The Hindu : Front Page : A yen for adventure and a passion for the Olympics

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 17, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

A yen for adventure and a passion for the Olympics

Pallavi Aiyar

Meeting in person for the first time, 3 Indians join in mission

Trio includes software engineer from Bangalore
Need to invest in sporting infrastructure

Beijing: A few hours before the epic opening ceremony for the Olympic Games on August 8, three far-flung points on the globe, Bangalore in India, Toulouse in southern France and Weifang in China’s Shandong province, converged on the host city of Beijing. What brought these disparate geographies together was a triumvirate of young Indians with a yen for adventure and a passion for the Olympics

Twenty-five-year-old Pavitra Vannur grew up in the city of Dharwar in northern Karnataka. Having worked for the last few years as a software engineer with Infosys in Bangalore, the gutsy youngster took her first ever flight to make it to Beijing . Using her company’s network she found a colleague in the Chinese capital willing to offer his flat as free accommodation for the Olympics period.

Prabhu Ram, also 25, spent his formative years in Mumbai before heading off to southern France for a master’s in Telecommunications and Computer Science. He spent more than a year filling out complex paperwork on two continents to secure tickets for 12 Olympics events.

The baby of the three, 19-year-old Venkatesh Marupuri grew up in Vishakapatnam but spent the last two years studying medicine at Weifang Medical University in China’s northeast. To Pavitra’s accommodation and Prabhu’s tickets, Venkatesh brought his Chinese language skills, making for a perfect combination.

The catch in this ideal match was that before August 8, 2008, the three had never met in person. Theirs is in fact the quintessential 21st century story, one that couldn’t exist without the virtual universe of the Internet.

Pavitra had been determined to go to the Olympics ever since she watched the 2000 Games in Sydney on television. When she heard a year later that China won the bid for the 2008 Olympics, she was even more charged up, having always had a fascination for the neighbouring country.

“China felt much closer to home than the U.S. or Europe. It was an achievable destination for me.”

Despite reservations expressed by her parents and despite her never having been on board a plane, Pavitra pushed ahead with her Olympics preparations and managed to get two tickets through a Chinese colleague. But these were far from enough to justify the expense of flying to Beijing and so she began to search online for Indians going to the Olympics who might have tickets to spare.

After spending hours in Internet cafes to no avail, she finally bought her own laptop in May so as to be able to search in earnest. At last, she came across a group titled “Beijing Traveller” on the community network Orkut. There was a single post on the message board: Prabhu’s.

The telecommunication student’s interest in the Beijing Olympics was sparked less by a passion for sports and more by the desire to understand how to “manage a large-scale international event.” He had begun his search for tickets a year ago by writing to the Indian Olympic Association only to meet with a “bad response.”

“There were only 500 tickets available with the association for all of India and despite having filled out all the paper work I couldn’t get any.” After four frustrating months of trying, Prabhu changed tack and asked an American friend to apply on his behalf to the U.S. Olympic Association. He was thus able to get tickets for 12 events which he planned to watch along with a cousin.

At the last moment, however, the cousin dropped out and Prabhu found himself with 12 spare tickets which led him to post the message on Orkut that Pavitra was to respond to.

In the meantime Prabhu was also chatting for a few months with Venkatesh, whom he had befriended on a yahoo group. The medical student initially planned to return home to Andhra Pradesh for the summer vacation during August but fell victim to an airline ticket scam.

Unable to go home and “getting bored in his dorm room,” Venkatesh proposed to Prabhu that he join in the Beijing adventure. Given his Chinese language skills and familiarity with the country, Venkatesh was a welcome addition to the group.

The three friends spent the last week lapping up as much of the sporting action as they can. But it’s not what they’ve seen on the field that has impressed them the most.

“I am just amazed by what a wonderful show China has put on,” gushed Pavitra. “I mean we keep comparing China and India but after coming here I realise there is no comparison.”

“It’s the discipline of the people. They [the Chinese] are so polite and so united in their efforts to demonstrate to the world what they can do,” added Prabhu. “This has been a really educational experience for me.”

Though its dream was realised, the trio was ultimately a trifle glum. “To be honest, we felt quite left out of the Games,” said Prabhu. “Apart from us, there are hardly any Indians at any of the events. Even the smaller countries have visible fans; a voice. But in the matches we’ve been to there is no one to cheer along with us.”

Of the three, Pavitra will stay the longest in Beijing. She will return to India on August 26, a couple of days after the closing ceremony. It will be her second time on an aeroplane and she hopes it will be less nerve-wracking than it was the first time round.

What will she tell people on her return? “The Indian Sports Ministry and the Olympic Association just have to invest more money in sports and sporting infrastructure. It’s a must.”

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page