Re. The indian child who ran 40 Miles?

Question

Can anyone settle an argument about the above subject? Is there any people from India on this site?
What my argument is. Do you nice people remember the documentary on UK TV about a 4 year old Indian child who ran 40 miles without food or water then collapsed? Any Indian people living in India at present , know about this child?
I have met a friend from India via the web, now as far as we brits know the child was a 4 year old boy, but for some reason, my friend in India swears blind it was a little girl. I told him repeatedly that even Indian doctors , Indian people, Indian military doctor, Indian news people, etc, all referred to the child as a 4 year old boy, even using the words on TV, this little boy..........
So why on earth does my friend from Chennia in southern India still swear blind it is a little girl.
Any of you people here that live in India, what do you know about it? is the Indian media quoting this child as a little girl, or was there 2 children.???

Answer 1

Here is a snippet from India:

BHUBANESWAR, India -- Cheered by thousands, a 4-year-old boy dubbed "India's Forrest Gump" ran 40 miles to enter the country's foremost record book.

"I loved running today. I can run as much as I want," Budhia Singh told reporters Tuesday after the run. Then he sucked his thumb."

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The Indian Watchdog authorities are reported to be keeping an eye on him, as this fatherless boy is being spurred to greater and greater things.

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Here are the details of the documentary which you saw:
“I love to run,” squeaks four-year-old Budhia Singh as his coach squashes him into a variety of muscle-stretching yoga positions. It’s 4am, a typical blazing, misty dawn in Orissa, and Budhia is preparing to run a half-marathon for the fifth time in seven weeks. Budhia is no ordinary four-year-old. Since the age of three he has been running twenty miles a day, and he is revered as a demi-god in his town. But is Budhia’s a story of exceptional talent or a darker tale of child exploitation?

Budhia was brought up by the railway tracks in Orissa; over a third the population of Orissa live in slums and the state has the highest child mortality rate in India. His mother earned £3 a month as a maid and her husband was an alcoholic. Her children were starving so she made the heartbreaking decision to sell Budhia to a peddlar, hoping he would go to a better home. He didn’t; he was beaten regularly by the peddlar. He was naked and wounded when salvation came in the form of Biranchi Das, a local Judo instructor who had built his own school, helping to pull children out of obscurity into sporting success. Biranchi and his wife, Gita, adopted Budhia, changing his life beyond recognition.

One day, Biranchi caught Budhia swearing at one of his instructors and as a punishment, commanded him to run around a track. Biranchi went out and forgot about the boy; he returned home six hours later and was distressed to see him still running. “This kid is beyond imagination and beyond science,” Biranchi says of his protégé, who he began grooming for Olympic stardom.

Biranchi coaxes the child into running almost twenty miles each day in the intense Indian heat. One of the most controversial aspects of his “sports scientific” training regime is that he doesn’t allow Budhia to drink any water while running. He believes it would weaken him, but Biranchi has no formal qualification in athletic training. Is Budhia being pushed too hard? Will his tiny body pay the price?

We follow Budhia as he travels to his first competitive event, a half-marathon in Delhi. Biranchi and Gita ensure that the 32-hour train journey is no excuse for Budhia to relax; he must train as usual, running up and down the narrow walkway. A media storm greets him in Delhi – it has emerged that, due to race regulations, Budhia may only run the lesser 6km race. After the race, Tim Hutchins, coordinator of the London Marathon, remarks that a four-year-old’s bone growth is not in any way ready for such gruelling athletic performances. “It’s such an absurd issue that it shouldn’t even be discussed,” he seethes. Orissa’s child welfare minister begins to take an interest, refuting Biranchi’s claim that he has Budhia’s best interests at heart.

Biranchi perseveres. He wants Budhia to make history, so his next plan is for the boy to run 70km – a marathon and a half – earning himself a place in the Limca Book of Records. “Every human craves honour and recognition,” he reasons. “He’s come a long way from obscurity…he needs to have official recognition.” Biranchi dismisses fears over the boy’s health, saying reverently, “If Budhia dies while running he’ll be a martyr. Orissa needs martyrs.” So Budhia trots off obediently in the 80° Puri heat flanked hundreds of followers, police escorts and medical backup. From his bicycle, Biranchi dangles a water flask in front of Budhia whenever he slows, but throughout his six-hour run he must not drink.

As Budhia breaks through his first, 32km wall of pain, he’s running through a political battleground. “I have not committed any crime by spotting Budhia’s talent and helping him run long distances,” insists Biranchi. “I am not putting any pressure on him. He is running on his own. I am ready to face those who are questioning my work.” Is Budhia, as doctors have claimed, “undernourished, anaemic and under cardiological stress”? What would the boy’s fate have been without Biranchi’s judo academy, the food and education he provides? Will Budhia’s bandy little legs carry him the whole 70km into the record – and what will be his fate if he fails?

Budhia had planned to run 43 miles, but doctors stopped him after 40 miles when he showed signs of extreme exhaustion. He had, in fact, collapsed as the result of hypoglyaemia. His coach, Biranchi Das, said he completed the distance in seven hours and two minutes without a break, a record for someone so young.

Officials of Limca Book of Records, India's best-known record book, witnessed the run and said it would be included in its 2007 edition, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Budhia's father has died and his mother, unable to support him, was about to sell him to another villager two years ago when he was rescued by the coach.

The coach had earlier seen Budhia's talent when the boy accidentally entered a sports ground without permission. He ran laps as punishment. When the coach returned five hours later, the boy was still running.

Budhia has gained swift popularity in India. He is being likened by the Indian media to Forrest Gump, the fictional book and movie character who is ridiculed by peers for using leg braces, but overcomes his disability when he discovers that he can "run like the wind blows."

Answer 2

confident - it rather have been given me thinking. on the single hand he had a plenty greater advantageous high quality of existence oftentimes along with his new accompanied family contributors (ordinary food, guard etc) - he became a highway toddler in the previous - yet his accompanied father's approach became rather fairly frightening - the youngster had convulsions on the checklist breaking run, and in the previous he suggested there became no longer something incorrect with him, and it does no longer rely if he died in the process the checklist breaking attempt as he had tried plenty in the process his youthful existence - this might't be a worrying approach. there became little doubt that the youngster became a source of the two earnings and credibility to the accompanied father in his community. What bothered me maximum became seeing him run in 40 degree warmth and not being allowed to deal with any water in any respect. advertising that style of medieval theory does not help anybody. i became thrilled to work out the government get entangled find out the youngster's welfare (he already had joint injury and intense blood tension), and that i purely desire that they shop a watchful eye over him - i became left feeling fairly uncomfortable approximately what the destiny held for this lively and gifted youthful chap.

Answer 3

Dont believe your freind I heard about it to, and remember it as being a boy.

Answer 4

I heard it was a boy too, not unless there was a boy and a girl.

Answer 5

i don't know but that was some severe abuse poor lad/ladette

Answer 6

no but i want to know more e-mail me [e-mail]

Answer 7

Because they don't have TV and didn't see it.
It's a boy..............or is it...........?????????