This Hidma's bow & arrow shoots at straw targets

Month-Long Bastar Olympics Conclude Today
Month-Long Bastar Olympics Conclude Today
RAIPUR: Miles away from the hostile forests where Maoist commander Madvi Hidma once ruled with a gun before falling to police bullets recently, another Hidma is getting ready to take aim. But, not at security forces. "I am Hidma, but not that Hidma. I am Muchaki Hidma from Sukma district. I surrendered this year... Now I will aim at my target through archery," he says. Muchaki Hidma points at a straw target, preparing himself for Saturday, the concluding day of Chhattisgarh's Bastar Olympics in Jagdalpur, where Union home minister Amit Shah will be watching. Practising at Indira Priyadarshini Stadium on Friday, Muchaki Hidma, who is in his early 30s, says he now realises "how freedom feels" - not having to camouflage, hide behind trees or chase human targets with guns.
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Hidma is part of a team called 'Nuvabaat' - "new path". The team is made up of former Maoists and victims of insurgency, who have either surrendered or lost limbs and loved ones to violence. "The moment I say 'Hidma', people look scared. So I have to clarify," he says. Over 700 surrendered Maoists and victims of their violence are expected to take the field on Saturday across disciplines - athletics, kabaddi, kho-kho, archery and traditional games. Hidma says he grew up in a large family where farming was never enough to provide for them. "We could not expand the farming land due to the forest around. Our family was big and we had meagre resources. When the Naxals came and said, 'Come with us', I went. They gave me a gun. At first it even felt exciting," he says. The excitement ended when the fighting intensified. "When the firing started, it made me introspect - how would I ever get out of this?" Bastar Olympics is a month-long sports carnival that covers seven Maoist-affected districts of Chhattisgarh's Bastar division: Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Sukma and Bastar. Local boys and girls also participate in village-level, block-level and finally divisional-level contests. This year, around 3,500 finalists have reached Jagdalpur. Total registrations have crossed 3.9 lakh, including around 2.3 lakh women - a more than two-fold jump from last year's participation.
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