CHENNAI: Waari, the 450km walk from Alandi (near Pune) to Pandharpur in Solapur, holds immense religious and cultural significance for the people of Maharashtra. Inspired by that voyage, Dr. Vishwas Yevale, a passionate sailor, booted the concept of the Jal Dindi in kayaks, dinghies, sculls, army BAUTs, and sailboats over the same route. Started with the purpose of educating the villagers, also created a few core memories for India's future bronze medallist at the Asian Games in Vishnu Saravanan.
"It’s a 12-day expedition of a sort through waterways from Alandi to Pandharpur in October, Vishnu's father, Ramachandran Saravanan, a former sailor himself told this daily from Mumbai. "We did the Jal Dindi in 2007. And Vishnu accompanied me in that. During Jal Dindi, he sailed on the same class of boat (ILCA7) in which he won the bronze medal. Once we would stop at the end of the day, he even used to sleep on that boat. Extreme heat caused some problems, but he completed the expedition with me."
"I did that Dindi not by conventional route, and Dnyaneshwar Maharaja and Vithoba gave blessings to my boy. While I was part of the Dindi, who would have thought that Vishnu would win a medal for India some day," R Saravanan added.
Though the Armyman had to give up competitive sailing but when it came to his kids, Vishnu and Ramya, who missed a chance to win a medal in their first-ever Asian Games as she finished fourth in the Mixed Multihull - Nacra 17 event in Hangzhou -- he supported them to the hilt. "I had to quit sailing because of unfavourable conditions but I didn't think twice when it came to my children. With Vishnu, I started when he was 7 and a half years old, and with Ramya when she was eight."
Once Vishnu started sailing with his father, there was no looking back. He also had another Asian Games medallist to look up to as well. "I used to take him with me on my single windsurfer boat. Even when there was no space for another person on that boat, Vishnu used to accompany me. He wasn’t even that good a swimmer at that age, but he still insisted on coming with me. At that time, Arjuna Awardee Rajesh Choudhary (who won the Bronze medal in the 2002 Busan Asian Games and 2006 Doha Asian Games) used to sail with me. He used to hold the mast of Rajesh’s boat (Laser Radial class) and sail with him. But he never feared water."
All of those wishes and hard work over the years helped Vishnu secure a Bronze medal for India even after the final medal race was cancelled. “The last race, the medal race, could not be completed because the wind was not good enough," Captain Jitendra Dixit, joint secretary general of the Yachting Association of India, said from Hangzhou. "The score remained the same as yesterday and the final positions were awarded on that basis. Unfortunately, he had one bad race where he had to retire because of technical grounds. He was given the penalty for the technical fault, which means the points for that race are calculated as participants from that race + 1. That made a big dent in his chances, otherwise, he was in contention for a gold medal as well. He was in good form in the last few races, if the medal race had happened, maybe there was a scope for a silver or even gold medal. We learned the lesson that you cannot leave all of it for the last race," he added.
Even in a race where the technical penalty reduced his opportunity to finish closer to the top, Vishnu managed to grab a silver medal. Ramachandran believes many entities have put faith in his son and his success is a result of that help. "Sail Coach, sailing academy in Malta, has assisted him with his practice. Initially, the Army took up the monetary load with me. Now, even the Sports Authority of India and the Yachting Association of India have also stood behind him through thick and thin. My entire family is part of sports in some way or the other. Even my wife, Rajeshwari, was a shot-put athlete back in the day. I cannot explain how much her support means to all of us." he got emotional.
Once the bronze medalist comes back from China, the Army Yachting Node will be waiting for him. Not just to congratulate one of their own but to help the 24-year-old in his quest for an Olympic medal. And Ramachandra will put on his coaching hat for both of his kids. "Now I want to focus on preparing them for the Olympics. We are hopeful of not just a qualification, but a medal as well," and if Dindi has taught them anything, this quest of many years might lead to another medal for India.