For Ruma,4 am routine was success mantra

While cycling was an odd sport of choice,let alone for a girl,three-and-a-half decades ago,the then 15-year-old Ruma got the wholehearted backing of her father Ranjit Chatterjee,a Geological Survey of India employee.

After his death,Ruma took charge of the family. A job with BSNL,which came her way through her cycling accomplishments,helped her support her mother and five sisters while she focused on her sporting career.

She rose to great heights,representing India in Asian Games,Commonwealth Games and other international events and then becoming the national team coach. Under her watch,India took significant steps in the sport,with two of her junior wards — Deborah and Manorama Devi — winning medals in the Junion Asian Championships earlier this year.

Her colleagues recall her singular passion for the sport. Even on Tuesday,she was riding along with the Indian junior road cycling team,when she was fatally hit by a speeding vehicle.

“That was her routine for the last 30 years. She always got up at 4am and went to practice. When in Kolkata,she used to train at Red Road. Today we heard that she left from Indira Gandhi Sports Complex and went to Noida and was returning to Delhi when she was hit by a speeding vehicle. We always tried to caution her about the risks attached to her adventure. She never listened. We all are devastated. She had five sisters but I don’t know how will I break the news to her old and ailing mother,” Ruma’s brother-in-law Pratap Guha told The Indian Express.

Ruma’s friend and West Bengal Cyclists’ Association general secretary Bani Ghosh is inconsolable.

“She (Ruma) was just 50. She was my junior. But we were great friends. She had been coaching the national team for the last 20 years and rarely have I seen such a fearless and aggressive individual. She was a strict disciplinarian. All her wards loved her and feared her in equal measure. Off the track,she was a great raconteur,she was always the central figure in any gathering. Participation in seven Commonwealth Games (as player and coach) is a testimony to her longevity and achievement,” said Ghosh.