People die because they lose the will to survive

“People  die because they lose the will to survive

People don’t die because of injury, they die because they lose the will to survive." This is what being in the Indian Navy had taught Commander Abhilash Tomy who on 21 September last year suffered multiple spinal fractures after rough seas and powerful winds pummeled his yacht Thuriya.

Now back on his feet, Tomy said he was planning to get back to compete in the same Golden Globe Race in 2022, the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. If his sponsors let him have his way, he plans to name his new boast “Unfinished Business," Tomy said – a reference to the race he had been unable to complete last year.

Tomy, the only Asian to compete in the 2018 edition of the Golden Globe Race, seen as the most challenging endurance race on the planet, also added that the three days that he survived after his debilitating back injury were much easier than even one day in the Naval Academy in Goa – a remark that drew laughter from the audience at the 2019 Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi. The annual two day event was kicked off Friday with a speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rajkumar Dadhich

JANA