When dreams turn to dust

Gurdaspur’s Preeti worked hard all her life for her passion for wrestling, but now wonders if it was worth it

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 30

The struggles of her life cloud her smile and the feats she had achieved as a sportsperson. Gurdaspur wrestler Preeti, 28, has seen times when she could not afford to buy even the humble banana for nutrition. Her father used to pull a rickshaw and mother was a domestic help. Preeti would take part in local dangals to earn meagre sums of money, so that she could afford to buy some fruit for nutrition.

Her father now works as a home guard, but Preeti, who has won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship, is still looking for a job. “I have reached here by taking money from others. My coach would ask people to provide me monetary help and would tell them that I had the potential to become a great player,” said Preeti, taking part here at the National Championships.

Preeti, who has three siblings, was interested in sport but her parents were not too keen — because of their meagre resources. “My parents knew that if I join wrestling, I would need a good diet, which is why they were not allowing me to become a wrestler,” said Preeti. “They would say that if all the earnings were spent on my diet, how would my siblings complete their education?”

But her passion for the sport could not be put down, and she would to take part in dangals in villages. “I’d earn Rs 500 for winning, and with that money I could afford to get some fruit such as bananas,” she said.

She said it was her desire and zeal for sports due to which she ignored the advice of her parents to not become a sportsperson. “I had thought that it would make me financially independent, and that I would ultimately help my family,” she said. But even her medal at the 2013 Commonwealth Championships in Johannesburg, her best show, failed to get her a job. “What did wrestling give me?” she wondered. “My parents ask me what have I got even after winning medals. What should I tell them? Yahi ki kuch nai kar paayi main onna layi — I couldn’t couldn’t do anything for them.”