KOZHIKODE: One could have been forgiven for expecting her to be busy with the guest list but on the eve of Central Sports Minister Ajay Maken’s visit to her school, P T Usha was to be found on the track, egging on her students, whistle and stopwatch in hand.Indeed it is this outright refusal to be distracted that earned Usha much fame and success. And now through her Usha School of Athletics, she is imbibing these characteristics in the next generation of female athletes. The school, set in isolated Kinalur, 30km away from Kozhikode, provides the perfect setting to do so, explains her husband V Srinivasan.“Here these athletes cannot get distracted as there is literally nothing to distract them. The city is hours away and their life revolves around their hostel and the track,” he says.Leading by example is Usha who travels all the way from her home in Payyoli, an hour away, every single day and still manages to reach the school in the time to whistle-off the 6am practice.She warms up with her students every day despite damaging her knee ligaments a few months back and, in a measure of how much her life is intertwined with that of her students, says that she will ‘get it operated as soon as Tintu’s Olympics is over,’ referring to her star pupil Tintu Luka.Maken’s visit, and with it the Rs 5-crore synthetic track will be a new landmark in the school’s short history with previous contributions by Sobha Group chairman PNC Menon and Infosys honcho Mohandas Pai but the authorities here are not willing to let their celebrity patrons overshadow the lesser known ones.“When one looks at our brochure, they see the names of Mohandas Pai and PNC Menon as our benefactors. But we always keep in mind the commoners in Koyilandy, who dug deep into their empty pockets to sponsor a glass of milk for the athletes when we were starting out.“It is not just record breaking athletes we are trying to craft here but a philosophy that will be utilised by others to sustain success long after we are all gone,” says school secretary R A Ajanachandran.And it is this philosophy that ensures that Usha and her pupils will be out on the track hours before Maken arrives and then again as soon as he leaves. “Never interrupt a practice session for anybody was what I was taught. I am not about to change my beliefs now,” says Usha.
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