To Strive, To Seek, Not To Yield

After his dream to serve in the Indian Army failed to take flight, medium and long-distance runner Uday Bilwal joined the MP government's tribal affairs department as a social sciences and Hindi teacher in 1999.

- Anuraag Singh

After his dream to serve in the Indian Army failed to take flight, medium and long-distance runner Uday Bilwal joined the MP government's tribal affairs department as a social sciences and Hindi teacher in 1999. But his sense of duty and dedication were far from snuffed out; neither were his efforts to instill new blood in national service.

Over the past decade, the 45-year-old, posted as superintendent of Government Boys Hostel in his native Jhabua district, has guided over 400 tribal youths to be inducted into the Army, state police and central paramilitary forces.

"I competed in 1,500 and 5,000-metre events during my school days, dreaming of joining the Indian Army to serve the nation. But destiny had something else in store. Being unable to fulfil my dream, I joined the tribal affairs department as a primary school teacher," Bilwal recounted.

Then, in 2013-14, Bilwal happened upon some tribal youngsters preparing to join the Army and state police force.

"They would clear the written test, but lacked the professional guidance to clear the physical proficiency test, which comprises middle-distance running, shot put and long jump. The best coaching centres were in Indore, Bhopal and the other big cities, but most of those boys and girls didn't have the money or resources to travel to and from Indore (150 km from Jhabua)," he said." Perhaps seeing a reflection of his former self in these hapless youth, the former runner launched a free-of-cost 'Soldiers Physical Group' in Jhabua with ten promising youngsters - one of whom, Harish Goyal (a former national-level half-marathoner), is a key part of the training apparatus today.