Gulmarg, Feb. 24 -- It was a quiet triumph at the finish line, a moment of reverence.
Kajal Kumari Rai did not raise her arms immediately. She slowed, her skis whispering over Gulmarg's powdery snow, her breath visible in the mountain air. For a moment, she simply stood there, eyes searching somewhere far beyond the white expanse, somewhere beyond the cheering officials, beyond the medals, beyond the moment. Somewhere, perhaps, where her father still lives.
Then the realisation set in. Another gold medal. Her second in as many days. And suddenly, the grief, the promise, the year-long burden Kajal had carried alone, all found its answer in gold.
Just five days before the Khelo India Winter Games in 2025, Kajal's world had collapsed. Her f...