On luge, Himachal girl Yuva speeds away from past, in direction of hope

Yuva’s success is particularly heartwarming because of the tragic backstory that preceded it. She shudders remembering one winter 13 years ago, when her occasionally violent father went missing from their small hillside hut in a village close to Vashisht — the same one to which Keshavan belongs — leaving behind his wife, the 7-year-old Yuva, and her two younger siblings.

“She remembers the turmoil of her childhood, when her father, who suffered from mental instability and depression, would get aggressive, and had even got violent once,” says Murlidhar Negi, a former international skier and Yuva’s distant uncle, who took over the responsibility of the family after the father’s disappearance.

“He had tried to kill himself and the family, and just before he left, he burned down their house. I told Yuva that she needed to leave those memories behind and do something with her life,” Murlidhar says.

Having attended one of the road camps in 2008 conducted by Keshavan, where kids pushed down wheeled sleds on winding mountain roads near Manali, Yuva was picked in the junior team, mainly because of her athleticism and the intense drive to do well in the sport.

“I had never heard of the sport, let alone understand it,” she said before leaving for Japan where in the B category, she took off from the Juniors starting point (a notch lower than the Seniors) on the slope. “But once on the sled, I felt free, and I knew I could do this well.”

Her parents had been landless farmers, and Yuva was expected to follow other girls from the village and get married early. Her younger sister was married off two years ago, and that was the plan for her as well — until her father left.

“I remember how my father looked only vaguely, because we were so scared of him as kids. When I started school, my mother told me, what’s the point of marrying someone and living in fear like her? I might as well study, make a life and get out of the misery myself,” she says.

Her mother, who is illiterate, and who struggled to bring up three children, has never seen Yuva on a sled, but is supportive of whatever she wants to do, prodded on by Murlidhar.

“Yuva was brought up by her uncle, and she won in her category when we first picked a junior squad a few years ago. She’s physically very strong, 5-foot-6, well-built and very motivated. She needs consistent support, and can do well in the sport,” Keshavan says.

Luge is a fringe sport, and Indian juniors aren’t naturally balanced or adept at steering, but Yuva has displayed the temperament. “I don’t think it is very difficult, and I love being on the racing track. You need courage, and I feel no fear. I need to learn the techniques well, but we’re mountain people and nothing will deter me,” says Yuva, now in her second year in college, studying for a Bachelors in Political Science.

Her uncle raised the nearly Rs 2 lakh that were needed for her to make the trip to Japan. He had managed to raise funds earlier too, when Yuva was first sent to a camp abroad six years ago.

“I believe she has a future in this, and this year the federation has revived the juniors programme after a long time,” Murlidhar says. “There’s been a gap in training, but we hope she learns as much as she can in Japan and does well.”

The last time at Nagano — in 2009 — had been a culture shock for the Indian juniors who, thrown by the food on their plates, had scurried to look for bread-butter. “I had never travelled outside my village. And suddenly I was staring at shrimp on my plate and all sorts of things that I’d never seen in my life. I remember panicking and stealing bread-butter wherever we saw some. The only place where I felt normal was on the ice,” she recalls.

Yuva has lived with uncertainty all her early life — with misgivings about her father, and apprehensions about where the next meal would come from. “Education has helped me, but only my game will give me confidence. There’s nothing to be scared of on the track once I’m on the luge,” she says.