Someone asked me

“We were 80 meters away from the enemy post. A 48-hour lull at that time, without a single bullet being fired, was slightly unnerving. When the conflict scene is hot and nothing happens, you have a feeling that something bad is about to happen. There was a sense of foreboding which precedes a tragedy”

“The killing area of a bomb is in an eight-meter diameter, but I was only meter and half away from the spot it landed. Today I can joke that the bomb had my name written on it but it couldnt still kill me. Jaako raakhe saiyan, mar sake na koye (If one is taken care by Almighty himself, no one can destroy him),”

When I lay dying in the battlefield, my mates carried me to safety risking their own lives. I owe a huge debt I can never repay to those countless people who worked tirelessly to save my life¦

“I never felt I was dying. The moment one gives up, one is dead. Then even the doctors can’t save you. This was God’s own given path for me. When the news that my leg was affected with gangrene was delivered, I could have given up. But I saw it like a challenge. I said to myself:‘Let me see how people without one leg live.”

I would listen to dialogues from Sholay and Gabbar Singh’s famous dialogue ‘Jo dar gaya, samjho mar gaya’ (he who is afraid is dead) boosted my morale.”

The blood running in my veins belongs to citizens of our country. I dont know how many people donated blood. I never thought I would die.

I would listen to dialogues from Sholay and Gabbar Singhs famous dialogue Jo dar gaya, samjho mar gaya (he who is afraid is dead) boosted my morale.

Sikh religion is¦ you know, Guru has taught us to be Saint and Soldier. I just lost a leg, nothing else¦so how can I just start giving up on life? And of course after going into the army¦we were trained to survive in each type of condition and I am actually indebted to my religion and army who made my personality whatever I am today.

I just couldnt get used to the sympathetic glances I used to get from people. After a while, I was desperate to change that

“I decided to do running”

“From lying down on the bed, to being on my feet and learning how to walk again, first with a crutch and then with an artificial leg: I went through a gamut of emotions”

“Yes, it took me 10 years to be able to start running”

I found I could hop with my good leg, then drag the prosthetic

Sweating out like this after so long elated me. Although it was slow going, but I managed to run three half marathons like this

“And that’s only the beginning. When I run with my blade, I feel the jarring impact of my feet on the ground all the way from hip to head. I run for the sheer exhilaration of it, but when I finally stop, I’m bruised all over…”

But when I ran with my blade, I felt the jarring impact of prosthesis on the ground all the way from hip to head. I ran for the sheer exhilaration of it, but when I finally finished and stopped, I was bruised all over, my stump was bleeding and swollen, pieces of skin got peeled off it¦

“To run at 5 am, I wake up at 3”

After my 4 half marathons, I decided to share the same attitude with others like me.

Singh thus began a support group for amputees, The Challenging Ones (TCO), to encourage and enable people like him to strive to rise above their disability through sports.

The nomenclature is derived from physically challenged, a term used to describe the disabled. But we are not the challenged. We can do anything which a four-limbs-intact person can do and do it with limb lesser than them. We put in 200 percent to be at par with normal people. We are doing more with less. This way by challenging the status quo, we become the challengers and a group of Challengers is known as The Challenging Ones .

TCO also work as a peer support group. When we come to know of a new amputation case, we attempt to go and meet the person and do handholding.

“Running makes me happy. The fact that others get inspired by me is a by-product. I try to share the perspective of rising above the odds, to build an attitude to do so. ”

“Fighting against the odds, as per me is a negative way to look at odds. Odds help us to grow. So, I feel Rising above the odds is better than Fighting against the odds statement”

“I share my life openly in a story telling format, keeping it simple to understand and easy to imbibe. The Disclaimer is, I dont preach anything which I havent followed or done. And people connect. They connect as something or else in variety of my story, be it physical, emotional or circumstantial, matches with them and their life. So, when they see, I as 100% disabled can break the barriers of mind, a question pops up, why cant they. This connect make them incline towards positive Attitude and that is the key to success”

They understand, Give up giving up is the way ahead