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Help pours in for woman who ran marathon barefoot to win ₹3,000 for daughters’ studies
On August 29, the mother of two girls participated in a run organised by Bharatiya Shikshan Prasarak Sanstha’s Kholeshwar Educational Complex in Ambejogai, Beed
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Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar wants to gift her a pair of running shoes, the district collector of Beed has given her a cheque of ₹50,000 and strangers from across the country have been sending their contribution--big and small-- to her bank account. If there’s one motto that a 47-year-old widow from Ambejogai has learnt this week, it’s this: Run, Ramabai, run!
On August 29, the mother of two girls participated in a run organised by Bharatiya Shikshan Prasarak Sanstha’s Kholeshwar Educational Complex in Ambejogai, Beed. She had been told that the winner would get prize money of ₹3000, and so Ramabai, barefoot and saree-clad, who needed that amount to pay for her daughters’ education supplies, ran her heart out and won.
The video of her race was posted, among others, by Rahul Dravid and went viral. Within one week of that, says Ramabai, her world turned. “A company associated with Sachin Tendulkar called to ask for my shoe size saying he wants to gift me a pair of running shoes. On Friday, Beed district collector gave me a cheque of ₹50,000 as financial assistance and more than ₹1.5 lakh have come into my bank account from people across the country,” said Ramabai Ranveer, who earns ₹9,000 a month working as a cook and helper in multiple homes ion Ambejogai. After her recent popularity, she now has her own bank account, something she did not have before.
Her two daughters, she told HT are preparing for various competitive exams. “I am worried about my daughters and I want to educate them well. After losing my husband in Mumbai in 2012, I am the only one taking care of both of them,” she said.
Her daughter Pooja is preparing for police recruitment, while the other, Aarti, is pursuing a BSc in Information Technology and is also preparing for the Maharashtra Public Service Commission examination. “I am currently in the second year of BSc IT and preparing for MPSC. If I am not able to clear MPSC, I plan to work in the banking or information technology sector. I need books and other study material for my preparation,” said Aarti.
Ramabai, the family’s sole breadwinner, had no prior experience of long-distance running but when the head of the institution where she works as a cleaning lady told her about the run and the prize money involved, she decided to participate. The competition, open to men and women in the age group above thirty involved running a distance of two kilometres and had 102 participants.
“I did not run because I wanted to prove that I could win a race. I ran because I needed the money for my daughter’s education,” she told HT. She added that she will use the money she has now got to pay for better coaching classes for her daughters outside Beed.
As the race began, Ranveer said younger runners moved ahead of her. “After running some distance, my slippers started coming off because of the rain. I removed them, held them in one hand and continued running barefoot. The road was wet, and small stones and sharp pebbles hurt my feet,” recalled Ranveer. “I run around every day for the sake of my family, so that day too I decided that I will run just some more.”
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