In 1981, I was on a growth curve. I’d imbibed a new-found confidence and was learning to be just a little assertive. I picked up gold medals at international invitation meets held in India and Pakistan. Where earlier I used to be tongue-tied, I now became bold enough to say I wouldn’t attend the international meets without my coach O.M. Nambiar. In those days, the personal coach was not considered important and was not allowed to accompany the athlete on international tours. I had just attended my first major international meet, the Moscow Olympics, the previous year. The two-week-long stay in the Olympic village had all the alien trappings to make me feel miserable and lonely. I was a young village girl from Payyoli, Kerala, and there were only two of us women athletes: Geeta Zutshi and me. Geeta was many years my senior and already had her own band of friends. Everything was totally strange to me. I’d never even been on a plane before. At Moscow, for the first time I ran on a synthetic track in a large indoor stadium. My head was spinning after as I wasn’t used to running indoors. I remember that the flats we stayed in looked all the same to me and I got lost a few times. As for the food, though there was a separate Indian mess you wouldn’t get anything if you went late and I was not used to Continental food. I longed for a hot meal of rice and fish curry. In spite of this, I ran my best. I didn’t want to be last and wasn’t. I came 6th in the heats.
As told to Minu Ittyippe
