100-year old Sikh marathoner8217;s biography released in Britain

The book traces the runner8217;s roots and tries to capture his life8217;s journey,understanding the impact of Fauja on the world around him.

For Fauja 8220;impossible is Nothing8221;,Khushwant Singh told the gathering.

Khushwant Singh,also the author of best-selling Sikhs Unlimited,a travelogue from UK to USA,featuring extraordinary Sikhs,told the gathering that he first met the world8217;s half marathon runner in 2005 8220;when I was working on my first book,Sikhs Unlimited.8221;

He said,8221;Fauja Singh8217;s story is no folklore. It is a true story of an old sikh man who started running at an age where many do not even reach and went on to achieve superhuman feats.8221;

Born in Bias Pind,then a nondescript Punjab village on the present Jalandhar-Pathankot road,Fauja was the youngest child of his poor parents who bore four children.

Fauja,much to the dismay of his parents was not a blessed child. He was rather a non-starter,given that he started walking only at the age of five.

Given Fauja8217;s health condition no one in the family gave him much chance at athletics. So frail was Fauja in health,that he could barely walk a mile till the age of 15.

8220;My legs were so weak that I could not even walk a mile. Perhaps it was Almight8217;s way of preserving them for later years,8221; Fauja,who was present at the book release,said.

The book also has a telegraph from Queen Elizabeth II congratulating Fauja Singh on his 100th birthday on April 1,2011.

In his Foreword,former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh wrote,8221;Fauja Singh8217;s unprecedented achievements mark a never before triumph of the human spirit and it makes me more than proud that I share with him a common heritage 8211; one that is rooted in the fertile Punjabi hinterland and infused with a zeal that never gives in.8221;