Gurdaspur Diary: Gurdaspur remembers its Olympians, names stadiums after them

A lifetime of training for just 10 seconds! That is how American athletics legend Jesse Owens defines the quadrennial event of Olympics. To be an Olympian is to walk with God. Such is the aura of these games. Here, only the strongest shoulders carry the hopes of a nation. The Olympics is the biggest sporting stage of the world where sportsmen strain every sinew to tell the world that he who is not courageous enough will achieve nothing in life. Coming back to this border district of Gurdaspur, the administration has launched an ambitious scheme. It has decided to rechristen village playgrounds and stadiums in the name of present and former Olympians born in the district. The exercise commenced this week when three grounds were named after hockey players Prabhjot Singh and Simranjeet Singh and athlete Ajit Singh Bhullar. The initiative is the brainchild of Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal who himself loves to bowl his arm over in the cricket nets at Government College grounds. Only a sportsman could have thought of keeping his district’s Olympians on a high pedestal. He asked the officials to identify players who were born in Gurdaspur and who have brought laurels on the international stage. Thirteen players of the district have represented the country in the Olympics. In villages which have stadiums, the Olympians will get the honour of seeing these entities being named after them. In hamlets which are bereft of stadiums, playgrounds will be given the names of these sports persons. Already, three playgrounds have been named after hockey Olympians Prabhjot Singh (Athens-2004), Simranjeet Singh (Tokyo-2022) and high jumper Ajit Singh Bhullar (Melbourne-1956). Ten more playgrounds will be named after sportsmen in the next few weeks. Now, this is an apt tribute to Gurdaspur-born Olympians. It is rightly said that in recognising the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.

Sugar barons come to the help of flood-hit village residents

In the aftermath of the deluge that spelt disaster for nearly 90 villages located on both sides of the river Beas, several individuals, social organisations and NGOs came forward to extend help. But not many corporate houses jumped into the fray. Perhaps they must have had their own compulsions. However, Chadha Sugar Mill, Kiri Afghana, owned by the dapper New Delhi-based sugar baroness Jasdeep Kaur Chadha broke the ice. The thinking among the top management was that there is no better exercise for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up. Hence, the management bent and started the exercise of donating ration kits in right earnest. In a classic case of ‘the old order changeth, yielding place to the new’ Jasdeep Kaur Chadha has now passed on the baton to her son Bikramjit Singh. He along with Paramjit Singh Randhawa, General Manager (Sales), assiduously planned and executed the exercise to distribute the ration kits. Corporate entities always think in terms of profit and loss. However, the Chadhas seemed to be an exception. They believe in the adage that true charity is a desire to be useful to others with absolutely no thought of recompense. Six hundred kits have been distributed while 400 are in the pipeline. One fifty bags of cattle feed have also been distributed. The mill management is also thinking in terms of rebuilding houses which have been damaged by the waters. Here, John Bunyan’s words come into play: “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

(Contributed By Ravi Dhaliwal)