Taxi? No, Nihad prefers to run

21-year-old partially paralysed, but trains hard for half marathon

By Pratibha Masand

Nihad Panju (21) has been training hard for Sunday’s Half Marathon. His personal best is 19.2km but he plans to finish the marathon. Apart from an immobile right hand and a slight limp when he walks, one can hardly notice anything amiss. But Nihad is paralyzed on the left side.

When he was five months old, Nihad had suffered from meningitis. Surgery to treat it rendered him paralyzed for life. “The doctors put a shunt in my neck and it went wrong. I have been this way since I can remember,” said the youth. But Nihad did not allow the numb side of his body to come in the way of life. Since May, the Nepean Sea Road resident has been training hard so that he can participate in the marathon. His source of inspiration was a friend who has been running for 10 years.

“I make it a point to run every week. I sometimes have to give up running as my legs start hurting. But I train everyday in the gym,” said Nihad, who is doing multimedia designing. Nihad, his friends said, does everything for joy.

“Most runners start, set up a target and then keep counting how much more there is to finish. But Nihad starts running, enjoys it and runs till he cannot go any further,” said Rustom Warden, Nihad’s friend and trainer. “He started enjoying his runs so much that he has started running instead of taking any mode of transport in the city,” he added.

Nihad plans to finish the Half Marathon and everybody close to him has been supportive. “Even though I have not been able to run 21km till now, I know I can do it. I have run from Worli Seaface to NCPA and I should be able to cover the sea link as well. But I am a wee bit nervous as it is my first time,” said Nihad, whose trainers will accompany him in the run on Sunday.

Source: TNN