Deepika-Atanu’s quiver full of arrows

Factoring in the conditions is integral to success in a sport where archers are known to shoot for big medals even in windy rains, and Das believes Deepika could put in more work than she does, and take that extra second to process the whole picture before firing her arrows.

While completely in awe of how sharp and unwavering the former World No 1 and World Cup winner’s focus can be, Das says the couple trades tips on each other’s strong points in the sport. “She’s told me she likes my shooting stance. I keep asking her about what mental framework is needed to be at the top. She’s been a World No 1, I haven’t,” he explained earlier as the duo wrapped up their training camp at Pune’s Army Sports Institute.

The pair of archers, him 28 and her 26, tied the knot in June earlier after having known each other for 12 years, six of which Atanu is accused by Deepika of having spent, “not talking” to her. “Pakki dushmani thi,” she recalls, in a mock scoff. Name anything possible that could go wrong in a relationship and Deepika says, all of those did: “misunderstandings, communication gap, two big egos.” Batch mates at the Tata Academy in 2008 when they started, Deepika remembers not getting to know him at all initially. “He didn’t know Hindi then, so he wouldn’t talk to me.”
They would continue to shoot in mixed team events and practice alongside but in 2011, they formally fought. “We must’ve played our first internationals at the same time and had the same goals and ambitions,” Atanu recalls. “But random, childish fights blew up. Kuchh bhi cheez pe bachpanaa tha. Something as small as ‘why did you take my bottle of water?….” Neither knew what had snapped, neither was willing to relent.

2017, they would reconnect, and swiftly fall in love. “2018, we suddenly decided. Quickly families were also informed, so it became a love-cum-arranged marriage,” Deepika says, two years after both had headed to the Olympics, with the disappointment still raw on certain triggers.

The spotlight of being a precocious talent and pressures of expectation have always unsettled Deepika, rendering her a tad high-strung. Reminding her of previous Olympics – disappointing campaigns after a hyped build-up – still leaves her prickly. “Why do you media want to always compare this with previous times?” she asks. But she’s pleasantly at peace with all the uncertainty of this year with the pandemic postponing the Games, and her pragmatism has rubbed off on Atanu too.

“During the lockdown, we’d see on social media how foreign competitors had set up practice ranges in their compounds. We were in India, our Coronavirus situation was different. And we don’t have those big backyards. That doesn’t mean that when the time comes next year, we will not be as good as them,” she states with confidence. “We know how good our level is. We’ll see them in competition.”

The self belief has always been there. The poise and a lightness of being – she laughs out loudly and freely, jokes about her shortcomings when she shoots – is new. “Atanu is very calm and composed as a person, and patient with others. No tension, no fear. Game (form) can go up and down. But he doesn’t change or stop being caring. I’m learning that,” she says.

COMEBACK TRAVAILS

The enforced lockdown which pinned the duo to their home post marriage, played its part in calming Deepika down. Food set the tone, she recalls. “My in-laws had never tasted pancakes,” Deepika says of the perfectly flipped and browned breakfast routine, she’d picked up on her international tours over the years. “I really admire Bengali food, so I helped in preparations. But I was very happy when they liked the pancakes which they hadn’t tried before, and pasta and dosa I made for them,” she recalls.

Priming for trials and qualification meets in May, training had abruptly halted in March. “Olympics got postponed, so we decided we could get married after World Championships. But everything was so uncertain there was no point in long-term plans. Marriage during pandemic was risky, but we did all we could to keep it small, intimate and follow all safety measures,” Atanu says. “Maybe for our parents it was tough to keep it so limited, but we put our foot down.”
Lockdown brought its broth of emotions. “It’s difficult for sports people because max, we are used to being home for a week or 10 days. Here we could do nothing and it was frustrating. But at the same time, so many migrants were struggling to reach home and there were tragic deaths. Atleast we were safe. So we knew we were fortunate while so many others suffered,” he says.

Not much was achieved in terms of fitness at home then, he confesses, except distracted yoga and meditation. Then routine set in. “I’d help out in the kitchen and make chicken curry at times, play Call of Duty and dance when bored. We’d take turns to broom the house. And just remind ourselves, we were lucky to get to spend time with family,” Atanu says.

Deepika found the mundane repetitions in sweeping the floor therapeutic, she says laughing, about dealing with her boredom, so suddenly after she’d psyched herself up to help India’s women’s recurve team, qualify – the challenge hangs like a sword again. She’d allow the fate of her Raagi dosa on any given morning, decide how happy she’d feel. “Atanu never liked Raagi dosa. So I became obsessed with making him like it,” she says of her fiddle.

The bow strings and arrow fletches meanwhile fell into disuse. “Ghar ka khana thoos thoos ke khaaya. Naturally, standing, shooting capacity and flexibility went for a toss! Suddenly soles of the feet and legs hurt the first few weeks when we returned. Back ki band baj jaati hai. Strength issues were big. But all this meant when we resumed in Pune, motivation was high to get back to earlier form,” she explains.

First came bow-control, something Deepika had never reckoned she’d need to re-learn. “Re-familiarising the body with what shooting feels like took 14 days,” she recalls. It was also the time Pune was being lashed with rains every evening. “My sport doesn’t stop for the rains,” she laughs. “It causes a lot of problems. Water can fill into strings and make them behave differently. Also if it’s raining, you tend to divert attention from technique to the arrow,” she explains. These sessions when it rained helped her crystallise a thinking and technical process to deal with a situation that’s given her plenty of grief earlier.

It would also help her understand the team dynamic in what is a medal event, and help her think beyond herself. “Ofcourse we shoot individually. But a medal only comes if everyone clicks. Coordination and understanding partners and teammates is necessary. You have to be calm and know everyone’s temperament – some team members are cool under pressure, some are little scared, others are very scared!” she says. “I’ve been all three.”

She was made aware to smash her self-absorbed competition bubble by Atanu. “Teamwork in archery is going and collecting others’ arrows. And striking a good working equation with teammates as well as coach, masseurs and even the cook in the training camp kitchen. They are also the team. That patience to look beyond own form is important,” he says.

Atanu noticed his body change shape as he put on the pounds in 6 months, and paid for the gluttony on return to training. “It was just 3-4 kgs excess weight, but it could ruin bow control and there was body pain in first two weeks. 100/200m runs mein haalat kharaab ho jaati thi. When you hold a bow, though poundage and vibration are the same, there’s a break in rhythm and muscles start feeling heavy. Running, flexibility is finished. You run a kilometre and you feel, bhaiyya, let hi jaate hai!” he recalls.

Atanu would watch Deepika pick up training pace with her usual single-mindedness and gape at her ability to focus on the sport once again. Like the flick of a switch. He reckons he’s lucky he can learn all about mental process of climbing back to World No 1 – he’ll simply ask her. And then brace himself for honest unvarnished feedback on exactly what all is lacking in his effort.