Jalpaiguri to Jakarta: Swapna Barman's 12 toes and an amazing feat
Swapna Barman became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in heptathlon at the Asian Games 2018 and her journey from Jalpaiguri to Jakarta is nothing short of a dream.
In Short
- Swapna Barman made history by winning a gold for India in heptathlon at Asian Games 2018.
- Visitors have been flocking to the Barman home in Jalpaiguri ever since Swapna won her gold.
- Swapna's father Panchanan Barman suffered a stroke nine years ago.
When Panchanan Barman suffered a stroke nine years ago, this tiny family in Jalpaiguri collapsed. Metaphorically and literally. Panchanan was a rickshaw puller and the main breadwinner of the Barman family in Jalpaiguri's Patkata Ghoshpara. His daughter Swapna was in school when Panchanan was bedridden by his stroke.
Swapna's mother Basana left her job in a nearby tea garden to nurse her husband full time. Swapna's mason older brother's measly income was all the family fell back on.
Nine years from that day to today, the Barmans of Jalpaiguri have come a long way. Everyone in the district can identify the gravel road that leads to the tin-gated home of the girl who made India proud in front of the entire world.
The entrance to her village in the district of Jalpaiguri today has a gate dedicated to Swapna. A bank in the district has named its customer care centre after her so that people from nearby villages don't have a problem in reaching the town branch. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a prize of Rs 10 lakh and a government job to the girl. Other political leaders and entrepreneurs have been flocking to the Barmans in Jalpaiguri to help out this star in whatever way they can.
"For the past three days, I have been repeating the story every single day. The calls haven't stopped, maa-go," laughs Basana. She is ecstatic. The media has not stopped knocking on her kuchha-pukka home in Jalpaiguri. Incessant calls from all over the country have been made to the home of the girl who just scripted history in Jakarta, Indonesia. For the third day in a row, the family's routine has gone haywire. There is no time to bathe or eat!
As Swapna Barman, face bandaged, leapt towards the finish line at the ongoing Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta, the entire country watched with bated breath. She came first in the unbelievably difficult heptathlon as congratulations poured in from across the length and breadth of the country. She battled a crippling toothache and her bandaged face at the heptathlon finish line is a scene that will take time to fade from public memory.
But Swapna's journey has been fraught with pain all along, only a glimpse of which India got to know when she won her gold medal. The night before her event at the Asian Games, Swapna battled a terrible toothache. "She was in bad pain the night before the heptathlon event. But my daughter has extreme will power," says Basana. The rest, as they say, is history.
Swapna was in bad pain the night before the heptathlon event. But my daughter has extreme will power.
This 22-year-old girl was born with six toes on each foot. The extra finger on each of her foot made wearing shoes a painful process. In smalltown Jalpaiguri, where shoes beyond number 6 are considered rarity, Swapna's wide feet could hardly find a size that fit them. Her shoes wore out quickly and had to be replaced frequently. The poverty-stricken family of four in Patkata did not know how to fight this war.
Did they try to get her extra toes surgically removed?
"How can I get that done? I myself was born with six toes on one foot. It is because of me that Swapna is this way. I managed. We thought she would too," says Swapna's mother.
But while Basana 'managed' fine, Swapna had to go through her training with shoes that did not fit her. Her feet cramped inside 'normal' shoes, this heptathlete ran to victory.
Since childhood, Swapna has been stubborn in whatever she has done. "She was good in studies," beams a proud Basana, before deflecting all the credit towards Swapna's coach Subhash Sarkar.
"We are very poor people. It is difficult for us to meet day-to-day expenses. In 2011, she got through a SAI (Sports Authority of India) test. She has been living in Kolkata since then. What she does, what she eats or where she goes and when - her coach Subhash Sarkar decides everything," says Basana.
Sukanta said in an interview after Swapna's gold win, "I was her coach from 2006-2013. She comes from a very poor family and could barely meet the expenses of training. I saw a spark in her when she was in the fourth standard. I started training her."
So how can the West Bengal government stand by the family now?
"I don't want anything from the government. I will not ask for anything. What Swapna has done, it is her achievement and if the government thinks that is enough, it is up to them to decide what Swapna deserves," says Basana with folded hands.
A day after Swapna Barman got her gold medal in Jakarta, her mother has only one thing to ask for from everyone: "Pray that she gets home an Olympic gold too."
There's still time for that.
Meanwhile, Swapna's home in Patkata will soon see the out-of-place electricity pole removed from in front of it and moved somewhere else to make sure guests don't have a tough time navigating their way. And when Swapna returns from Indonesia, she will take a pukka road to go home: the home of India's first woman Asiad gold winner in heptathlon.
(With Arabinda Bhattacharya in Jalpaiguri)
ALSO SEE: Emotional scenes at Barman home as Swapna wins Asiad gold
ALSO SEE: How Swapna Barman braved serious pain to create Asian Games history
ALSO WATCH | The Girl with 12 Toes: Swapna Barman from Jalpaiguri scripts history in Jakarta