– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Yeah. That's me.

Uh that is Pangong Tso Lake, a frozen

Pangong Tso Lake

uh at 4,500 m altitude in India.

And this is the story about an ice

skater from India to the world and back.

I was born in Gujarat, Ahmedabad.

Uh and was born in a family of athletes,

sports persons.

I'm a third generation athlete

who wanted to go and, you know,

put India on the world map for a sport.

My father and my grand and my mother and

all of them said that the one thing

which people cannot take away from you

is your achievements of of um sports,

you know.

Uh so, yeah, that's my dad. Uh he was a

national champion for India, and my aunt

uh used to be also a national champion

for 10 years for roller skating. Uh and

my grandfather used to play hockey with

Major Dhyan Chand Ji. So, I think over

the years I grew up in a household with

a lot of sport sports memorabilia in the

house. Uh so, it was obvious that I was

going to pursue sports.

Uh at some point of time I picked up

roller skating. Uh went on to win the

national gold, uh got selected in the

Indian team, got a Sardar Patel Award of

Excellence from the Gujarat state.

But all of that wasn't enough.

Uh in 2008, I packed my bags and moved

to Europe to pursue the impossible dream

of becoming an ice skater at the Winter

Olympics for India.

Now,

one of my friends in the Netherlands, he

said he told me, "Vishwaraj,

you need to be slightly mad to pursue

this because culturally

in your language, there's only one word

for ice and snow, baraf."

So, how do you come up with this? I was

like, "Yeah, maybe I'm a little fanatic.

I don't know, but the motivation

the motivation and the leap to do

something which was never done before

was always there. And yeah, so we began.

I went from India to the Netherlands and

back to the Himalayas because that was

where I found myself again. Over a

period of time, over a period of 18

years, everything which you could have

imagined could have gone wrong in this

journey has gone wrong twice. But still

standing,

still here. Netherlands where is I long

track speed skating to the Netherlands

is like cricket to India. So, that was

an obvious choice. So that, you know,

when you go there, people would

understand what you want to do, how you

want It's like somebody wanting to come

and play cricket in India.

I met a very interesting coach. He's

been with me for the last 18 years

helping me, guiding me through this

challenging

and one of the most difficult sports out

there. His name is Wim Nieuwenhuizen.

Together, we've seen the world and we've

done a lot of crazy things.

Every day in an athlete's life, in an

elite athlete's life, feels impossible

because it is challenging.

But the curiosity

the curio You need your You need to have

your curiosity

which will constantly keep you going.

Answer enough questions, you will get

somewhere. But over a period of time,

obviously it gets taxing on your body.

I've broken most of my bones in my body,

I had a concussion a couple of times,

but the idea was there's no giving up

and there's no going back.

Wim always said,

"You know, if you're coming all the way

from India to to my sport, I'm crazy

enough to coach you. And we began.

Over a period of 18 years, I've

represented India for 300 races, over 70

national records, and eight

international medals.

Uh

and obviously I missed out on the Winter

Olympics.

That was okay. It was a tough pill to

tough pill to swallow, but that is life.

But I learned a lot,

uh learned how not to make how not to do

something at least, because we've tried

everything which out there.

So eventually at some point I found

myself figuring out what to do next.

And I ended up in the Himalayas again.

To find myself, to understand what is

next,

uh how to do this.

And then I ended up ice skating on this

big frozen piece of land. Cuz there was

nobody. It was minus 30, minus 40 at

times. And I made the world's highest 5

km in India. Which was another

fascinating situation to be in.

So now you might wonder what happens

next.

Now I'm mentoring uh the next generation

of athletes

to go

to their next level. And I will make

sure that they're never told it's not

enough.

So in my mentorship program recently,

finally we won some medals at the

nationals. Uh the kids are here. So

which is very nice to hear know.

So I think the system is working and if

you have motivation, uh anything is

possible. You answer enough questions,

sky is the limit. And and how can uh sky

be the limit if there are footsteps on

the moon, you know? So you need to keep

on pushing yourself and that's what

happened. And somehow here I am at IIT,

a college dropout, talking about my

journey. So well, here we go and here we

stand.

Thank you.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
altitude /ˈæltɪtjuːd/ B2	noun - the height of an object or point in relation to sea level or ground level
achievements /əˈtʃiːvmənts/ B1	noun - a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage, or skill
memorabilia /ˌmemərəˈbɪliə/ C1	noun - objects kept or collected because of their historical interest
pursue /pəˈsjuː/ B2	verb - follow or engage in (a course of activity)
fanatic /fəˈnætɪk/ C1	adjective - filled with excessive and single-minded zeal
motivation /ˌməʊtɪˈveɪʃn/ B1	noun - the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way
challenging /ˈtʃælɪndʒɪŋ/ B2	adjective - testing one's abilities; demanding
elite /eɪˈliːt/ B2	adjective - denoting a group or class of people seen as superior
curiosity /ˌkjʊəriˈɒsəti/ B2	noun - a strong desire to know or learn something
taxing /ˈtæksɪŋ/ C1	adjective - physically or mentally demanding
concussion /kənˈkʌʃn/ C1	noun - temporary unconsciousness or confusion caused by a blow to the head
represented /ˌreprɪˈzentɪd/ B2	verb - to stand for or be an agent for someone else
fascinating /ˈfæsɪneɪtɪŋ/ B1	adjective - extremely interesting
mentoring /ˈmentərɪŋ/ B2	verb - to advise or train someone
dropout /ˈdrɒpaʊt/ B2	noun - a person who has abandoned a course of study

Key Grammar Structures

• I'm a third generation athlete who wanted to go and, you know, put India on the world map for a sport.

  ➔ Relative Clause (Defining)

  ➔ The clause 'who wanted to go...' modifies the noun phrase 'third generation athlete'.

• The one thing which people cannot take away from you is your achievements of sports.

  ➔ Relative Clause (Defining) with 'which'

  ➔ The word 'which' introduces the clause, replacing 'the one thing' as the object.

• I packed my bags and moved to Europe to pursue the impossible dream of becoming an ice skater.

  ➔ Infinitive of Purpose

  ➔ To + verb ('to pursue') is used here to explain the reason for moving.

• Everything which you could have imagined could have gone wrong in this journey has gone wrong twice.

  ➔ Modal Perfect ('could have' + past participle)

  ➔ Describes a possibility or event in the past that didn't happen, or speculation about the past.

• Wim always said, 'You know, if you're coming all the way from India to my sport, I'm crazy enough to coach you.'

  ➔ First Conditional

  ➔ Used to express a real possibility: 'If' + Present Continuous, 'be' + adjective + infinitive.

• I've broken most of my bones in my body, I had a concussion a couple of times.

  ➔ Present Perfect vs. Past Simple

  ➔ Present perfect ('I've broken') for life experience, Past simple ('I had') for a specific repeated action.

• How can sky be the limit if there are footsteps on the moon?

  ➔ First Conditional with Rhetorical Question

  ➔ Uses 'if' + present tense to pose a challenging, thought-provoking question.

• I will make sure that they're never told it's not enough.

  ➔ Passive Voice with 'make sure'

  ➔ 'They are never told' is passive; the subject is the receiver of the action.