TO THE POWER OFSEVEN
The youngest child of Panchanan, a rickshaw puller, and Basana, a tea garden worker, Swapna learnt early to make most of her limited resources. Her mother would ferry her on a bicycle to the practice field, a routine driven by the need to preserve the sole pair of shoes her 12-toed daughter owned. The Barmans couldn’t afford another.
In Swapna lay the Barmans’ own dreams of a better future. They encouraged her fondness for sports—football, kabaddi and high jump—hoping it would secure her a job, which would then bring home a decent salary. Her younger brother dropped out of school to work after a stroke left the father bedridden and the mother homebound to look after him. Swapna’s two brothers would take turns levelling a neighbour’s field so she could practise her high jumps. By now Swapna knew how to battle adversity, and it came in handy to overcome the septic gum infection and toothache to win a historic medal in the Asian Games heptathlon. The feat was all the more impressive because back pain and a knee injury had almost ruled her out of the competition. “But I knew if she went, she would get a medal for sure,” says coach Subhas Sarkar.
Sarkar’s belief has been instrumental in Swapna’s rise. It was on his insistence that Swapna let go of a job in the Indian Railways in 2014 even though the family needed the financial stability. “A bigger dream awaits her,” says Sarkar. “I was not going to let her join as some clerical staff. After completing her graduation, she can join in the officer’s grade.”
Swapna knows that the more medals she brings, “the more lucrative will be the job offers”. She constantly deals with injury fears but they fade away in the face of her dreams—the tricolour fluttering and a short girl standing tall on the highest podium.
“She’s stubborn and emotional. But if she pursues her goal with the grit and determination she’s shown so far, she’s sure to bring us more medals” Subhas Sarkar, Coach