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The Race of My Life sometimes, the enormity of a story fades everything else into oblivion. Sometimes, a few hundred words in English do not matter when the person in question is a colossal figure who towers above all else. So when one reads the autobiography of ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh, titled The Race of My Life, not for an instant does the mind waiver. The senses as well as the sensibilities are affixed on each little event, each little anecdote and each little episode he shares. The highs, the lows, the victories; the foibles, the struggle all paint a rich tapestry for the eyes and create a fertile ground for the mind.
The growing up days were even worse where even two square meals a day were unavailable to Milkha, but that did not flatten his spirit. He became a fighter with each buffet, even though there was a brief period of negative digression where he spent a few days in jail. Milkha came out and made a stepping stone out of each stumbling block, joined the Army, took to his passion of running and never looked back. The rivalry with Pakistani athlete Abdul Khaliq is the high point of the narrative, so is Milkha’s victory over him. The pain of losing out on a medal in the Olympics, despite having broken the world record, is as alive in his heart today as it was back then. A true family man, Milkha Singh is as avid on the home turf as on the track. He fell in love, fought for it, took on all opposition and succeeded. Adulation, glory, celebrity status; pitfalls, setbacks and loss, the autobiography amiably lays out every aspect of Milkha Singh’s life before the reader. A small collection of pictures inside the book affords a visual peep into his times. “Adversity is the prosperity of the great.” Milkha Singh has proved every word of the adage.
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The story is told as it happened: the linear progression makes it all the more gripping. Born in village Gobindpura in Muzzafargarh district, now in Pakistan, Partition of the country was a period of intense struggle for Milkha as he lost most of his family members. However, the ‘life force’ was on its own course and led him across the border to India. 