And here comes Dipa!

We time and again read and hear stories about the human enduring spirit, the jugaadu attitude of ours and make amends with the given situation and move on, many a times emerging so victorious, that the world sits up and takes notice.

One such story is Dipa Karmarkar, our gymnastic entry into Olympics at Rio. Very few will know when she displays her skills that most of her training was done on apparatus which was built out of discards and really, jugaadu, using her imagination and creativity to the fullest.

She used to stack eight to 10 crash mats on top of each other to make a vaulting platform. She bought second-hand springs and shock absorbers from discarded scooters, then asked a local carpenter to make some kind of a spring board with the bits. So when Dipa first started to vault, she used to jump from this onto a pile of mats. Wow! And to think that practicing on that has got her to the Olympics… can you imagine where she could go if, like those in developed countries, she too had been trained on the right equipments and provided with the amenities.

Its really a wonder that we have started producing talent in India and more importantly, it is people like Dipa who will inspire scores of others around India to pursue your dreams, make do with what you have and if you have the passion and the talent, you will make it!