Chitradurga city is famous for its 15th-century stone fortress. Located in the central part of the Indian state of Karnataka, this city also has a reference in the epic Mahabharata.
Sudha was born in an agrarian family living in a village near to this city. She was the middle daughter in the family of three sisters.
She liked to run fast and went on to represent her district Chitradurga as a sprinter. But there was no guidance available to further her interest. Her economic condition also didn’t support to explore any opportunities apart from continuing studies in a government school.
After completing her intermediate studies, she went for Electronics and Communication engineering.
During 2nd semester, everyone was supposed to wear a khaki apron in the mechanical workshop lab. But she couldn’t afford to buy an apron. She requested one of her seniors for help.
For the next 6 months she used the apron that was meant for a 6 feet tall guy. That was clearly a misfit, but she didn’t mind.
She solely focused on studies and took no further part in any of the sports during her entire education.
After passing out from college in 1997, she didn’t find any immediate job. One of her relatives was living in Bangalore. She came to stay with the family with the intention to find a job. She tried, but there weren’t many opportunities. After a few months, she started working as a data entry operator. Salary was a meager ₹ 2000, but she was happy.
She moved to a paying guest (PG) accommodation after getting the job. There were only three toilets for 40 occupants. Her office bus used to come by 6.30 am for which she had to get ready by 6 am. But she had to wake up by 2.30 am to find her turn to use the toilet so that she could get ready before 6.
Back in 1999, Bangalore weather used to be very different from today. It used to be cold throughout the year and from Nov-Feb it used to be a super chilled atmosphere. There was no hot water provision in the toilets in her PG and one had to use cold water for all purposes.
Whole of Sunday used to go waiting for one’s turn to wash clothes. Most of her salary went towards the accommodation. A better PG demanded more rent which stretched beyond her existing salary.
In 2001, she got a full time job at Sasken with a decent salary. She did pretty well at work and got recognized by her organization.
In 2006, she joined Qualcomm, one of the top telecom companies in the world. She started to believe that her fortune would change for the better soon. But life had something else in store for her.
She got married and 8 months later she got separated when she was pregnant. She also got to know about a huge debt of her father due to past borrowings. Her father had no means to pay back the loans.
She stayed focused at work even when her personal life was under huge distress.
For the next five years, she had nothing else to think apart from work, clearing the bank loan and taking care of her son.
She started sending her son to keyboard, swimming, karate and tennis classes. Her son managed to learn karate fairly well and earned the BLUE belt. He also went on to complete 4th grade from Trinity College of London in keyboard.
Those were testing times. Sudha took everything in her stride and moved forward.
Running came to her rescue to deal with those difficulties. She started with short distance runs and gradually moved to longer distances. But she couldn’t go to running events as she had to take care of her son. Her economic conditions also didn’t make the matters any better. But she persevered through those difficulties.
In 2013, she participated in the Bangalore Marathon for the first time. And over the last 10 years she has been a regular runner at this iconic event. In Oct 2023, NEB Sports, the organizer of Bangalore Marathon felicitated her for continuous 10 years of participation at this running event.
She also participated in the Hyderabad Marathon (known as one of the toughest marathons in India), Kaveri Trail Marathon and iconic Tata Mumbai Marathon.
This year she also ran in the Ladakh Marathon, the highest marathon in the world, held at a height of 11,500 to 17,618 feet.
During her running journey spanning 10 years, she has secured top 3 positions in various events.
She owes her success to her incredible mother who is still the backbone of her life and her son who is currently pursuing MBBS in one of the best Medical colleges in India. He dreams to become one of the best doctors of India and serve the people of our country.
Needless to say that Running teaches grit, determination, passion and perseverance, and Sudha is a perfect example who lives by the spirit of this beautiful sport.
