In UK, tributes pour in for Fauja Singh after his death in Punjab
LONDON: Tributes are pouring in from across the UK for Fauja Singh, the oldest marathon runner in the world, who died on Monday after being hit by a car in his Punjab village at the age of 114.Writer and filmmaker Captain Jay Singh-Sohal told TOI: “I met him many times. He was a very inspiring figure who took great pride in doing what he was doing and in maintaining his Sikh identity with a turban and uncut beard, and in turn, he inspired many others. Not only did he inspire people of all ages to be physically active, but he also promoted the Sikh identity and took pride in doing so and showing young Sikhs, in particular, that their religious adherence was not a barrier to achieving great things.”Fauja Singh discovered running in his 80s as a means of remaining active and lifting boredom as he became older. He quickly became a celebrity.“He was very down-to-earth and humble regardless of his fame. He ate very simply — just daal and rice. His discipline, simple living, and deep humility left a lasting mark on me,” said MP Preet Kaur Gill.MP Tanmanjeet Singh said he would be “sorely missed.”“Despite his extraordinary and record-breaking achievements, he was completely down to earth and incredibly generous with his time,” recalled Hardeep Singh, deputy-director, Network of Sikh Organisations.Nick Bitel, London Marathon Group CEO, said: “Fauja Singh was an incredible, inspirational human being who epitomised the Spirit of the London Marathon. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.”Fauja Singh, now British, had been living back in Beas Pind, his birth village near Jalandhar, for the past five years, ever since the pandemic, when the accident happened.He was born in 1911 and had six children. One daughter died during childbirth in the 1980s and soon after that, his wife, Gian Kaur, died, and then his son, Kuldeep, died in an accident in front of him. That led to depression and so he came to the UK to stay with his son, Sukhjinder, and lived in Ilford. “He was a bit bored in an alien country where, at that time, there was not much Punjabi media. He went back to India to his family and then they sent him back to the UK. Then he started doing things for charity, like a 20km walk, and then he saw people running on TV and decided to do a marathon,” explained his British coach Harmander Singh, who met him in November 1999. Harmander trained him in just 11 weeks to run his first marathon, the London Marathon, in 2000, aged 89. Fauja Singh did nine marathons in total, his last one aged 101 in 2012 in London, which he completed in seven hours, 49 minutes.“He raised the profiles of charities and he always said it was the blessings of the beneficiaries of those charities that kept him going,” Harmander said. Fauja Singh liked his celebrity status as he got lots of attention, which kept him going, as many elderly people feel neglected.“He enjoyed the free socialising that came with his status and when he was invited by the former president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, to run the Lahore Marathon, he couldn’t believe that a poor illiterate farmer who had never gone to school was rubbing shoulders with a head of state,” Harmander said. Fauja Singh walked or jogged for 10 miles a day and ate a minimal diet, and was very light in weight. “Some medical students did bone density tests on him and found his left leg had the bone density of a 30-year-old and his right leg had one of a 20-year-old, and his response was, ‘I always knew my left leg was weak’,” Harmander added.His running group “Sikhs In The City”, is raising money for a clubhouse for the route he used to run along which will be named after him. The group is also appealing for anyone whose life he touched to send messages for a memorial book.