Of tragedies and tenacity: The Fauja Singh story

It's never too late to start over, goes the old adage and if ever there was proof needed that it actually isn't, one could always marvel at the life of Fauja Singh.

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The widely-admired 114-year-old, whose career as a marathon runner began when he was 89 and propelled him to the status of a global icon, died Monday night.

It was a heartbreakingly abrupt end despite his age. He was hit by a yet-to-be-identified vehicle while out for a walk at Beas Pind, his native village in Jalandhar.

The frail man, who weathered many a personal storms with his resilience and “nonchalance”, had spent a better part of his running career in Britain and returned to his roots just about three years ago after retiring.

“We would always tell him that someone his age running in India would always run the risk of being hit given how reckless the driving here is. This is what ultimately happened unfortunately,” said his biographer Khushwant Singh, whose book 'The Turbaned Tornado' documents the celebrated runner's life.