From shooting mangoes with stones to making her very first bow and arrow from bamboo, Deepika Kumari, the now 28 year old professional archer. She went from practising archery by aiming at mangoes to representing her nation at the international level, not to mention the Arjuna Award and Padma Shree honouree.
Deepika Life
Deepika, who hails from Ratu Chatti, a village 15km away from Ranchi, in Jharkhand, has today reached what could be best described as the pinnacle of her career where only a selected few could ever make it during their lifetime and she being just one among them. Born on June 13, 1994, Deepika Kumari came from a village and that too, where girls were looked down upon, but the fact did not stop her from making her mark in the world. Being a less-than-privileged girl meant for someone like her to marry and settle for an ordinary life just like everyone else in her village. Regardless, she saw past the societal norms and refused to let anything get in the way of her dreams.
Her Childhood
Throughout her childhood, Deepika had seen both her parents struggling to make ends meet. Her mother, Geeta Mahato, served as a nurse in a local hospital while her father, Shivnarayan Mahato, was an autorickshaw driver, but their meagre income wasn’t enough to meet everyone’s need; they lived with Deepika’s uncle and aunt and naturally, family fight was too common a scene, the subject generally being money. For a child like Deepika, this was all too much to bear any longer; she couldn’t help but desperately want to make lives better for her parents and contribute to their earning. Little did she know, the struggle she was in was developing the strength she will be needing for her future.
Transformation in her Life
In her growing years, Deepika had little to no interest in archery, and she definitely didn’t figure it out back then that her training for archery started the moment she first began shooting those mangoes down as a child. More often than not, mangoes were all she had to satisfy her hunger since her parents had done their best, yet it was becoming more and more difficult keeping pace with the sky-high prices of everyday items.
Often enough, they couldn’t afford to have three meals a day. She knew not what would bring her family out of their suffering. Deepika’s mother harboured big dreams for her, and one fear always seemed to haunt her, that she would end up living the same life as her. Eventually, her prayers were answered and Deepika discovered her niche in archery, slowly but surely.
Her Passion
Before long Deepika figured out exactly what change was long needed; watching her cousin Vidya Kumari, a student of the Tata Archery Academy, practice archery inspired Deepika to join the academy too. Vidya was her well-wisher who encouraged her to try her hands at the sport. Coming from a low socio-economic background, Deepika did not have the finance to support her training in addition to the fact that the academy was just so distant from the village her initial life was confined in.
She was definitely in dire need of proper food and shelter, which were just two amongst the many other facilities a training academy would provide should she prove herself to be a qualified archer. Thus, she managed to join another academy nearby town–the Arjun Munda’s Academy in Kharsawan. Since buying archery equipment was beyond reach for her, she made her very first bow and arrow using bamboo for training. By and by, she was starting to develop the skills required for the sport.
Her Background
Despite coming from a rural area where it was not uncommon for villagers to discourage girls from participating in anything extracurricular and getting out of the village ‘bubble’, Deepika’s mother backed her up at the time when no one else did. Her father, however, did not see much potential in her and wasn’t much of an enthusiast of his daughter’s non-conformist approach.
Regardless, Deepika carried on the spirit of true sportsmanship. Any time she was told her performance wasn’t good enough, Deepika became all the more determined to accept the challenge and endure the struggle with integrity and self-discipline. Over time, her hard work and efforts resulted in even bigger rewards for her when she earned her well-deserved position in her dream academy–the Tata Archery Academy–her ‘second home’, where she spent her time mastering archery with proper equipments for the first time ever, preparing herself to face the world.
Achievements
Kumari made her first achievement by winning the Cadet World Championship in the year 2009 at the young age of 15. It was in the same year that she bagged the medal of 11th Youth World Archery Championship held in the USA. The following year, the young archer went on to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Olympic Games and in 2012, she bettered her performance by winning two gold medals. The then 18-year-old Deepika earned the rank of 1 in archery in the world.
Apart from winning the gold medal in Recurve’s Women’s Individual, she represented India in the Tokyo Olympics in the year 2020, where she made it to the quarter finals. The young champion also won three gold medals at the Archery World Cup in Paris in 2021. Currently, she holds the world rank 2 in archery. Deepika’s story was really uplifting, especially for girls in rural India and everywhere else. Consequently, a short documentary was filmed based on her journey.
The documentary titled ‘Ladies First’ was awarded at the London Independent Film Festival. What not many people know is that Deepika was offered a film role but her determination to change her life is revealed when she had the offer turned down owing to her belief that now she was closer than ever to realising her dreams, it was important that she remained focused and disciplined.
Her Life Now
Deepika Kumari now lives a life no one expected her to live as she was initially seen as another one of those who lack the courage to step outside of their comfort zone but Deepika proved otherwise by rising above all doubts and critics. Star archer Deepika married the archer Atanu Das and is now representing India in archery.
Moreover, the archer’s father even today continues doing the same occupation he was before the rise of the champion: ride his autorickshaw. Everyone in his family encourages him to do so because now they all believe anyone can do anything so long as they love and are passionate about it.
Final Word
At times, it seemed as though Deepika had all the cards stacked against her, but she wrote her own destiny. It was Deepika’s persistent practice and unflagging interest in archery that finally paid off in her becoming one of the best archers in the world.
A strong and inspiring personality she has always been, Deepika sets out an instance for the youth, in particular, the kind who have no exposure to the outside world, or lack resources in one way or another. To sum up, her inspiring story has enabled girls in Jharkhand to move towards their goal, considering the fact that over the recent years quite a decent number of girls from villages have shown active participation in sports.
Also, it is leaders like Deepika who actually give rise to a new era of champions and morph planet Earth into a better, lively place for all where everyone gets the freedom they deserve and work together for the better future of all mankind.
By: Srishti Suman Gupta
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