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  Shakti Saran August 3, 2013 at 11:39am

  Could he and such sports people be hired by top fitness companies and that get multiple benefits including of higher income, increased recognition by the public and possibly more support for competitions? Does anyone know Mahadev Kurani? Has he contacted any fitness companies for a job?

  
  

  Amazingly, while I was returning from a meeting, I saw a big truck go in front of me nearby my place on the main road. The truck had a huge poster of Lord Shiva (Mahadev) on its side and loud music was playing and several people were standing on it on the front side and several people were sitting at its back side with legs down. After I reached my place, I came across the following article online. An excerpt:

  
  

  From a gold-medallist cyclist to an ATM guard

  
  

  Mahadev Kurani mortgaged his family’s acre of land for Rs 60,000 to fund a bike from Singapore. With interest piling, he was forced to take up the Rs 4,800 per month job

  
  

  By Niranjan Kaggere

  Posted On Sunday, July 28, 2013

   

  Olympians would say that it’s the journey rather than the destination that makes the event so special. Kurani, though, wonders if he would ever arrive. A national cycling champion with four gold medals to his name, Kurani believes he has plenty more to give. But stuck in mounting debt, he had to give up cycling to help his family make ends meet. The daily sprint to work at the ATM serves as his only means of keeping in touch with the sport.

   

  He draws a pittance — Rs 4,800 — in salary every month, much of it goes towards repaying the Rs 60,000 mortgage taken against his family’s acre of land. The money was borrowed six years ago from a local financier to fund his bike. The rest is given to his mother to take care of the family.

   

  “What to do?” Kurani asks rhetorically. “If I do not work, we will lose the acre of dry farmland that was mortgaged to buy my bicycle. The land is the only hope for my family. Being the eldest, I have to look after my parents, brother and sister. The priority is to settle the loan as the interest piles up by the day. There was a time when I hoped the state government would recognise my achievements, but all I got was disappointment and insults. The creditors are not bothered with all these stories. I simply have to settle the debt or we will lose our land. So I had to join as a security guard.”

   

  Full article: http://www.bangaloremirror.com/printarticle.aspx?page=comments&...