My cycling buddy’s first win… many more to come
Raju Shah is a really good cyclist who has been riding with me for a long time. He and I are the only two licensed racers from Gautam Buddha Nagar and represent Uttar Pradesh at the national level.
Raju has always been one of the sweetest guys in the cycling community. Even though he comes from a humble background, he was extremely excited that I was planning to cycle to Meghalaya via his village. He offered to let me stay at his home and made all the arrangements for me. This has always stuck with me. Since then I have always tried to help out Raju, in my own way, if I can.
Raju has a dream of racing for India. When he came to Noida, he was working at a restaurant. And one day, a few cyclists came for dinner. Raju was serving and overheard their cycling stories. Raju, being as innocent as he is, quickly asked them if he could join them for a ride the next day.
He rode with them to Delhi’s Signature Bridge on his steel Neelam cycle. His excitement and passion were very much visible as he was flying away at high speeds. Seeing this Mr Atin (one of the cyclists) gifted him an alloy cycle which he still rides. Raju has since been riding and training for races.
On 30 April, a race was organised in memory of late Kunwar Arora, who lost his life in a cycle crash last year. This race was held around Indira Gandhi Stadium with some of the best riders in the country taking part. Raju beat more than 70 riders and won the gold medal. Some of these cyclists included national gold, silver and bronze medalists. Raju was victorious by a margin of one minute. This was his first win amongst many more to come in the coming time.
A press conference was held on May 2, at Ganga Shopping Complex for Raju’s win. He invited me amongst a select few and had me sit next to him. Despite everything though, I can’t control myself to say ‘Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman’!
by Nitish Srivastava (3181, Alok Vihar 1; 9711072737)
