Indian athlete and the first Indian woman to become a Paralympic medallist, Deepa Malik, joined NewsX for an exclusive conversation. Addressing the ongoing pandemic, Deepa said, “By the grace of God, I have always been used to lockdowns. I faced my first lockdown when I was a five-year-old and in a hospital, admitted for a year at a go as a young little girl, in an era when there were no laptops, iPads, Netflix or mobile phones. Secondly, my daughter had an accident as a very young child and got hemiplegia. So, with her, I had to be grounded too.”Deepa’s paralysis in 1999 left her bed-ridden for two years, a time when she was not even made to sit because she had to go through major surgeries in her spine. “With urine bags and everything around me, all I could see was the ceiling. I was not even made to turn around, except to change diapers. So, mentally, I have always been prepared for a lockdown or being a social recluse,” said Deepa.Deepa went on to say, “Being a sportswoman, every time you are getting ready to win a medal for 130 crore Indians, you have to go under lockdown. You have to eat very consciously, work towards your immunity, exercise, do meditation, because focus is important in winning a big medal. And you are under such a strict regime that you have no time to socialize. So, for me, the lockdown has not been a very unprecedented situation in the way of mental stress, but, of course, Covid was new and my role in Covid was very new, because, in February I had taken over as the president of the Paralympic Committee of India. It was a transition for me, from being an athlete to entering an administrative role. That was a totally new learning experience.”Talking about the impact of Covid-19 on athletes, Malik said that India still does not have the infrastructure or the public transportation to aid physically challenged people move smoothly outside their homes. She said that they do not have endto-end accessibility in most parts of the country. She addressed the problems faced by athletes who are below the poverty line. However, looking at the positive aspect of this, Deepa said that the athletes learnt to use video calling mobile applications during this pandemic. According to Deepa, they were able to communicate with each other more than they ever did before.Deepa Malik has received a number of awards in the last decade for her work. Some of those awards are the Padma Shri, the Arjuna Award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Women Transforming India award. Deepa thinks that her entire journey has been aimed at changing mindsets. “So, when the United Nations, Niti Aayog, the Prime Minister, and jury chose me to receive an award that says ‘Women Transforming India’, that was very dear to me. It was received by my father and that was the day he asked everyone to pray for me and said that he had faith that I’ll bring everyone a medal. And on the 12th (September 2016), I won it.”