Bangalore, Bombay and Aparna Popat

 

Since the time Aparna Popat came to Bangalore in her teens, she has become an Indian badminton legend; just one title away from establishing a record of eight consecutive National titles. The last decade has meant growing up away from Bombay, travels around the world, discovering a new home in Bangalore. What has the journey been like?

Dev S Sukumar

Bangalore: After all these years, more than 10 years of playing competitive badminton, some elementary questions still run through Aparna Popat's mind at night, when she's supposed to be sleeping tight.

Questions such as: "Why didn't my drop go?" "When shall I do what?" "Why were my legs hurting?" Things like that. It's running through the back of her mind, after every session; after every day, like some anti-virus program in a computer, constantly screening herself.

That's what's scary for her opponents as another Nationals draws up. Aparna is on the verge of a record eight consecutive National titles (she now shares the record of seven consecutive titles with Meena Shah) -- and she shows no sign of tiring, no sign of being fed up with the game.

It's been more than a decade since she arrived in Bangalore. She arrived at an age when girls are still mollycuddled by their mom and dad; but Aparna -- well, that's what being a prodigy means. It means that you are required to grow up early, it means you forego the luxury of lethargy, it means you do grown-up things when you're still a kid.

Anyway, title No.8 does not mean a great deal to her, apart from the fact that she's expected to win every time, and that she respects the Nationals a lot. Perhaps it will mean a lot to her later, when she looks at the record books and finds she was the most dominant player of her generation; more dominant, statistically, than the great Meena Shah and Ami Ghia. Her name will be a reference point, and whenever Indian badminton is talked about, she will be mentioned.

But that's for later. For the moment, she's content preparing her best, and for a little reflection.

"Oh, those days were lovely," she says of the time she arrived in Bangalore a decade ago, a little before the academy started. "I was in Malleswaram for quite a while. Neelima and Larisa were there, then they left and Trupti shifted in.

"I've been constantly on my own. So Prakash (Padukone) Uncle made sure I got a room for myself. I was very comfortable. And friends used to drop by constantly. My mother used to come down for a month..."

"Apart from playing... a bit of friends, a bit of going out... now things are very different. We're out of the city, can't go out so much, and I don't know so many restaurants now... and it's tough to meet friends. And you get one Sunday off and you're so tired you don't feel like going out."

It's a different Aparna Popat now; she's "more relaxed, less reserved and less paranoic" about the game. In fact, it's 8 p.m. right now at Sports Authority of India, but Aparna is in no hurry. The other trainees have left; only Ajit Wijetilak and Oli Deka are around; relaxing after a tough session. It's quiet outside. SAI is in the middle of a sparse jungle; the only sound is that of the crickets.

How has it been, being away from home for such a long while?

"It's been very different from when I came to now," she says. "I've grown as a person. It's been a very normal, growing-up phase. Initially, when you come from home, excited, you come prepared to take on the world. Slowly somewhere down the line you start missing home, you want to go back. And then... it depends on how devoted you are to the game, whether it keeps you here, focussed, away from home, or whether it doesn't.

"You have to convince yourself -- I've come here with a purpose, and if I'm into what I'm doing, the sacrifices, I'm right for it. It's been a good decision."

"I've passed through the whole phase. I've become more mature. Bangalore has almost become home for me. I know more about Bangalore than about Bombay. I have more friends here."

Doesn't that work on your mind, I ask. That when you eventually go back to Bombay, you'll go through a crisis of sorts? A gap in your relationships with your friends there?

"Of course there will be," she replies. "But I'm sure even you'll agree... the school friends you have, then your college friends, they're two different lots. You discuss different things, talk at a different level. So a lot of my friends here have been like college friends. They've got jobs, started families, moved out of Bangalore -- but we still keep in touch. So it's that kind of friendship.

"So if I have to move -- which I'm sure they are used to because I travel so much -- it shouldn't be a problem."

She stays at home a lot longer than she used to. Prakash once sent her home for a week and was shocked when she returned after three days. Now, she'll go for a week but stay for ten days. After the Sydney Olympics, she stayed home for two months.

It's a constant tussle, isn't it -- between Bangalore and Bombay?

"Yeah, of course," she says. "Bangalore is freedom. And I've lived my life on my own terms. At Bombay, there's my mom and dad and sister. There are responsibilities at home, it's a different life."

This constant travelling -- I ask if it has made her a nomad at heart. Or is she weary of travelling?

"A bit weary. I'm a bit tired. I don't like travelling so much, especially the long trips. But I enjoy playing. So I go, play my match, and then I want to come back. I don't want to stay, unless I have a couple of friends to go sight seeing, or experience things... but then you go to the same places over and over again, you see the same places, eat in the same restaurants.... so I'd rather come back to India.

"I'd love to travel, but as a tourist. But I'm enjoying the game. The day I stop enjoying, you will make out from my face."

So Aparna is not just enjoying the game, she's also enjoying life. She jokes around with coach Prasad; she plays with his little daughter; and even helps Oli Deka with her game.

"I always had this doubt," she says, "I wondered if I loved the game so much. But... I may after all these years, I'll look back and realise I probably do. There are two things -- I either loved the game; or I loved playing."

For the moment, the difference is hardly obvious.