As the excitement and subsequent disappointment over boxer Mary Kom being defeated by Nicola Adams of the United Kingdom subsided and most of the journalists, neighbours and students who had all gathered to watch the match left her home in Imphal, it was business as usual for her family.
Her five-year-old son Nainai went back to scaring the lizards off the walls and his twin brother Rengpa resumed watching cartoons that had been interrupted by the entry of so many people.
Mary’s father consoled himself that she at least got a bronze.
He pointed out that after all this was the first time that women's boxing was introduced in the Olympics.
“She is the first and only woman from India to represent the country in the London Games this year. This itself is a great joy for me. I consider God has given us rightly what she deserved,” he said.
“Mary is not coming back empty-handed. Of course, she wanted to win a gold and all of us also [wanted her to]. We believe that her loss this time, will rather make her more determined to work hard and clinch the medal in the next Olympics,” said Jimmy Leivon, her friend.
Meanwhile, her sons miss her and want her to come home quickly.
Rengpa, when asked how he felt when he saw his mother on screen, said, “I almost cried seeing Mama.”
