PUNJAB: Accept your reality and put your best foot forward is the motto of Major Devender Pal Singh (Retd), a Kargil war veteran, the first blade runner in India, and the first disabled solo skydiver in Asia.
He has inspired more than 1,00,000 students, including those who were on the verge of committing suicide due to academic pressure and other factors, and has empowered 2,600 amputees to date. He has also given more than 500 motivational lectures in various institutions, schools, and corporate offices.
In 1999, Singh was a young army officer commanding a post in Jammu and Kashmir’s Akhnoor region just 80 metres from an enemy post. Then, one day, firing from the other side of the border began, and a mortar exploded only 1.5 metres from him. Singh was rescued and sent to an army hospital, where a doctor pronounced him dead. However, he was revived because of the proverb “Jaako raakhe saiyan mar sake na koye,” but his right leg had to be removed because gangrene had already taken hold. Additionally, he underwent two stomach operations due to partial hearing and 73 lodged splinters in his body. The 49-year-old Singh added, “Whatever position you are in, wherever you are, just accept that situation.”
This is his guru matra, or way of life. “You will continue to make excuses, squander your time, and do nothing to better yourself as long as you are in a denial state. Once you’ve come to terms with your circumstance, it will bring you peace because you’ll realise that you are proud of who you are,” he added.
“Attitude is the most important component of life, and if one focuses on the objective with the appropriate attitude, skill and knowledge will immediately fall into its place,” added Singh, who also made history by becoming the first combat casualty veteran to jump in 2019.
“Disability is not caused by losing a body part; it is caused by abandoning the desire to fight, hence one should rejoice in the odds. Everything is in the mind. Even medical professionals are powerless to save you once one gives up,” Singh added.
After competing in the Delhi Marathon in 2009 and subsequent high-profile half marathons using a specially-made blade, Singh, an athlete with a prosthetic leg, rose to prominence as the nation’s leading amputee athlete. Along with other marathons, Singh has been participating consistently in the Mumbai and Delhi marathons. Additionally, he completed the Leh, high-altitude Ladakh marathon, which he dedicated to OROP. He performed the skydive at Nasik a few years ago with the assistance of the Army’s Adventure Wing. As he brought positivity to persons who had lost a limb, Singh claimed that running with a prosthetic leg changed people’s perceptions of the disabled. “I believe that becoming hurt was the finest thing that could have happened to me because it allowed me to go on to achieve so much and win so many awards,” he added.
Since 2011, Singh has been running an NGO called “The Challenging Ones” in which he empowers amputees like him across the nation to develop their attitudes through sports and adventurous activities. Approximately 2,600 of them are associated with the NGO. “When I fought to get my pension in the Armed Forces Tribunal, I discovered how vital it is to support widows and handicapped soldiers,” he said.
He was also part of an expert committee which was constituted by the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, “as it was constituted to bring reforms in the life of serving and veteran army personnel”.