won a silver and bronze medal at the State Boxing Championships. She recently played for the Youth National. Though she hasn’t won a medal at the national level, the efforts are on.
“Mansi is currently preparing to play at the national level next month” he adds proudly.
“When I go for coaching to Delhi, he trains my younger sister in the akhada. When I return in the evening, we all exercise together again. His has put in a lot more hard work than the two of us.”
On the other hand, the younger daughter, a class 12 student, is preparing for the state-level boxing competition.
Ramesh also shared how his wife mortgaged her jewelry to contribute to the Mansi’s coaching, which comes up to the monthly expenditure up to Rs 10,000.
“Their coaching is more important than any jewels for us. In the past, I sought help from the Delhi government for some relaxation in the coaching fee and for accommodation, because we don’t have many boxing coaching opportunities in Noida.”
We wish Ramesh and his daughters the very best and hope their story would inspire many more parents to come forward and support their kids to venture into sports.
