Passion for an Olympic mission

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As a child I had only one ambition — one day, I would become a hockey star in my country. The mere mention of hockey would instantly fire up my spirit. I was born in an academically inclined family, with my mother being a doctor and both of my brothers engineers. But they were very supportive, and allowed me to follow my passion.

Playing for the country was definitely a high. Personally, I never really had a defining moment on the field, because hockey is a team sport, and in a team game, it’s never about a single individual. I enjoyed every bit of my career as a hockey player, and I always played for my country with immense pride. But eight years after being selected for the national squad, I decided to move on.
It was an extremely hard decision. I knew that I would be missing a lot of things, especially the intensity and the emotional highs and lows that one experiences on a hockey pitch. Such things are unmatched. But I knew, all along, without anyone prodding me or advising me, that I would have to quit at the peak of my career. It was very clear in my mind that that would be the best thing to do.
As it turned out, I did miss the game. I missed playing for my country. There were times when I nearly gave in and decided to go back, more so because my friends like Arjun Halappa, Bharat Chetri and Adrian D’Souza, with whom I played, still continue to play for the country.
But at the same time, I had no regrets. I am a man who has always believed in giving 200 per cent effort in whatever I do, and whether it was studies or sports or anything else, I knew I could have justified my stand.
Long before I formally announced that I would be retiring, I had charted out my future move. I wanted to study at the Indian School of Business. As fate would have it, one of the reasons that I chose that particular college was hockey. During the Afro-Asia Games in 2003, the Indian team had been put up at the ISB campus. I was impressed. That is when I started to research the college and decided that ISB would be the place where I pursued my higher studies.
Getting into ISB, however, proved to be far from easy. Having done little but play hockey for the country for eight straight years, I realised that I had gotten completely of touch with books (although I had always been a good student). And when I applied to ISB, I was not given any concession at all, and had to apply like any other student. I had to sit for the GMAT twice and had to study doubly hard, because I hadn’t enrolled in any tutorials.
I would carry my books when I travelled for tournaments. I still remember when I was playing for the Maratha Warriors in the Premier Hockey League — being a captain, I was allowed to choose my roommate. And I ensured that I got the quietest player on the team as my roommate, so that he would not disturb me!
After I got my results, I announced my retirement, much to the shock of almost everyone around me, and began a new phase in life. It wasn’t easy, because as a player, I interacted with very few people, and those I did interact with turned out, to a large extent, to be journalists. But in ISB, I was amidst people from varied fields and specialisations. I was very nervous. Here, I was not the skipper of the Indian hockey team, but a student like others on the campus. It was quite a reality check. My stint at the business school added an entirely new dimension to my life.
For a while before graduation, I drifted a little, somewhat clueless, because I had quit my job with Indian Oil Corporation and didn’t know what the future held for me. During placement interviews, I signed up with a corporate house in a strategy role.
Once I was back in Mumbai, Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi met me and shared the aims of the Olympic Gold Quest, which was then in its nascent stages. They convinced me, and the old fire was rekindled. I decided not to take up the corporate job.
What drove me to signing up with Olympic Gold Quest was the vision of the initiative, the idea to help Indian sportspersons win Olympic gold medals.
It was always a dream for me to help an Indian athlete win an Olympic medal. Finally now, I can make it come true, if not for myself, then for some deserving youngster. My individual fire and determination is still there, I’m only channelising it in a different way.
I get my market value, plus I get to do what I love. I have the best job in the world!

As told to Manuja Veerappa