India’s 1st International Triathlete and a qualified CA Pragnya Mohan joins me to discuss her tryst with Triathlon, her ambition for Olympics , struggles and hacks for women, staying focused and winning for India.
India’s 1st International Triathlete and a qualified CA Pragnya Mohan joins me to discuss her tryst with Triathlon, her ambition for Olympics , struggles and hacks for women, staying focused and winning for India.
This is a sponsored series in association with Sirona India. The series features women who are pioneering careers in sports. We discuss their journey, struggles and insights on the field that can be implemented in building your startups.
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Mail: Pragnyamohan@gmail.com
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About The Galata Podcast:
Galata is a word from the Indian language Kannada that means the noise caused by a ruckus.
Each episode features an interview about starting up, testing ideas, creating a team, building something worthwhile and adding value to other people’s lives. Most of all, The Galata Podcast is about how you are delivering on your audacious promise.
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Mail: Puneethsuraana@gmail.com
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
sports, cycle, swimming, triathlon, kilometers, people, coach, india, hygiene, race, running, require, standard, practice, parents, play, female, started, day, training
SPEAKERS
Sirona Hygiene (A sponsor), Puneeth(Host), Pragnya Mohan(Guest)
Pragnya 00:00
Swimming is actually like flying, you are flying in the water.
Puneeth 00:05
Hey, it's Puneeth Suraana and this is the bonus series of the Galata podcast. We'll get to it in a second. But first, here's a message from our presenting sponsor
Sirona 00:17
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Puneeth 00:43
Joining us today is somebody who started swimming at the age of two and never really left the pool. She's been swimming ever since. And it so happened that during her childhood, she would also cycle her way to the pool and back, she started running many marathons in her high school by her seventh standard. She was already a national swimmer. All of this is just the start. But what got me to get her on the show and to all of you is that she is India's only women to have represented India in the World Triathlon games. She's a triathlete. And she's won over 126 medals. And if all of this isn't enough, she is also a CA. So we're going to get in to the conversation and dig in. But before that, let me introduce you to somebody who calls herself a lumbee. risky Cody, and her mission really is about try try try boys and girls Galatia. Gang, join me in welcoming pragnya. Mohan.
Pragnya 01:46
Thank you so much for that wonderful introduction, and really taken aback.
Puneeth 01:52
The usual first question that I asked pragnya to all my guests, which I already will tell you is, what were the conversations around the dinner table. When you're growing up
Pragnya 02:03
as a family, we always had this policy that all four of us will sit on the dinner table together, irrespective and we did not see TV at that time. We didn't have phones, really. So it was only four of us. And we will discuss what all we did during the day. Like I have a little brother who's two years older to me, my father, my mother, and me, so four of us and the food, obviously. So we used to discuss a lot of different things like what went on with all of us lives. During the day. My mom is a housewife, my father used to work and both of us were in school. So we had very interesting stories, different kinds of stories and stunts. I was always into sports. I used to have my swimming practice in the morning, and my brother happens to be a national chess player. He used to have a strainings It used to be nice. And then my father used to tell us stories about his working place. My mom used to tell us what what went wrong in the house. Study good, the normal discussions, but it was like a dinner would go up to one one and a half hours. Wow, we would be talking discussing
03:12
and Yeah.
Puneeth 03:16
How did you get into swimming at the age of two? I mean, was it just like another activity or put into
Pragnya 03:21
I really don't recall, but there are memories that my parents share at a time they were teaching swimming to my brother. So we used to live in this society which had a 17 metre pool. Okay, so my Father Himself, he's not a great swimmer, though my both my father and mother know basic swimming. And they used to take me to the pool as well. So my brother was probably four years old. And they used to put floaters around my arm so that I don't sink and there was tears, which led to the main swimming pool. So they left me on the stairs. So when they did suddenly notice that I was just trying to mimic what they were teaching my father and my brother was struggling at it. And I was carrying that. And then notice that I love being in the water, even when they all were going out. They had to push me out, like come on, you need to we need to go home and stuff like that. So I think it was my parents also who saw that, you know, had this inclination towards water. And after that my school used to introduce swimming as a course when we were in second standard. And then I was swimming like normally in that 70 meter pool that we had in our society post that I called a swimming teacher. Her name was guitar. Actually, what she did was she used to make a set on her back and go around the pool. And like a crocodile. Yeah, she used to become the crocodile and we used to, you know, climb up and she used to give us a big round of the pool. And I think that I really liked and she was one of the prime movers to get me into swimming, the different strokes and everything and once my parents also realized this inclination towards swimming Put me in a swimming pool, which was a 50 meter Olympic sized swimming pool where we had a coach which was appointed by the government was inculcating sports and everything I used to go there in the afternoon to learn everything. And when my parents took this decision, a lot of people told them that sending a small girl alone with a cab driver every day is not really safe. But they did it. And I kind of enjoyed it. And I also remember there were times in my childhood when I was growing when I was in the second third standard, and my friends used to go out to play in the garden. And I used to go to the swimming pool at the same time, and they used to say that you're not coming to play and, you know, I was sort of socially boycotted also at times, because they used to think that I'm giving Yeah, because they used to think that not giving them the time, and instead going to swimming, but I think I really enjoyed being in order, just the feeling of being in the water, sort of, you know, fascinated me. And that is something I used to look forward to even when I was a child. Yeah, I still love swimming, like being in the water is like heaven. What does it feel like? Well, I was swimming one day, in my practice, this must be around 2008 2009 Suddenly, there was a realization that swimming is actually like flying, you are flying in the water, because you're not touching the ground. And that thought really fascinated me to another level. I don't know why and till date, like whenever I am in the pool, or even in some open water, I just feel like lying. I'm a bird that is really motivating. It's like, I don't know, it's like a child and me. But yeah, that makes me love the sport much more. By the time you're nine or 10, you started competing in many marathons in my school, they introduced this five kilometer run for girls and seven kilometers for boys. Somehow my brother got interested in it. And he came home like saying that this the seven kilometer run, asking my dad to help him train for it, like it was still a month later. And he was always into mental sports. Like he was a chess player. Yeah, he was at a very young age, he became the state champion, and the 17 state champion he became when he was nine years old. So he was always on the mental and the CAD MC oriented guy. So when he came up with this, and we were discussing this over the dinner table, as you call it, I was like I am the physical one. And he's the MC. Yeah, intellectual. Yeah. And then if he can do it, so can I. So I was like, Okay, this five kilometers for girls as well. So I'll do that. Even I can run the five kilometers. So the day he started training, he was more enthusiastic than I was, but I was competing with him. This was the sibling that I will be going on. So he started training, and I started training. And it just happened that we trained for a month, not really intensive, not very regular, like twice a week, we used to go this crown and run my father would monitor what we were doing sort of thing, just building the endurance and I used to swim daily. So I had that endurance and stamina already. And he was struggling to get that. But he was always more he had that speed, which I tend in running I don't know, maybe because of being girl and boy. So when the day of the mini marathon came both of us came second in our respective and this was a whole school like up till 12 standard. It wasn't it just I was in my fifth standard. And I came second and he also came second so that was a confidence booster then in sec standard I practiced for it for like almost one and a half months. Yeah, the first one yes. And then I did get the first one. So then the distances started increasing like in six standard, they I think had five kilometers and then in seven, they increased it to six kilometers. And then in each standard onwards I shifted to and the birth so we started having this local race that was eight kilometers long. So I started running that and I in the process, I realized that I started enjoying running so it became a second sport, swimming was always the priority. But running became a second sport which I used to like doing like the feeling of running and what is running because a lot of runners in Bangalore who are listening to this right now planning is just different. I like the feeling is not much different as compared to swimming but when you run when you are at very intensive paces. Usually just can't think you just can't think it's like when people say that in meditation, you just have to have one thought. I think when you run intensive and you just can't think of anything but running it is meditation in its own terms. So I think that is what I love about it and planning as an exercise. It's an entire body exercise the entire body. You're actually flying. You are actually Flying. There is a moment in every step that you take that put the feet are off the ground. It's not like walking like in walking you always have one feet and the ground but running is flying in every step that you take us jumping. So there are there's a moment when both the feet are off the ground somehow I am fascinated with
Puneeth 10:24
I love the expressions you have in your eyes and the voice I know listeners can feel this right now. Wow, that was your first recognition first trophy. These
Pragnya 10:33
fattening? Yes, yeah, for swimming. I had already got pretty in the school at the school level. And at started emerging as a state level swimmer. I started at the lower end of the podium and gradually climbed it to the top. So yeah, I started getting bronze silver medal in the state championship. I think I got my first cold in seven standard not before then
Puneeth 10:56
what happened after eight, nine standard
Pragnya 10:59
in 2013. There was this and the bad Municipal Corporation and organized a cyclic nine. So this is the time and modiji was preparing for his pm rally. So there were a lot of events that were happening in Gujarat, especially am the but there was this 50 kilometer race in that so just out of curiosity at adjusted for it. And maybe I practiced like I remember I practiced a one week before because I was not sure if I could do a 50 kilometer cycling it looks too big. So one week before the race just for my mental satisfaction. I was like I need to do it. So I did it. And it was on my own. And there was a lot of discomfort, which I felt good because 50 kilometers, it almost took me two hours to complete that 50 kilometer stretch. So my cycle was the normal normal cycle that we have ladybird. Not early, I upgraded it to a BSA Mac. But that's a bit of a basic cycle. And now I look back and realize I completed that and I got this continent that he khatam Tortuga when the race day came, I was not expecting anything as such, but I was just doing it because I wanted to do it. And I finished the race. I came to know that I came first in my 50 kilometres category and to top it all, I got one lakh rupees as the cash prize. Then I was like, Okay, I'm good at this too. And then like, yeah, so this is like, I am a good swimmer. Now. I'm good in cycling too. And I'm a good runner, and cycling race gave me the money that I could buy a good cycle to start racing at least. So then the thought came like, again on the dinner table. And we were discussing things. So my father mentioned to me that there is this port called triathlon. Until then I was vaguely aware about traction. This is all happening in January 2013 forced the cyclists race. So then my dad said that I was already running half marathons by that time just for fitness, not really competative my running pace was always good. So I was doing these half marathons under 145 minutes. So he gave me a suggestion that since you're already training, why don't you try triathlon? Like just as an experience? Yeah, just a thought. So I trained to during 2013, and there was a state championship in December 2013 for the National selection team. So I went in that for a triathlon. And the current national champion also happened to be from gunshot at that time, that point in time in 2013. And she came in the state championship selections as well. And I wasn't expecting a competition with her. I was way down in my thought process. At that time, I just looked up to her and I appreciated for all that she had achieved. And I became the non state champion for that
Puneeth 13:55
as fast.
Pragnya 13:56
Yeah. And then I realized, okay, I have some capabilities. But then we had the national championship one month later, in Nasik. But we went without any expectations, because we were like, We need to study the competition first. And I became the national champion. How old were you? I was 19 years old.
Puneeth 14:16
But I just one day.
Pragnya 14:19
I had I'm only 16 that, I don't know, my physical age keeps on increasing every year.
Puneeth 14:25
But your endurance and your cardiovascular abilities and your legs and calves? Oh, my God. You'd be like topless. of they're,
Pragnya 14:34
they're put in a lot of efforts.
Puneeth 14:36
Yeah. I love the fact that you're so consistent in your training and without you realizing you've grown yourself and your abilities, and then an event happens and you're like, Oh, damn it, didn't you have this sense of recognition like wow, you because you might want to do this,
Pragnya 14:54
but I think I was lucky enough that there were opportunities on the way Because I feel that there are people who don't get the opportunities that I did, they might have the talent much better than talent than I do. But they don't get the opportunities or when they get the opportunities, they don't get in grab those opportunities. So I have been lucky in that way.
Puneeth 15:18
We're the only influencers influences, or was that a coach that saw talent in you? How did this go about because now looking back, in retrospect, it looks like a lot of rights that have been taken.
Pragnya 15:29
So I think my parents played a very important role in my entire journey, because they recognize that, you know, I like swimming, they did a bit of research about whom should I get coached under even when we used to live in this small town called achalasia, which really did not have the infrastructure, and I'm talking about the early 90s. It really, or the late 90s? Yeah, not that old 25. So they did. They did a lot of research. And they came like the coaches that I should go to in my fourth grade, I went to soura. That is a bigger town than enclaves, where is in Gujarat itself, which had a lot of good swimmers, and my parents. And in my summer vacation time, I lived there for two months, along with my grandmother, and I trained under a coach for swimming. So this was unlike of someone doing it in Malaysia, like they took all the right decisions. And at that time, I was not in the capacity to make decisions for myself. So I think my parents have played a very, very important role in my success. Apart from that, also, the coaches that I have been trained under, I have somehow been very lucky to have very good coaches like throughout, like, I've changed, I've gone from one coach to another, but all of them have been supportive of the endeavors that I undertook be it in swimming, or running. And when I came to triathlon, in India, it's a new sport, and it's developing. Yeah, people don't even know triathlon, except maybe in Bangalore, it's pretty popular, because a lot of people cycle and plan and are trying to get into triathlon, but elsewhere in the country, it's pretty unknown. So when I started out in 2013, my father had been my coach until I actually got a coach in 2017, when we realized that, you know, there was some need for a good coach who understood the court much better than my father did. So he researched about, you know, the ways we should go about it. There are some schedules available on the internet, but they're very basic, you need to build on them according to your capabilities and according to your need, so he did that for me. So I have been like, I have their constant support throughout. So I think that really helped me,
Puneeth 17:55
or how does it feel like a child because this is a prodigy in fancy English. And strategies have this wherein they feel they have missed out on the childhood in all the rigorous training all the structural growing up.
Pragnya 18:09
So as an athlete, I when I was very young, after I started reaching the national levels and seven standard and eight standard until 12. I would say my training, swimming training was twice a day, almost three to four hours include, and if you include the commute time, it was five to six hours. And my school was also rigorous. It was almost like eight hours every day. So this left with me with no other time to show us sure lies and stuff. But I was very, I think I don't know what term to use, but fortunate that that was not the era of mobile phones fortunate. Yeah. Because I didn't have a distraction in the terms of a handy mobile phone on which I would waste time. So I think my school took care of the social life to a very high standard, like the eight hours that I used to spend it. I had friends, I had friends there I used to spend with them. I had friends in my swimming circle. I used to spend time with them. They were sacrifices. Totally, there was like sacrifices, like no parties on the weekends because we were training on the weekends as well and you need to catch up on sleep. As athletes we sleep a lot and we made that sleep like eight to nine hours. I can't do without that not only me like as a family. We have made sacrifices since the past 13 to 14 years. We don't have a television set at home this this particular incident I would like to share that in 2009 Tata sky was new at that time, so they were door to door salesmen who used to come the two salesmen came to our house and my brother was at the door and they asked him that, you know, we have got this new product and we would like to show it to you or anyone else who is at home. So he told them that we don't have a television set at home. He's talking to one salesperson Then he turns back and tells through the other salesperson eternia bananas. So we haven't had a television set too late we don't have it at home now we have grown so used to it now. It's very funny. But whenever I go to some hotels or resorts, I don't know how to use the television set. And all my friends are like thoroughly because the when we had the television set, it wasn't the one that the dual remote one that we use now. So yeah, when do you want remote and now it is totally different. I enjoy it. So even at hotels, I can't use it because I don't know how to use it.
Puneeth 20:44
I'm the same boat. I think Divi was in my house in my main standard, and has never entered some noise. In fact, I have two TVs like a showpiece in our house. We have one of the most expensive TVs, but it's very good. These are the things that those who are overachievers joke about. What else have you let go. But this is a very important topic because it brings the reality of what you're doing.
Pragnya 21:18
Okay, so till school, it was all okay, the social life is pretty normal, or school, I have done active college for two years post that I quit that college. And that distance learning due to my articleship was clashing with my third time that I had for training, as well as going to college was becoming very hectic. In college. Also, it was pretty normal. But once I left college, my social life was not as much they're like, now if I see I have a very limited group of friends. And that is because like they I am a very friendly person, that all the relationships, whether it's friendship, or any kind of relationship requires time. And if you were trying to give time to something that you are passionate about, they don't like obviously all relationship needs time to nurture and develop. So my friend started feeling that I'm ignoring them ignoring their calls, ignoring their text. So gradually, you grow apart. So I have this communication. Yeah, there's a communication gap, I have a very limited group of friends who sort of understand that, you know, I have some priorities in life, which are really important to me as an individual. Yeah. And that is one sacrifice, that you have to do socializing, partying, and all this, take a backseat when especially in sports.
Puneeth 22:44
Same with your startup or your business.
Pragnya 22:46
Yeah, it's it's based similar. Like I go to see conferences, where I'm invited as a speaker to motivate students to do other things along with pursuing see which I did. So like taking up a sports career to opening your own practice as CPAs, we have this license to open our own practice post qualification. So it's very similar that, you know, in the start of practice, you have to put in a lot of effort to get clients, and then you have to put in a lot of efforts to retain them as well. So in sports is the same that you know, at the beginning, you have to put in a lot of effort, you have to put in a lot of practice, you have to be very disciplined about a lot of things in life, including nutrition, that is another another thing that you know why I don't have a lot of big friends circle, I can't go out and binge eating every day. So yeah, it's very similar to practice, you have high uncertainties about whether in future it will sustain or not, then you have to retain people in in sports, you have to retain your current state and you have to improve on it. Keep on improving on it, you have to practice daily, even in the practice that you start, you have to be there every day. Like you can't even Yeah, show up. Even if there are people working under you. You need to monitor their them as well. You need to make them feel like you know, it's a team and you are a part of it. So it takes a lot of sacrifices. But I think when you get that medal and hand or when that national anthem is playing, it's what
Puneeth 24:27
what kind of lessons would you draw from all the three sports that helped you in your CA pursuit,
Pragnya 24:33
sports as a whole, it has, like they have loved abilities. I've seen so many failures that if I saw one more failure in my ca exams or anything, it wouldn't shake me the way it shakes other people. It's like, okay, you lost a race. You feel bad. It's not like you don't feel bad. You do feel bad when you are attempting to go for the gold and you don't get anything you feel bad, but that's Temporary, then you start looking forward to the next race. So failure become a part of life you. It's not like okay, I failed. So I will stop doing it and feel really bad for days altogether. Okay, I feel bad for the movement, I'll reflect on it that what went wrong, what did I do wrong, what can be improved, so that in the next days, I don't have to fail because of the same reasons at least. But I can still fail. And when you fail, fail fail, you can actually succeed with time with efforts that you put in with dedication, everything mixed together is what comes out. So when I was doing my CA, I had developed a lot of stamina as well, as part of being an athlete, I have stamina, I have strength to take the load and effort that the course requires. So when it came to studying, I could study for long hours, it wasn't a problem for me that I didn't get bored, I didn't get like the need to get up and go around. So I could put in efforts when required. And I think that made nicely, it was very easy. Even the internship at MCA course, we have three years of internship that is necessary to pass the C course articleship articleship. So even in that I was pretty good at it. Like my principles, although I was doing sports along with pursuing c they never had a complaint because I was very efficient in my work. And whenever they require the asked to be put in I was there and I could put in those hours and I think much efficient as than others. I would say that because of my stamina. So I think it's a it's a tough course no doubt on that. But my sports helped me a lot.
Puneeth 26:44
The sponsor has products related to feminine hygiene. He has this really cool cobbled made funnel, which women can use and P anywhere they want.
Pragnya 26:52
I've used that. Yeah, I have used that. Yeah,
Puneeth 26:55
it's called Peebuddy.
Pragnya 26:56
Ah, you ready? Yes. Yeah, I did it from him is
Puneeth 27:00
because you have such long, I think today's weather out there. How do you manage your hygiene? Do you use Pee buddy and stuff like that? It's been an issue.
Pragnya 27:12
Yeah, there is a issue in a female hygiene and like normal course. So I have USB buddy. And it is very convenient and easy to use. So I think every female out there should use it because we are more like we have own prone to infections than males. And this really helps us like you can stand and use it, you know, you can use it by the roadside as well in India. So I think everyone should use it. And as far as female hygiene goes, and being an athlete periods is one limiting factor that I noticed early in my career, you can't swim and you have periods that's obnoxious. Like, I need to train for those five days when I'm on periods when I have my menstrual cycle, I got given a give up on my training set back. You're really Yeah, exactly. So I started using tampons, as I translated from the sanitary pads. And now I'm using a menstrual cup, which I think are not only hygienic, but also economical because and in my mental Yes,
Puneeth 28:22
nothing happens to it.
Pragnya 28:23
So I think that every girl should start using menstrual cup because it's so easy. You just have to carry you can carry it anywhere in anything. You don't have to be worried that when are my dates Do I have to carry this whole bunch of pants or something you don't have to get very worried about it. The disposal is so easy, you don't have to dispose that you can just wash it, you just have to boil it, you get those containers and once you can do that it's so easy to use and it's like really, it just takes one two days to get used to it in the initial phase. That's it and women hygiene is of concern in India, a lot of women I am not sure about the stats though. A lot of women die because of infection and because of menstrual hygiene not being maintained. So it's very important that female hygiene is maintained. Now the scenario is changing a bit with the pay and use toilet there are a bit cleaner than they were earlier when they were no pay and no use. So now that things are increasing but the frequency of the pay and use toilets are very low so when I go for a run suppose on the road and I want to go to the washroom as a good I can't even go by the roadside. So it's very difficult at times and I think the body kind of things helped in that again and I'm standing and being I don't think a lot of people will also notice because I have chatez that is I think that is something that is required by I think gradually come the washrooms across the road. But it is the
Puneeth 30:06
mean from taking up sports like these, though, because this isn't just the concern, there must be so many more things.
Pragnya 30:12
Women in general are physically not like this is biological that you know, you're physically not as capable as men are. And plus the Indian society. So itself after you've reached a certain age, after maybe you've graduated from the school, a lot of girls don't go into sports,
Puneeth 30:32
they backout Yeah.
Pragnya 30:36
Yeah, I have had friends who were really exceptional, when they were doing what they were doing until school in sports. But poor school, they just did not continue. And I don't know why. They just did not. And these were people who we thought that one day we would see an ad the Olympics. So it's a sad reality, but it exists in our society. A lot of people are not supportive of sports, women pursuing sports, after a certain age, when they are young, maybe they are very supportive of the fact that you know, in sports here, extra curricular activities have it look good, like, you know, a sportsman ship spirit, everyone talks about it, but no one wants to get into it and get that everyone talks that you should have Portman's ships, spirit sports teaches you this. But once after high school, you don't need that award. It's only for boys. And one more discriminatory factor that I have seen over time in my sport, is that in many competitions, the prize money for male are higher than that for female. And the reason is, so if hypothetically, if this is a 50 kilometer of cycled race that I'm talking about first male competitor, like the first winner will get 75,000 and the first female will get 50,000. That's a very huge gap. And when you confront the organizers, they say that this is because the women participation is lower than men, then justify the no strike, they don't understand that, you know, as a girl, first you have to convince yourself that, okay, you need to participate in this race and you can do good, then you need to convince your parents to let you go and participate in that. And then you have to fight the society and travel to that race location, almost every time alone. And still, that society will judge you that you know, okay, so and tell you about this 2015 accident I had, that was an antibody, and the body is a cosmopolitan city. And it's a big city. According to Indian standards. I had this accident on the ring road where a car hit me and I was I was obviously the one leading the car do not believe me. Yes. So I was cycling on the ring road of the birth and I was cycling at a pace of 32 to 33 kilometers per hour, which is very high for a cycle and if we want to break it has to be at least you know some distance before we can completely stop. So this car comes along, overtakes me and stop suddenly in front of me. And I crash into it. I went on like under the car. And after I could get up I always carry my phone when I'm on training alone. So I call him my dad and it was not really far from my house about four to five kilometers. So he reached within 1015 minutes and until he raised there was no gathering of crowd so he came and he parked his car in such a way that the car the other car could not flee the place then that is when the crowd saw that you know there was some commotion and people started coming and they started making accusations on me I was the one bleeding here and in cycling what happens is but the aerodynamic purpose you have to be really tight close so that the air does not go inside your like the attire and creates an airbag. Yeah, so I was wearing those cycling loads. I was on cycling practice. They started making comments like Amir about killackey hockey theory. Hey, Nick, take up a pen a tight copy painted it now he had the Bangla kashiwazaki cycling career. He didn't know me. They didn't know my parents. They didn't know anything about me. But they just gathered there and started making these comments. I'm sure if it was a guy he didn't have to face or go through this and this is 2015 not long back. So if this is the kind of mentality that our society still has, it's a sad reality but it does exist.
Puneeth 34:49
I need to get the ice cream after this.
Pragnya 34:51
Now I have a lot of stories. Go ahead. And discriminatory prize money and like when you ask the organizers they're like lower part We can do anything and sponsors have told us to keep it this way. They don't clearly understand what goes. Let's talk
Puneeth 35:07
about mine because we are at money matters. How have you your financial support because I know that you've been supporting yourself by your own efforts. So far,
Pragnya 35:18
sports nowadays has a good money, let me tell you that you can either participate in competitions and win good amount of money despite the price discrimination, but my training costs are much higher than what I own. And if I am looking at the 2024 Olympics as my target, I require a much like the finances need to be much more
Puneeth 35:42
these the women listening to it in the men Listen to me take this quote up. So what does it cost to maintain a sport like this.
Pragnya 35:48
So there is a different part like if you're pursuing it as an amateur, if you're pursuing it as a professional, they These are two different things. In triathlon, what happens the cycle is very major cost, it's the equipment itself is very costly. So if you go for a decent normal road bike, the starter level bike also it would cost you anywhere around 50 to 80,000, just the bike that is the initial cycles, and then the technology is improving drastically in the sports arena. So every year there is something new, something that will make you go 30 seconds or one minute faster. For an amateur athlete, that doesn't matter. But as a professional, it really matters to me a lot. So I need to invest in those. And we have a minute counts. Exactly, I think every second counts. And when you reach those levels in equipment cycle is one part of it, then a lot of electronic data has come into the play of sports. So for instance, you need a heartrate belt to monitor your heart rate while running while cycling while swimming to know that you know, what kind of training are you doing? Watch? Which level are you pushing your body to, for those heart rates to synchronize, you need a watch, which captures the heart rate, then there are now the technology has improved to power meter. So how many watts Are you generating when you're pedaling one pedal of the cycle? Or how many watts Are you generating when you are putting your one feet when you are running. So these are all electronic data that have come into play. These also require investment and since these are technologies which have just come out, they're expensive over time, they will become cheaper, but right now they've very, very expensive. Like, I would give you an instance like my power meter, which I have on cycle, it's just two pedals, two pedals, which on which I put my shoes and cycle they cost $1,000 only two pedals that I have on my cycle.
Puneeth 37:53
And what difference makes Oh, I can rationalize this. But the
Pragnya 37:56
pedals have a technology inside that that calibrates the amount of power that I'm pushing the pedal with in one stone. Yeah. So you can imagine the amount and the volume of the money that goes into this apart from this being a professional as try as none is a Neeson sport in India, the required infrastructure as well as support in terms of coaching nutrition, physiotherapy is not available in India at the moment in the future it might be so as a professional if I'm looking at the world scenario, I need to go and train under world class coaches who can get me to that timings do that and give me that kind of infrastructure and group to train with I need to go international I need to stay there I need to train with them. And by international I mean a place in Europe or Australia or the US. So, this thing costs the coaching cost the food everything is not as good as it is in India. So the costs are pretty high. So all this requires then estimated about 4 million rupees per annum for the next four to five years. This will ensure that you know the first Indian to go to the Olympics in 2020 24 or 40
Puneeth 39:19
lakhs every by
Pragnya 39:22
Yeah, what have you been using to get by so far? So I sell finance myself there are possibilities that you know you can cut short this part you don't need this. How do you save money like I travel economy I look up the flights earlier so that I can get a better rate. I don't book on the last moment then I stay with a group of people. I have a shared apartment then I try to even in the equipment. I don't have the best world class equipment right now. I had to trade it off somewhere though my cycle cost a lot of money but it's not the best in the market. There are better things There better technologies which have come, I still have to go with the older one because I can't really afford it on my own until and unless some people support me. And by support, I mean any kind of support, just not financial, there are a lot of things other than financial support as well that people can offer. I had this amazing opportunity to listen to patient Athan on and watch him. So he had visited my school and he was telling us about the psychology that plays chess. So in the world championship, there are only two people competing against them for the world champion title in chess. So how the process works is there is a defending champion, like suppose if you're talking about 2010, so there is a defending champion of 2009. And there is a challenger, the challenger is selected through a process that they have, in which the top players are invited, and they are competing against each other to become the challenger to the world champion. Okay, so now in the world championship, there are only two people playing each other, they have to play for six, seven matches, and that decides like who won the max number of matches. So he was telling this about the world championship. He was the Challenger and there was this Garry Kasparov, who was chess world champion. He told us that how mind games used to work when they were playing chess. So in chess, what happens is they are sitting across the table and there is a chess put in between and when one moves, they start the clock and then the other has time to think about the move. And this might take some minutes. So Garry Kasparov, when he was certain that he was not in a good position over the chessboard, he would walk out of the room. And they're allowed to do that they he used to walk out of the room. And while vishwanathan Anand was on the chessboard thinking about what he would play next and slam the door loyal heart. So that vision Athan and then got distracted. So this is what Krishna Athan says that you need to be really calm, and these things will happen. And this is not something that is not allowed. So that is why he was talking about various things that he does along with playing chess, like he goes for a jog, he keeps team around him who constantly motivates him, keeps him fit and everything how nutrition is also very important, even though chess is a mental game. So he was talking about all this and where he also mentioned this incident. And so psychologically, in every sport, we think that it's only the physical body that is working towards it, no, a large part of the entire achievement is also mental. You need a balance between what the things if you're physically very strong, but mentally very weak or mentally distracted, you're not going to get that cosmology, you need a balance between both a healthy balance,
Puneeth 43:01
how do you create that, because if you're one of those kinds of cells figured a lot of things
Pragnya 43:05
No, I have always had that support group behind me Be it with a very small support group or a large support group doesn't really matter. The support group has to work for your benefit. So the mental and the physical balance. Mentally, I think I'm pretty strong. I'm a very optimistic person in general course of life, let alone be at my sport that I'm very passionate about. So I'm very optimistic about everything in that. But there are moments when you lose, you feel bad, it's normal, it's human. I am a human after all. So I feel bad. But over time, I've learned that losing is not something that is bad. So how
Puneeth 43:43
can we reach out to you if they want to?
Pragnya 43:46
So I have a Facebook page that is track now Mohan and an Instagram page that is proud now Mohan. So they can send a message to that account, or I have an email ID that was plugged now mohannad@gmail.com family that is how they can reach out all the
Puneeth 44:05
links and we reached out to her are in the description. What's the impact that is seek to me,
Pragnya 44:13
as we saw that when the puck marker became the first gymnasts from India to the present in the Olympics, it quarter, a lot of focus on gymnastics as a sport. So as the prime mover, I see that if I can go to some good level, like being a participant at all a bit, it could get that momentum for triathlon as well. So that is the bigger picture that I'm looking from. Apart from that, as an individual. I really like the sport and very passionate about it. So that is the reason that in spite of being a qualified chartered accountant, where I can earn good amount of money by doing a job or starting a practice, I have chosen not to do that and instead pursue my passion, which is for triathlon and do something that will benefit the country as a whole. And specifically my sport,
Puneeth 45:08
accommodation was all the kind of support that you require the mentorship, the sponsorship, the family support that you need to go ahead and show the world what India is capable at. in the Olympics of 2024 and more. On that note, all of you go and make some Galata. She's full of drama though. Today, she's the only Indian triathlete who's represented India in the World Cups which happened previous you
45:58
know, in May 2019. You know often