|
Guru Hanuman
'Death is beckoning me'
He is India's best known wrestling guru. Anyone who has
brought laurels for India in wrestling must have kicked
dust in Guru Hanuman's akhada. Such was his training, diligence
and passion for the sport.
"D eath
is beckoning me, I only wish to bring wrestling into the limelight
so that I can go peacefully from this world." With age catching
up, Guru Hanuman, 99, would often talk of death, but nobody
expected death to come unannounced.
Guru Hanuman, the father of Indian wrestling, died in a car
crash on May 24 morning. He was on his way to Hardwar to take
a dip in the holy Ganges. With his death Indian wrestling
has been left orphaned and his long cherished dream of bringing
wrestling into the limelight remains unfulfilled.
"An era of Indian wrestling which began with Guruji has ended
and the sports has suffered a severe |blow with his death,"
says a moist-eyed Ram Swaroop, the first wrestler from Guru
Hanuman's akhada, who represented the country in the 1956
Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia. .
Born in 1901 as Vijay Pal in Chidawa village in Rajasthan,
he came to Delhi in 1919 to set up a fruit shop near Birla
Mills in Subzi Mundi. But fate willed otherwise. Vijay Pal
turned a wrestler and attained much popularity in the field.
With the help of the Birlas, he established the akhada in
1925 near Roshanara Park in north Delhi and it soon became
the epicentre of Indian wrestling. .
An ardent follower of Hanuman, he chose to be identified with
the name of his favourite deity. Vijay Pal became Guru Hanuman
and he changed the face of Indian wrestling forever. Anyone
who has brought laurels for India in wrestling must have kicked
dust in Guru Hanuman's akhada. Such was his training, diligence
and passion for the sport.
His efforts did not go in vain. He burst on the international
scene when three of his proteges - Sudesh Kumar, Prem Nath
and Ved Prakash - won wrestling gold medals at the Cardiff
Commonwealth Games in the early 70s. Among his other famous
disciples, Satpal and Kartar Singh also won Asian Games gold
in 1982 and 1986, respectively. .
His contribution to wrestling was recognised by the government
when it conferred the Padma Shree on him in 1983. In 1991
he was honoured with the prestigious Dronacharya award. .
Guru Hanuman is also credited with infusing the modern techniques
of wrestling into the rustic sport. Such was his passion for
wrestling that he once went on a hunger strike to force Margaret
Alva, the then Minister for Sports, to donate a wrestling
mat to his akhada. Later in 1977 he again went on hunger strike
to champion the cause of Sanjay who was denied the Arjuna
award. .
As a teacher Guru Hanuman was respected and feared by his
disciples. A strict disciplinarian he would often hit the
wrongdoers with stick, even using his slippers once in a while.
"But this was more than compensated by the love he showered
on us," says Ved Prakash, gold medalist in 1970 Commonwealth
Games, and at 13 a Guinness Record holder for being the youngest
sportsperson to have won the medal.
Though of late he was not coaching directly he continued to
keep an eye on all his disciples. An early-riser, Guru Hanuman
would exercise for an hour with dumb-bells and often cycle
down to buy vegetables and cook himself a meal. His day began
at 3 am and his disciples were expected to follow his decree
religiously. Those who woke up late were often caned.
"I am married to wrestling. I am so involved with it that
I feel marriage will be a hindrance," he had once said. A
bachelor he did make front-page news recently when he said
he would marry at 100. "When I turn 100 I will marry the Paris
grandmother, I will sit in a doli while she will come on a
horse," he had said, while referring to the oldest woman in
the world from France, who also died recently. .
Guru Hanuman is no more. He did not turn 100, nor did he marry.
But what he did for Indian wrestling shall be carried forward
by the matmen who were trained under his tutelage. .
|
