THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The numbness which Sidhartha Babu felt on his bleeding legs on a chilly morning nine years back had an unusual strength. An energy so stimulative that it turned a paraplegic young man into a professional shooter. The car that sped out of the mist had crushed first his bike, then his spine and later his dreams. But something remained intact; his will, which was more than enough to drive Sidhartha to glories in shooting at the national and state levels.Now this gold medallist in the National Shooting Championship is just inches closer from representing his country at the International Paralympic Shooting World Cup to be held in Australia in August. This gutsy youngster is now looking for a few sponsors who could make sure that he has his own guns and cartridges as he aims at his target at the world cup. Till now he has shot down glories with the support of a shooting club in Thodupuzha. "But this event is really big. You need to get tuned to a gun while preparing for an international event. I am not sure if I will get to fire with the same gun which I had used for training. That is why I would like to have some sponsors,’’ says Sidhartha, who specialises in 50 m rifle and air rifle category.The world cup is also crucial for him since he needs to amass maximum points in two world cups which would qualify him for the Paralympics in 2012. Sidhartha, who lost his dearest companion, his mother Kausalya, a month ago, is resolved that he does not want to bother anyone, even his caring sister. "Shooting was my choice. Even my mother never liked it. Now this is my world and I must build my life on it,’’ says Sidhartha, a fourth semester MCA student at College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram. Resolve, it seems, is something that comes naturally to him. While being carried on an auto to hospital with a fractured spine, this paramedical graduate did not feel the touch on his legs and he knew that he would never walk again. But he had decided not to shed a drop of tear. Even when his mother rushed to him, he simply said, "I think I am paralysed.’’In the days that followed, his mother lapped up the agony, anger and frustration of a young man who had been suddenly plucked off a life full of movement. The mother perfectly understood what could come out of a bed-ridden son who had been a karate champion, shooter and a kickboxer. He knows that his decision to stay alone could be a mishit. "If I don’t get a sponsorship, maybe I will have to shell out money from other sources. That could even make my future uncertain. But this is how I want to prove myself,’’ says Sidhartha, who even swam recently, after nine years, in the Maldives.This has been his philosophy of life. While doing his BCA at Mar Ivanios College, he would get to the steps, dragging on his walkers not hoping for someone to help him ascend the stairs. But every time, there was someone to stretch out a hand. He believes that something similar will happen now that he has dared to take the step himself.
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