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The | Ludhiana |
Updated: April 26, 2020 10:38:15 pm
Amrik Singh, Fauja Singh and Ajit Singh together in a frame during one of their careers. (Express photo)
“Sagey bhraavan vich khaar hundi hai, saada taan imaandaari da rishta si. Mere bhraa follow, mere yaar follow Amrik (Real brothers have differences, but we share an honest relationship. He was my brother, my best friend). “Fauja Singh, 109, who is believed to be the oldest marathon runner in the world, is bursting into tears at the Mere mention of his friend and career partner, Amrik Singh, who succumbed to coronavirus infection on April 22. Amrik (89) passed away at Birmingham City Hospital with doctors struggling to understand his last words.
“All your prayers would end with‘Waheguru‘And the doctors asked us if he was trying to call a loved one. He kept saying ‘Waheguru, Waheguru‘… my grandfather was known‘Waheguru Baba“In the community,” says Paman Singh (34), his grandson from Glasgow in Scotland.
Back home at Bearsden in Glasgow, Amrik has left a collection of more than 650 medals he has won worldwide, including at least a hundred marathons.
The oldest marathon runner in the world, Fauja Singh (center) with Amrik Singh (R). Together they ran at least 20 times.
Long before Fauja Singh rose to international fame and became the world’s oldest runner to complete a 2011 marathon at the age of 100, there were two other Sikhs: Amrik Singh and his partner, Ajit Singh, who started to participate in competitive races in the UK. Later, when Fauja joined them, the trio became a familiar face in UK marathons and formed a “Team Fauja” running club.
Fauja admits that it was both who “inspired” and “forced” him to receive formal training for marathons. From Edinburgh to Luxembourg, from Lisbon to New York, London and even to Lahore in Pakistan, Fauja remembers how they ran together several times, all over the world, having the best time of their lives.
Lahore nahi bhulna kadi, assi Lahore vi daudey katthey. Principal Kalla Reh Gaya Hun (I will never forget Lahore, we also ran together in Lahore. Now I am alone), ”says Fauja inconsolably, speaking on the phone from his Beas Pind village in Jalandhar.
He adds: “I attended Ajit’s funeral (who died at the age of 87), but this time I couldn’t even see Amrik for the last time … Amrik and Ajit were younger than me, but when it came to running , they were my ustad (gurus). Mainu kehnde Faujeya tu lambi daud daudeya kar hun (They told me I should train to run longer runs.) “
Fauja cannot locate the year they met, but remember that it was almost 22 years ago. He says it was fate that brought them together at the end of their lives despite living miles away in the UK.
“Kismat saanu naal as aayi. Oh dono mere ton pehlan daud si, pagg banke daudan vi ni dindey si. Amrik ne mainu keha tera saanh vadiya hai, tu lambi daud daudeya kar (Fate brought us together. They both ran before me. They didn’t even allow themselves to wear turbans and run. Amrik told me that my respiratory resistance is still good, that I should go to marathons and receive formal training.) Before, I only did short distance races ”, he recalls.
‘Team Fauja’ later became ‘Sikhs in the City’ Running Club in London with two other members Karnail Singh and Gurbaksh Singh and together they were called “Golden Oldies”.
Volunteers in Glasgow serve meals to homeless people during the ongoing confinement in Scotland. Amrik Singh was the pioneer who started langar sewa in Glasgow.
“Five of them ran together in the relay of the Edinburgh Marathon in 2009. But Fauja, Amrik and Ajit were the closest. It was probably in 2006 when the trio were invited to Pakistan by then President Pervez Musharraf and they ran together in Lahore. In 2010, they ran together at “Sikhs at the City Relay Marathon” in London, which was probably the last time they were together, “recalls Harmander Singh (61), coach of Fauja Singh.
“Ajit and Amrik had started running at least 25 years before Fauja. Fauja was in London, Ajit from Huddersfield and Amrik from Glasgow. It was in 1999 that Fauja started training formally with me, ”he adds, while pointing out that the trio ran at least 20 races together.
Amrik started running when he was 46 years old and completed the London marathon 26 times. From the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States to Portugal, he always ran with the symbols of Khalsa in sight: a khanda in his dastaar (turban) and kirpan around his neck.
Paman Singh says that, like every year, his grandfather Amrik Singh was in his hometown, Paddi Khalsa, in Jalandhar, Punjab, from February 12 to March 13, where he would do sewa, organize a vision screening camp , collect donations for the homeless and finance education for poor children.
In medical camps, he changed patients’ sheets, helped them eat, and took them to the bathrooms. “He collected donations from NRI in Scotland and distributed them to the poor in his village in India. I would buy new clothes for all the children in the village before the trip to India, ”he said.
“He returned to Birmingham on March 13 to my aunt’s (Amrik’s daughter) house and was completely fine. Before, I had some health conditions, but now they were all under control. Suddenly on April 12, she started showing symptoms and had a fever and cough. He was tested positive for coronavirus and died 10 days later on April 22, “says Paman Singh.” The “Great Scottish Race” last year was his last individual race, “he said.
The family says they have no idea where it became infected.
“He always had simple and healthy food: dal roti, panjeeri, hot milk, butter and sometimes he cheated with jalebis. He loved his Punjab. We have no idea how it became infected. I would go to the gym every day, ”adds the grandson.
Amrik started working as a bricklayer in Gravesend of Kent, UK, near London in the 1960s, and then moved to Scotland in 1970, where he opened a general store called “Sumal Mini Market”. Then she started the langar charity service for the homeless that her children and local volunteers later called “Scotland Seva”.
He would visit the local Central Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Glasgow daily and take care of Indian students regardless of whether they were Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and make sure they had food. He even fixed shoes and washed dishes.
And even in his last days, Amrik continued to do what he lived: serving the homeless and the poor. After the UK was blocked on March 23, he told Paman Singh by phone that Langar Sewa, whose family ran twice a week, should now be run daily and that all nurses, doctors, firefighters and police serving in Glasgow should also be fed by Scotland Seva Volunteers.
“He told me by phone from Birmingham before I was hospitalized that‘aapan sewa ni kadey chadni, Waheguru da naam as sab kuch karna hai … (We will never leave Sewa. Take Waheguru name and stick with it), “says Paman, recalling the last lesson his grandfather taught him before he was snatched away by the deadly virus.
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