The moment Nepali athletics created a new history in the 13th South Asian Games (SAG) held in 2019 is fresh for many. The player who makes history is Santoshi Shrestha. She won a gold medal in the 10,000 meter race. Nepalis all over the world 'celebrated' that happy moment.

It is not known who hugged and congratulated him on the field after the victory. But she can't forget one fair gesture. "That was my mother's Ankmaal," Santoshi thinks now when she remembers, "only a mother can love so deeply." 

Santoshi was remembering, the story of the struggle of her mother's hand that drew the path to get there rather than the hand that handed over the gold medal. On that day, Santoshi was running fast in the field. Mother Lakshmi Devi's heart was beating faster than her speed. Every time the daughter went ahead, winning over the others, she was upset. When her daughter was overtaken by others, she was disturbed. Finally, Santoshi won the race by a margin of 'milliseconds', beating everyone else. Only then did Lakshmi Devi breathe a sigh of relief. After reaching home, Lakshmidevi said, "It's so difficult to win, it's like my heart is going out." I won't watch it from now on.'

How many times Santoshi fell in the race, when she came home with an injury, the pain would hurt the mother more than the daughter. Being emotional, she used to say fearfully, 'Isn't it enough to run yet?' However, after reaching the field, she is anxious to hear that her daughter has won. On the day when Santoshi's game is going on, Lakshmidevi goes to Bari. She keeps herself busy till the news arrives. "Otherwise, you are worried about what will happen to your daughter," says Santoshi. Lakshmidevi has her own guess. When there is no news even long after the game is over, it gets cold in the heart. She thinks, "Definitely lost." If she had won, she would have called earlier.' Then she looks at her mobile phone. She goes to the messenger group. When she sees her daughter's photo with the message ring, she is shocked, 'Now, of course, Jiti.' The fields that were supposed to be planted in June remained barren. Planting was going on only in a few places near the river. From the morning of July 17, Lakshmidevi was busy. In the morning, she went to graze the oxen in the field of Jamune, planted the field in the afternoon, and in the evening, carrying a heavy load of corn, was already exhausted. He felt pain before he could even get rid of his tiredness. Santoshi was born that night. After understanding, Santoshi asked her mother, 'What were you doing on the day I was born?' The mother laughed and said,

, 'Well, I forgot.' Laxmidevi added during her recent stay, 'But it started raining the day after she was born. All the people were busy planting paddy. But I couldn't go.'  still feels like telling a folktale, Santoshi talks about her mother's labor pains. Even more telling is the story told by mother to Santoshi when Dai Kedar and Bhai Badri were born. After realizing that she was in pain, Lakshmidevi thought, 'If I have a child, I will not be able to go to get grass.' "Mummy was holding on to the wall and crying. "Luckily, the maternal grandmother was coming through that road," Santoshi feels sad even today while narrating her mother's experience. •

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The first day Santoshi went to school. When returning home, the homework was, 'ABCD...'. She begged her mother to teach her. Laxmidevi, who never went to school, carried the head of Mal to avoid her daughter, but what did Santoshi think? He followed. When nothing happened, mother said, 'I can't.' Santoshi felt that mother knows the world. She said with childish anger, 'Mummy doesn't come this much?' . However, inside Akshar Nachochho's mother, Santoshi finds the vast ocean of knowledge. She says, 'Others hardly do the engineering that mummy does, hardly anyone else knows the chemistry that she mixes.' Santoshi remembers, 'When there was no running water in someone's house, mummy used to devise a trick to bring water to the pipe.'

Lakshmidevi loves work the most. Even after doing housework and farm work, she used to do some ventures to earn her living. She used to grow vegetables by renting other people's fields. It is not new for Santoshi to see her mother busy in the garden from dawn to dusk. Lakshmidevi's cheeks were burning like fire. She kept working by splashing water on her cheeks. At night, the pain was even more unbearable. His cries could be heard far away. 'If he had to go to Kathmandu for treatment, he would cut grass enough for 5 days at once,' Santoshi remembers, 'He had a habit of cutting it himself so that others would not suffer.' It seemed, 'She is the mother.' Lakshmidevi was his second choice. Laxmidevi, who does not get free time by going up and down the village with work, how can she stay at home taking care of her children? When she was playing, crying, hungry or whatever, she was a grandmother, she loved, she cuddled. All three children of Laxmi Devi stayed in Kathmandu to study. Santoshi's father was in the Nepali Army. Even in Kathmandu Dera, my grandmother used to come to visit me most of the time. "Mummy wanted to come too, but she was reluctant to send it to her grandmother," she remembers. Grandma had cancer. The doctor had said that he would not live long. The grandmother spent the last moments of her life with her grandchildren in Dera in Kathmandu. Dai Kedar kept reciting O Henry's 'The Last Leaf' to him as his morale was weak. That story gave energy not only to the grandmother, but also to Santoshi and the brother. Grandma lived 2 years longer than the doctor said. "After he passed away, we started to realize the importance of mummy," says Santoshi.

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After that, Lakshmidevi also started coming to Kathmandu to meet her children. When he came, the Santoshis were full of joy, without even reading or writing, they enjoyed being with their mother. Lakshmidevi used to worry, 'My children don't see me reading, but read and show me.' The day their mother went home, they felt like the sky was falling. After going to school, the body used to be beautiful. And Santoshi used to say to her brother, 'It would have been better if Mami had not come.' Santoshi used to go to stand in line for water at the dera. She saw other mothers in line. She used to say in her mind, 'If only my mummy had been here...' Bhai and Santoshi used to mark the day they came to Kathmandu from home, counting the days until the next holiday. Lakshmidevi also felt this kind of feeling, although she did not express it in front of others. When others sympathized, she used to say, 'We suffered. They had to read it. He also wanted to come to Kathmandu and live with his children. There were glimpses of children. And she used to spend the nights crying in memory of her children.  • •

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Santoshi was 12 years old. A program called 'Gitamata Star' was being organized in the school where he studied. Many competitions including stories, poems, essays were held simultaneously. She participated in all but dance and singing. There was also a running program. Friends provoked Santoshi, 'You are always eating fast. Even if you are carrying a bucket of water, take part in it.' Grandmother used to send the shop to buy things, Santoshi would reach there in one breath. Grandmother used to say, 'My granddaughter is a bird.' She was not stopped by others. She was told to hurry up and take care of her grandmother. When participating in the school competition, he thought, 'I can jump that much here too.' 

But the brother said, "Don't scratch it, sister, it's a shame." You don't even have shoes.' But Santoshi jumped. Kuderai was the first. All the commotion. Most of all, brother. After that, his race reached the national level through schools, towns, cities. After winning the gold medal in Saag in 2019, his speed of digging reached the international level. Since then, Santoshi's steps have not stopped. In the beginning, Lakshmi Devi's daughter used to walk around the village happily telling the news that she had won the race. Later, someone told me, "A daughter is not trampled by a man." There will be problems in the uterus, it will be difficult to have a baby.' After that, lines of worry started to appear on her face. She said to her daughter, 'Don't jump, don't jump.' As she became sick, she could not carry as much weight as before. Santoshi's wish was, 'to bring mother to Kathmandu.' Lakshmidevi, who had been away from her children for so many years, came to Kathmandu in 075. But the younger son flew to America the same year. I was sad. For a long time after coming to Kathmandu, Lakshmidevi's heart was attracted by the farm fields of the village. He found it very difficult to be unemployed. Later a house was built in Kathmandu. Mother gradually began to accustom herself to the house. Santoshi, who had been away from her mother for many years, also started feeling sad. Mother was worried before, now she is calm. At that time, I thought, 'Will my children go on the wrong path?' She stayed away for the bright future of her children. Counting down the days of happiness every evening. It seems that his wish is being fulfilled now. Santoshi is ahead in athletics, brother Kedar is shining on stage and brother Badri is also earning in America. Lakshmidevi thinks, "All the children are walking on the right path." The daughter is running even more. Whom not only the country but the world is watching.'