Hima Das, India’s “Dhing Express ” Story, life-achievements.
An athlete brings in fame and glory not only for themselves but also to the country. Every single citizen of the country will be delighted as well as proud in seeing their flag fly high among the others in sports. Hima Das who has been christened India’s ‘Golden girl’ has made India proud by giving an opportunity for the tri colored flag to fly ahead. She has created history by winning the first ever track gold for India at international stage in its entire history. She won the U20 athletics championship in Finland by clocking 51.4 seconds and created history. Despite leaving all the obstacles aside she raged towards the gold medal for India.
Her struggles in life were much denser as she was from a very humble background from very meager means. She was born into a farmer’s family. Her father was a poor rice farmer in Nagaon district. She was born near Dhing village in the state of Assam. She was the youngest child among the five siblings. Athletics was never the first choice for this golden girl. Hima Das always dreamt of playing football for India as she enjoyed playing football with boys when she was young. Das made the change at the behest of Shamshul Sheikh, a teacher in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalay who was impressed at her speed and agility in football. Her coach suggested her to try athletics. She took his advice and decided to go ahead which led to her success. Hima participated in local races, being the fastest among the contenders. She soon soared up to the state level after which she tried for the Junior National championship as she was young and lacking experience, she lost despite making it to the finals. Hima was demolished after this loss and people around her started to think that her career had ended for good. However her coach Nipon Das persuaded her parents to allow Hima to go to Guwahati for her training. Her parents agreed for her to shift there because they thought that she will get at least three meals a day when she will be in Guwahati. Hima used to wake up at 3am to catch a bus and travelled 140km for her training and then returned home in the late hours. With the help of a local doctor her coach was able to find her a residential place close to the ground.
Hima belonged to a poor family, so that she was unable to afford running shoes. Her father who came to have noticed this brought her a new pair of Adidas shoes from his savings. In September 2018 Hima Das signed a deal with sports giant Adidas. Adidas said that she will be provided with the best offerings from the company for her racing and training requirements in a statement. A girl who was not even able to afford a pair of shoes for her needs became an ambassador for the same company. For her success she has been given the nickname “Dhing Express” which was based on the name of her hometown. She performed exemplary and bagged 5 gold medals at the international spectrum in 18 days for 200m and 400m at various international track events in Poland and the Czech Republic. She had won medals in the world championships, Asian games and many other championships around the world. She has received the Presidential award for athletics and has been appointed as Assam’s brand ambassador for sports by the Government of Assam.
“My parents always told me to make the best of what I have,” said the girl that later went on to become a quotable quote for the youngsters.
Hima initiated her athletics career as a 100m and 200m sprinter before shifting to the 400m following the advice of the senior coach. Hima won her first gold medal in the Federation Cup in 400 meter race qualifying for the commonwealth games and later on she finished sixth at the Gold Coast commonwealth games with a personal best of 51.32 seconds. Das had become the nation’s hope for getting the first track medal in the Olympics. As she rounded the bend at the 300 meter mark, she was lagging way behind the others from where she forged ahead for India’s gold medal. The timing for her gold medal was 51.4 seconds which was far from her personal best, but under 20 level it was enough. She was also named for the World Championships which were held at Doha in October 2019. Unfortunately a month before the championship, she was ruled out of participation due to a severe back problem that had started right after she competed at the Asian games the previous year. And yet despite all her difficulties and brought glory to the nations at the world stage. After winning the medal she called up her parents and said “while you were sleeping, I rocked the world”, her father replied, “no, we were all awake and watching you perform” after hearing her father’s words Hima became emotional and burst out in tears. Today her fate has been glorified and acclaimed not only in India but all over the world and was accepted from every place.
India has never won an International medal in athletics. Even the legendary sprinters PT Usha and Milkha Singh were not able to get its gold medal. Twice it had come close, in the 1960 Olympics when Milkha Singh came 4th with the timing of 45.73 seconds and when PT Usha missed out a bronze in 400 meter hurdles in 1986 Los Angeles Olympics.
The feisty girl is a motivation to all of us. People who want to see themselves growing should make her an inspiration. Hima is not just a world class athlete who swept past the stiff competition with ridiculous ease. She is also a socially conscious teenager who took the lead in demolishing liquor in her village Dhing and its neighborhood.
She said that more than the medal she wanted to improve her timing in an interview. Hima inspired the youth of India to come forward and participate in sports as well as give encouragement to girls to achieve what they want to do.
“The girl has the guts to do anything and everything. She is never scared to speak out against illegal things. She is a role model for us and for the country”. Words by a neighbor.”
What more can be called as her fate, the 21-year-old sprinter Hima Das has been inducted as Deputy Superintendent in Assam Police recently. Most students haven’t even achieved their college graduation yet at this age. She is already a recipient of Arjuna award and now a Deputy Superintendent in Police. Her story is documented with inspiration and is worth being told. “Hopefully, her new journey will redefine the police forces and a woman cop as well,” wrote a user.
