The recruitment drive that made Kavita Mahato famous around the world ends today, November 5 — and the barefoot runner in a sari has already run her race, win or lose.
Kavita, a 27-year-old widow and mother of two from Soso village in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district, went viral after a video showed her completing a 1,600-metre run barefoot, in a blue sari, during a Home Guard recruitment trial at Sidhu-Kanhu Stadium.
The run that stopped a stadium
Kavita lost her husband, Deepak Kumar Mahato, in 2023 after a prolonged illness, and has worked at a brick kiln and taken labouring jobs to support her two children and elderly in-laws. She arrived at the trial without running shoes or a tracksuit, took off her slippers, tucked her sari tight at her waist and ran.
In the official physical test on October 25, she finished the 1,600 metres in 8 minutes 57 seconds, well inside the 10-minute limit for women, with shoes on after her viral fame brought her a tracksuit and running shoes from Dumri MLA Jairam Kumar Mahato.
One hurdle too many
Then came the high jump. Three attempts, three failures to clear the bar, and Kavita was declared unsuccessful in the physical test. Her block had just 22 posts, only 11 of them for women, among 284 Home Guard posts in Ramgarh district that drew more than 16,000 applicants.
The BBC reported that Kavita fears the reaction in her village if she is not selected. Whatever the result, her run — first in a sari, then in the shoes strangers sent her — has already made her one of the most talked-about women in India.
Kavita’s story travelled because it was about more than a race: a widow and mother of two, working at a brick kiln, running barefoot in a sari because she had no shoes. After the video went viral, help arrived — a tracksuit and running shoes from a local politician, and coaching support from a running academy. She did not get the job this time, but the recruitment drive ends today, and her name is now known across India. For many who watched her run, that is only the beginning.
