The straight-up pragmatism when a boring school teacher asked Palak Kohli to focus on studies and grab a quota available for the disabled, instead of lingering in the playgrounds, had not deterred the para-shuttler when young. She went on to compete at the Tokyo Paralympics. But pity-soaked whispers of “Palak ka career khatm” (career’s over), after a bone tumour was diagnosed two years ago and she was restricted to a wheelchair, really led to a spiral. The diminutive Jallandhar dynamite could snort off casual condescension about her forearm impediment since age 1 when she expressed a desire to play sport. But the dripping sympathy and being judged as ‘finished’ properly brought out the angry-young-woman energy in her. She’s never understood why people are always in a hurry to draw curtains on others’ sporting careers. “Only an athlete knows the cost of their passion,” she says simply, shushing the ignorants rushing to snip short an athlete’s painstakingly built career. Recently, Palak confirmed her second successive Paralympic qualification for Paris. It came just months after she won …