It was never formally discussed, but very early in the piece, Chandrashekhar Shetty decided to gift his World Championship medallist son Chirag a cocoon of normalcy, sanitised of high-stress expectations at home.
“We only pray for his and Satwik’s good health. We never ask him questions on badminton,” he says after Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ensured a second Worlds bronze, India’s only medal from the Paris edition.
Chandrashekhar, a hotelier from Mumbai, played a lot of gully cricket in Goregaon and realised his role in Chirag’s life would be unique – being quietly proud of his achievements as a parent, but offering him an enveloping calming silence and distinct absence of probing, poking posers, even when the world hankered after a gold medal and kept reminding him of the misses at the Olympics.
Him, and Chirag’s mother Sujata, never had to bite back spontaneous words of advice, for they could see how he felt hurt, nodded gravely and could go into a shell, without uttering a word when judgments flew his way. They watched him gulping down comments to his face politely – on the streets, at functions, from strangers and well-wishers, not all sensitively worded.
Chirag, a fairly reserved and brooding character, could suffer stoically, so the parents opened another door which wasn’t saturated with badminton, and let some normalcy in.
“We didn’t play top badminton and don’t like to interfere in his training. If it’s anything about the sport, he speaks to coaches, and we only hear, if anything, from them. The Olympics disappointment was very difficult to come out of,” Chandrashekhar says of some dark times.
The bronze medal – “only bronze” – the Indians won in Paris might not meet the lofty standards of Satwik-Chirag’s critics, but as a parent and sports lover who knows of struggles of countless Mumbai cricketers constantly crumbling under expectations, Chandrashekhar knew how to keep equilibrium when being around an elite athlete. “Till today, even after winning India’s only medal this edition, people will still meet Chirag and remind him of the Olympics loss. The two were under incredible pressure to win that medal at the Paris Games,” he recalls.
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Beating Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik at the World Championship not only confirmed the medal, but was the lifting of a big load over their shoulders. Only their families and closest friends knew how it stung, the repeated stabbing at their memories, being told they couldn’t get the job done. So when they did, it was a massive redemption, never mind the loss to the Chinese in the subsequent semifinal, for self-doubt can drag one to the rock bottom that isn’t just deep, but wide. “Every time people tell him he missed out at the Olympics, I say, ‘It happens. Sports teaches you losses. It’s not necessary that you win even after pouring your heart into it. It happens,’” Chandrashekhar says.
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The parents have to pray for Chirag’s health, because not many can look beyond medals in what is clearly one of the most competitive eras in men’s doubles.
Right before setting off for Paris, Chirag would ask his parents to fly down to Hyderabad for a week. “He called us and we stayed at an AirBnB for a week. It was just to calm him down, he could have homely food and not get into the pressure bubble again. The last moment before travelling is always stressful with kits and all. He was cool this time,” Shetty Sr says.
The equanimity has always been there. But because he doesn’t speak much of the pressures on his mind, the parents were relieved they were around, just in case, before he set off to Paris.
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“He’s always had the unique quality, and Satwik too, that they are mature, even in junior days. If he wins, he celebrates for half an hour. If he loses, he is down for a day at most,” he says.
No anger tantrums or hysterics, but also assiduously no shop talk, either. The parents also know he’s happy in Hyderabad.
“In Mumbai, he doesn’t miss a single session. But in Hyderabad, his involvement with badminton increased because of the environment.”
It was Chirag’s back injury, when he walked through intense pain, struggling to sit or stand or turn, when the parents saw him suffer intensely. Still no opening up on what he felt, but they decided the topic of medals would not be broached at home.
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“They were working incredibly hard, but success doesn’t always match effort. We are proud that they fight under intense scrutiny. We see the hard work. Medal or not, we are proud,” Chandrashekhar says.
The two travelled to Amalapuram after the sudden demise of Satwik’s father from the Khel Ratna ceremony and Shetty Sr says, “It has been a very tough year for Satwik, who is so brave. You watch them go through all this, that match at All England (where Chirag played through excruciating pain because he didn’t want to pull out after Satwik had travelled), and of course the medal is not just a simple bronze. We are happy for them,” he says. “They are OK now.”
There’s another oasis away from badminton. A home at their native place between Udupi and Mangaluru, where Chirag takes short unwinding vacations with friends and cousins.
“He has a few school and badminton friends, so he goes off to his native place. Visits a temple, relaxes far away from it all,” the father says. The quiet home offers him freedom of no-badminton.
