Somnath Malo remembers his encounter with Vajpayee

The athlete, who recently joined a school as a non-teaching staff said Vajpayee had advised him to practice well and not to hesitate if any help was required.

Although 16 years have

gone by, differently-abled athlete Somnath Malo still fondly

remembers the evening he had dinner with the former prime minister

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died on Thursday.

Malo, who hails from Nadia district of West Bengal,

was a member of the Indian contingent that won 22 medals -

three gold, nine silver, and 10 bronze - in the 2002 FESPIC

Games in Busan, South Korea. He had won one gold in the high jump.

Vajpayee had invited the victorious Indian team to

dinner at his residence.

"He called me to sit beside him. Then, he asked me

where did I stay and how my leg got defunct. I vividly

remember his smiling face as he had dinner with us," Malo

said, reminiscing that evening.

The team was invited to Delhi about 20 days after its

return from Busan. The Ministry of Sports had arranged a

felicitation ceremony, following which the team members were

taken to Vajpayee's residence for dinner.

"At that time, I was unable to speak Hindi. Vajpayee

ji realized it and was smiling, patting my back. He was such a

simple man that I did not feel I was sitting beside the prime

minister and talking to him," said Malo, who was all of 20

back then and the youngest in the team.

The athlete, who recently joined a school as a

non-teaching staff said Vajpayee had advised him to practice

well and not to hesitate if any help was required.

The former prime minister died at the AIIMS hospital

in Delhi on August 16 at the age of 93, following a prolonged

illness.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)