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By:

C.S. Krishnamurthy

21 June 2025 at 2:15:51 pm

Ekta Bhyan, Quiet Gold

The strongest lessons in life rarely arrive with drumbeats. They come quietly, sit beside us, and stay long after the applause fades. I learnt this at the recent Peakst8 Festival in the world-class Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence Bengaluru. The venue was full of ambition, energy, loud confidence and polished success stories. Yet, it was gold-winning para-athlete Ekta Bhyan who held my attention, not by raising her voice, but by lowering the noise around her. She was an integral...

Ekta Bhyan, Quiet Gold

The strongest lessons in life rarely arrive with drumbeats. They come quietly, sit beside us, and stay long after the applause fades. I learnt this at the recent Peakst8 Festival in the world-class Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence Bengaluru. The venue was full of ambition, energy, loud confidence and polished success stories. Yet, it was gold-winning para-athlete Ekta Bhyan who held my attention, not by raising her voice, but by lowering the noise around her. She was an integral part of a panel discussing what it takes to reach the Olympics. Others spoke of pressure, fame and sacrifice. Ekta spoke of routine. Of turning up. Of patience. There were no heroic flourishes in her words. Each sentence was measured, calm and grounded. Listening to her, I sensed a deep reserve of experience. She was not trying to impress. She was simply explaining how life had unfolded. A spinal injury, in 2003, had left her paralysed. This is usually where stories pause for sympathy. Ekta’s does not. She spoke of rebuilding, not rebelling. Of learning what the body could still do, and then working patiently within those limits. Para sport entered her life quietly, not as rescue, but as direction. Over time, she found her space in the F51 club throw, a demanding discipline where balance, precision and control matter more than force. What stayed with me was her restraint. She mentioned podium finishes only in passing. International meets, Asian Para Games, world championships, all appeared briefly and then moved aside. Even the gold medal she had earned was referred to almost casually, as one would mention a milestone on a long road. For her, medals are not destinations. They are confirmations. Steely Discipline Ekta spoke about training. It is not exciting, she said. It repeats itself. Progress hides. Muscles resist. The mind looks for shortcuts. Yet commitment must remain steady. She described days when success meant completing a session without excuses. On some mornings, it was finishing gym work despite fatigue. Evenings meant outdoor practice, carefully timed because regulating body temperature is a constant challenge after spinal injury. For nearly three years, she has not missed a single day of training. With limited muscle use and only about forty per cent lung capacity, each session needs careful planning. Her shoulders are her strongest allies. Other muscles cooperate less. Fingers offer no strength at all. Still, she works with what she has. Over the last four years, this discipline has translated into results. Gold medals at national championships. A bronze at the Asian Para Games. Gold and bronze at the World Championships in Paris in 2023. This season alone, she added gold at the Indian Open Paralympic Championships and a silver soon after. Her personal best stands at 21.5 metres, and she speaks of improving it, not defending it. There was a gentler revelation too. As a young girl, Ekta had once dreamt of becoming a doctor. She wanted to heal. Life rewrote the syllabus. Yet, listening to her, I realised she still heals. Not with medicine, but with example. Her journey treats assumptions and restores belief, quietly and effectively. Human Moment After the session, when the crowd thinned, I walked up to her with my notebook. I asked for her autograph, expecting a quick signature. She paused, asked my name, and wrote hers carefully. That small act reflected everything she had spoken about. Presence. Respect. Attention. Her daily life, she earlier shared, is not simple. She needs two people to help with routine movements, from transferring to travel. Public transport is impossible. Every trip requires planning, space and expense. Often, she bears the cost for three people, not one. Yet, she spoke of this without complaint. The harder challenge, she said, is mindset. People with disabilities are still seen as separate from the mainstream. Expectations are lowered, often disguised as kindness. Ekta resists this quietly. Her competition is internal. Yesterday versus today. Comfort versus effort. Paralysis, she believes, is a condition, not an identity. As I left the venue, the applause felt inadequate. Not because it was soft, but because her journey asks for reflection, not noise. Ekta Bhyan reminds us that ambition can change shape without losing meaning. That success does not always announce itself. Sometimes, it arrives quietly, balanced and consistent. Her strength lies not only in the distance she throws, but in the steadiness she maintains. And in that quiet balance, Ekta Bhyan offers us something rare. A lesson that stays long after the hall has emptied.   (The writer is a retired banker and author of ‘Money Does Matter.’)

Barvi dam, Tulsi Lake overflow; water woes end

Badlapur: The Barvi Dam, operated by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), began overflowing, bringing much-needed relief to Thane district. With the reservoir now at full capacity, concerns over drinking and industrial water shortages across the district have been resolved.


Barvi Dam is the primary water source for almost all municipal corporations, municipal councils, village panchayats, and industrial zones in Thane district. Its water is crucial for meeting both civic and industrial demand, which is why the reservoir’s filling is closely monitored each monsoon season by residents and government agencies alike.


This year, the dam began filling earlier than expected. Unseasonal showers in May, along with the early arrival of the monsoon, reduced evaporation losses and raised hopes of an early overflow. However, rainfall slowed in July and during much of August, delaying the process. Meteorologist Abhijeet Modak had forecast stronger rains from mid-August, and consistent showers over the past few days rapidly raised the water level. By Friday, the dam was 98 percent full, and by Saturday morning it was just a few centimeters short of its full height of 72.60 meters.


According to the MIDC’s Barvi Dam office, the reservoir reached capacity by 3:25 p.m. on Saturday, with water now being discharged at a rate of 4 cusecs per second. The MIDC had already issued precautionary alerts to villagers and local administrations along the Ulhas River. Authorities confirmed that with the river’s water level currently low, there is no risk to nearby villages from the controlled release.


With the Barvi Dam now full and overflowing, the perennial water anxieties of Thane’s residents and industries have, at least for this year, been laid to rest.

With heavy rains lashing Mumbai and its suburbs, the Tulsi lake, one of the seven reservoirs supplying drinking water to the metropolis, has overflowed, a civic official said on Sunday.


The Tulsi lake, situated in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in suburban Mumbai, started overflowing at around 6.45 am on Saturday, the official said.

The seven reservoirs, which supply water to Mumbai, have more than 90 per cent water stock now, the official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.


Tulsi is the third reservoir which has overflowed after the Tansa and Modak Sagar dams, due to heavy rains in their catchment areas.

This year, the Tulsi lake overflowed almost 26 days later compared to last year, when it became full on July 20, the official said.


Tulsi is the smallest of the seven reservoirs that supply potable water to Mumbai and has a storage capacity of 8,046 million litres. The city gets 18 million litres of water from the lake every day.


“The catchment area of the lake has been receiving rainfall in the last few days, as a result of which the lake overflowed on Saturday,” the civic official said.

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