|
| |
|
Arja Arya, Special Olympics Bharat (India). "This worldwide Olympic Torch Relay can be a once-in-a lifetime experience for everyone along the international route," said David G. Brooks, director of the Olympic Torch Relay for The Coca-Cola Company. "To celebrate Olympic heritage and share these real Olympic experiences, there is no greater honor than to be chosen by your community to represent your nation as a Torchbearer." |
© from The Hindustan Times 8 June 2004. Reprinted with permission of HT Media Ltd., all rights reserved.
by Ajai Masand
He had no name till the age of eight. When Avantika-based Asha Kiran, home for the mentally challenged, adopted him, he finally found his identity. They began calling him Arja.
Today, Arja is 24 and was set to carry the Olympic Torch, which arrived in New Delhi on June 10. He is the only mentally challenged person to have been chosen as a torch-bearer among the 105-odd people selected for the rare privilege. [Each Torchbearer will carry the Olympic Flame approximately 400 meters.]
In the 16 years he stayed at Asha Kiran, Arja turned his disability into a major strength. He has already won a gold and a silver medal in the 2003 Special Olympics at Dublin and looks set to win many more medals.
When he held aloft the Olympic torch in Delhi, it was a moment of sheer pride for his brothers, sisters and guardians. They are a motley group of over 2,000 children and young adults, like Arja, who have found a home away from home in welfare centres under the Delhi government's department of social welfare. Some have run away from home. Some have been abandoned by their parents. Yet others are mentally or physically challenged. But together they live in the 44 child welfare centres run by the department with the help of NGOs.
So, how did it feel to be chosen to carry the Olympic Torch? "Usko pakar ke zor se bhagna hai (I have to hold the torch and run as fast as I can)" says Arja.
"Arja joined us when he was six years old. He won the gold medal in the last special Olympics. And now he has carried the Olympic torch. All of us are extremely proud of him," said Nisha Agarwal, assistant director in the department.
Arja is an idol of sorts to the almost 600 residents at Asha Kiran. "He has already inspired half a dozen inmates to play cricket and the enthusiasm is rubbing off on others too," says Premoday Khakha, the welfare officer at Asha Kiran. "He keeps telling them to take to cricket so that they too, like him, can visit foreign countries," he adds.
Not just a good athlete, Arja is a hard worker too. "He has learned the art of making candles and chalk. Our main aim now is to rehabilitate him and make him self-sufficient, so that he can start earning on his own," says Khakha.
For Arja, that won't be a tough ask.
____________________________
From www.olympic.org/ and www.torchrelay.coca-cola.com/:
The Greek Olympic Torch Relay is the Relay of all cultures. The ATHENS 2004 Olympic Torch Relay embraces all cultures and all five continents symbolised by the five Olympic rings; its light will remind the world of the Olympic ideals, and make concrete concepts such as participation, fraternity and peace. The total journey will last some 78 days. Outside Greece the flame will travel for 35 days, covering a distance of approximately 78,000 km, 1,500 of which will be in the hands of 3,600 torchbearers. A total of 260 million people will have the opportunity to see the flame in their city. The worldwide route covers, in order, Australia, Asia, Africa, South America, North America and, finally, Europe.
The 21st-century-style tour visits each past Olympic Summer Games host city, as well as 2008 host Beijing and a select list of additional cities that, in addition to New Delhi, includes Cairo, Egypt; Cape Town, South Africa; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; New York; Brussels, Belgium; Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland; Kiev, Ukraine; Istanbul, Turkey; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Nicosia, Cyprus. The additional cities, approved by the International Olympic Committee, were chosen for their geographic location, infrastructure, cultural and regional significance, and active support for the Torch Relay event by National Olympic Committee and local authorities, ATHENS 2004 said.
Public Coca-Cola nomination programs were launched earlier this year in each of the 27 nations to be visited by the Olympic flame during the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Torch Relay Presented by Coca-Cola. Overall, the vast majority of Torchbearers selected through these Coca-Cola programs are coming from nominations of community individuals who personify the ATHENS 2004 themes of "unity" and "inspiration."
Coca-Cola India extended its "recognize inspiration" Torchbearer nomination program across six cities: New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Among methods used to identify Torchbearer candidates were write-in forms available at participating retail locations, a school essay competition, and a radio phone-in program inviting callers to name people who inspire them. Nominations were based on core concepts such as "celebrating friendship and peace" and "dedication to making a difference." Popular sports figures and movie stars, including film actress Simran and actor Amir Khan, were serving as Coca-Cola ambassadors for the Relay in India's local communities.
The Olympic flame made its first appearance in India in 1956, when the plane carrying the flame from the lighting ceremony in Greece to Olympic Games host city Melbourne, Australia, made a stopover in Calcutta, where a reception was held for the traveling icon. Similarly, New Delhi greeted the Olympic flame August 28, 1964, during a brief stopover of the flame on its journey from Greece to the Tokyo Olympic Games. New Delhi also will be the site of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The largest Olympic Torch Relay in history will conclude 13 August when the cauldron in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece, is lit, signifying the Opening of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games.
|
