Chance is often a vital ingredient in sporting stories. The great West Indian batsman George Headley would never have played Test cricket if bureaucratic inefficiency hadn't interfered — the delayed arrival of his passport prevented him from emigrating to the United States to pursue dentistry. Indian Olympic legend Leslie Claudius, originally a footballer, played his first hockey game filling in for an absent player.
Destiny calls
Fate similarly drew Shruti Kamath to rowing as a sports-mad 10-year-old. “I had played a bit of tennis and badminton, and wanted to try sailing,” she says. “I was fascinated by it after watching it on TV, and seeing all these people falling into the sea.
My parents asked around, and someone thought they meant rowing and directed them to the Boat Club.”
Seven years on, all evidence (in the absence of time machines that can traverse alternate universes) suggests that this was an exceedingly happy accident. Two weeks ago, Shruti rowed stroke for the Indian coxless fours crew which won gold at the Asian Junior Championships in Guangzhou, China. “That was my best race ever. I'd never given my all like that before,” says Shruti. “I was lying flat on the boat at the end. Our coach, M.T. Binu, was cycling with our boat, along the edge of the water, screaming his lungs out. It was a very freaky race. I still don't remember how it ended.”
Shruti could well be back in Guangzhou in November, representing the senior national team at the Asian Games. She is among the probables currently training in Hyderabad, and is guardedly optimistic about her chances. “It will be pretty difficult, since the fours team already has a very good stroke in Pratima Puhana, who won the junior Asian gold in Hong Kong two years ago. But the juniors recently beat the seniors by around three boat lengths during training, and Ismail Baig, the national team's coach, was very impressed.”
Rowing now consumes most of Shruti's time. Between returning from the Asian Juniors and joining the Asian Games probables, Shruti had only ten days of rest. “I attended my first day of school this (academic) year only when I came back from China,” adds the Std XII student from Chettinad Vidyashram.
Her school, she says, has made every effort to help her juggle rowing and academics. “After coming back, I had a meeting with the teachers, and we've planned to catch up on my studies online, probably through Skype,” she says. “They're even willing to work on Sunday mornings to take extra classes for me.”
Career plans
Asked if she sees rowing as a long-term career, Shruti is non-committal. “Let's see. It's quite difficult to make a living out of rowing.”
For now, she enjoys the travel opportunities the sport affords her. “I've travelled a lot, met a lot of people, and learnt different languages. I can even speak Punjabi and Malayalam — not fluently, but I can get my point across.” Eventually, Shruti wants to become a pilot. “I've been fascinated by flying ever since I was about five or six, when I stepped into a cockpit,” she says. “I also want to do paragliding, scuba diving, and try all the other crazy adventure sports,” she adds. “And I still haven't tried sailing.”
