Mom recalls days of hitching truck rides
IMPHAL: Family, friends and neighbours of Mirabai Chanu packed into the weightlifter’s home in Nongpok Kakching, a farming village surrounded by low hills lush with greenery, roughly 25km from Imphal, early on Saturday morning to watch her in action in Tokyo.
As soon as Chanu finished her penultimate lift, which won her the silver, the packed courtyard of the house broke into wild celebrations. It was a moment they were waiting for with the tension written large in their eyes even as most of their faces were covered with masks.
As Chanu wore her own medal on the podium—a change in ceremony as per Tokyo Olympics’ Covid-19 protocols— Chanu’s mother Saikhom Tombi said, “We are so happy for her success. We were crying when she won. She had told us she will win gold or at least a medal. So, everybody was waiting for it to happen. Many of our relatives who lived far came last evening. They stayed overnight with us,” Chanu’s mother said. “Many came this morning and the people of the locality also thronged. So, we have brought out the television to the verandah. So, it was a kind of festival!”
When the festivities died a little, Chanu’s mother recalled her early days in the sport, where trucks passing through the village would often give the 14-year-old a lift to the city, where she went for training at the Khuman Lampak sports complex. “As I run a tea stall here, the trucks usually stopped and took her to the centre. But after training, she returned home walking or on someone’s cycle,” she said.
Chanu is the youngest of four sisters and two brothers.
When asked about Olympic rings shaped gold earrings Chanu sported during her event in Tokyo, Tombi said that it was a gift from her.
“I saw the earrings on TV, I gave them to her in 2016 before the (Rio) Olympics. I got it made for her from the gold pieces and savings I had so that it brings luck and success,” Tombi, who was struggling to hold back tears, said.
Chanu’s father Saikhrom Kriti, a farmer, said that she was on a video call with the family from the weightlifting hall in Tokyo before her event started.
“She (Chanu) rarely comes home (because of training) and so we have made a Whastapp group to communicate with each other,” said Chanu’s cousin Aroshini. “This morning, she had a video call with all of us and she bowed down and sought blessings from her parents. It was a touching moment.”