PARALYMPIANS MAKE INDIA PROUD
Athletes are winning medals at the event, and hearts at home
ife has taken a 360-degree turn for Bhavina Patel, and why wouldn’t it, as she became India’s first table tennis player to win a medal at the Paralympics.
Describing the feeling, she says: “It’s amazing. Bahut acha lag raha hai.” She also becomes the second athlete after Paralympic Committee of India chief Deepa Malik to achieve this feat. “Deepa ma’am ne humesha motivate kiya. Yahan tak pahuchne ke liye bahut support diya,” she says.
Slated to come back to India on September 5, Patel is chuffed about having her mom’s Daal Dhokli, and Gol Gappas on her return.
Congratulatory messages are pouring in, but that wasn’t always the case for Patel, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 12 months old. “Mummy, papa bol rahe hain ki meri wajah se unka naam hua. Bahut saare log jinhone kabhi call bhi nahin kiya tha, woh bhi congratulate kar rahe hain. Jab main gaanv mein rehti thi, sabke dimaag mein yehi tha ki, ‘Yeh bade ho ke kya karegi.’ Humesha se ek hi cheez rahi thi mere dimaag mein, ki kuch aisa karke dikhana tha jo kabhi kisi ne na kiya ho,” she says.