Ramgarh: A widowed mother’s barefoot sprint in a saree for a home guard job has touched the hearts of thousands of people across the country.
The race was not the real thing, but a trial for the physicals to be held for the recruitment of home guards in Ramgarh, Jharkhand later this month.
Everyone in the stadium clapped and whooped as soon as a woman tucked her blue saree at the waist, removed her slippers and ran barefoot to finish a 1,600-metre run.
A video, showing her passing other candidates, clad in tracksuits and sneakers, one by one, has now gone viral.
The woman has been identified as Kavita Kumari, a widow from the Soso village in Ramgarh. Now a daily wage labourer, a home guard job could spell a change in fortunes, for her.
Kavita starts her day with an early-morning practice run on uneven ground near her village.
On October 4, she travelled to Sidhu Kanhu Stadium for a free trial conducted by an academy run by athletes, where candidates could get a sense of the ground and assess their fitness in conditions closer to those they would face in the recruitment test. The same stadium is scheduled to host the physical test for the home guard recruitment from October 24 to November 5, as reported by The Indian Express.
She showed up in a saree and chappals.
“I was very nervous as soon as I reached the stadium. People were looking at me in a saree, and I was looking at them in tracksuits with bags, bottles and shoes on their feet. This just made me uncomfortable, but I took part in the run,” she said.
To pass the running test in the female category, a candidate has to run 1,600 metres in 10 minutes. Kavita said she completed it within eight minutes, earning an ‘Excellent’ grade with full marks.
“Till people applauded me, I had no idea about what I had done. I just removed my chappal and started running barefoot. While I was running, I had no thoughts other than the home guard job. Someone took my video and posted it on social media… I hope I will run with the same energy and confidence on the physical exam day,” she said.
Ankit Singh, who runs Ankit Runner Academy in Ramgarh had organised the October 4 trial. He said its purpose was not merely to conduct a practice run but to familiarise candidates with the stadium. The ground, he said, has a slope on one side, with portions that are sandy, gravelly and uneven.
“Candidates need to know how the ground behaves before the actual physical test. That is why many of them come from 15 to 20 kilometres away to practice here. That day, around 1,900 candidates took part, including nearly 1,100 women,” he said.
The notification for the Jharkhand home guard recruitment was issued in April this year, with 284 vacancies in Ramgarh district against more than 16,000 applications. The first phase of the recruitment includes a physical test comprising a 1,600-metre run, long jump, high jump and shot put, following which the written examination will be conducted.
The recruitment also reserves 50 per cent of the overall posts for women, with five per cent reserved for widows.
Kavita said she got married in 2009 while she was a minor. Now around 30, she lost her husband, Deepak Kumar Mahato, three years ago. Deepak was a migrant worker in Gujarat after working in Mumbai, she said.
“During Covid, he was unwell, and he returned home. He continuously fell sick and died in 2023. I had to look after my in-laws, maintain the home and children and run the home financially,” she said.
Six months after Deepak’s death, the family also lost his younger brother. “My sister-in-law left home after her husband’s death,” Kavita said.
She told The Indian Express that the family has a debt of around Rs 6 lakh after spending a substantial amount on treatment.
She initially worked as a security guard at private offices in Ramgarh town but left the job as her shifts ended late and she could not find transport back to her village.
Kavita now works as a labourer, mostly at a brick kiln, to repay the debt and support her two children, who study at a private school in Ramgarh.
She relied on YouTube videos to prepare for the physical test. “I ask my children to open YouTube and play the videos for me, as I hardly know how to use it. I watch the videos and prepare for the exam. I do not have a single paisa to spend on dresses, shoes or training, so I have to prepare on my own,” she said.
After the video went viral, several people and politicians reached out to support her. Dumri MLA Jairam Kumar Mahato spoke to Kavita over the phone and sent her a tracksuit and running shoes.
