Wonder kid Budhia Singh said he would never hit the tracks again as he unfurled the tricolour in the Atsalia Sahi slum where he has been living
BHUBANESWAR: Wonder kid Budhia Singh on Wednesday said he would never hit the tracks again as he unfurled the tricolour in the Atsalia Sahi slum where he has been living after being separated from his trainer Biranchi Das.
The seven-year-old boy was the major attraction at the city's biggest slum after shifting there with his mother Sukanti Singh and three sisters.
"It's a busy day for me as many people invited me to their functions," Budhia, who has also stopped going to school said.
Budhia, who rose to fame by running 65 km at a stretch from Puri to Bhubaneswar on May 2, 2006, unfurled the tricolour to the strains of the national anthem at an event
organised by the Nirman Sramik Samiti, a body of construction workers.
"I don't understand what the national anthem means. I am not going to school now," he said, adding he was told that India got freedom on this day in 1947.
Budhia, who was admitted to the city's posh Buxi Jagabandhu english medium school close to the state Judo Association's office, has not attended classes since he was
separated from Das on July 27.
The boy received an ice-cream from the organisers along with other slum children and appeared relaxed. "I am a free bird in the slum. There is no one to guide me or order me to undertake running practice every morning," he said.
But his mother said she wanted a new trainer for Budhia. After spending over two years with at least five attendants under the guidance of Das in his service at the state judo hall here, Budhia has been adjusting to his new life.
Budhia recalled his last journey by air from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata on July 16, when he was taken to perform 'Chhera Pahanra' at a car festival in the West Bengal capital.
The boy, who usually started his day at five am with exercise and a walk of 10 km followed by an oil massage, today woke up at about seven am. He is apparently coping well with life in the slum where he was born seven years ago.
Budia lived with his sisters and mother at Goutam Nagar slum by the side of railway tracks before Das took him under his wing.
His mother's hut in Goutam Nagar was demolished recently.
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