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By the time Pavitra Rao turned 18; she had captained her school basketball team, become a star player in her
college team and excelled in district-level championships of the game. She was tipped to become a state player of that
fast-moving, anything-can-happen-in-the-last-minute game, when fate ruled otherwise and brought rowing along her way.
She joined a summer rowing camp, a then-new initiative to inculcate rowing amongst young teenagers.
She was accompanied by her older sister, Arati Rao and their friend Vijaya Chari. Although she began to row only
then, rowing as a sport was not new to her. Her father, Prabhakar Rao, himself had an illustrious stint on the Adyar river.
By the middle of her 18th year, I, Gayatri, joined the three eager rowers and along with Chatura Rao as the coxswain,
we strove on the murky waters of the Adyar river to forge a reputation of skill, strength and style.
The reputation was over the next three years backed by enough gold medals for the team to be called "the golden girls".
From 1988 until 1990 the team was unbeaten in the National Rowing Championships, the Annual ARAE regattas and
the inter-university championships representing Madras University. For all the praises and the laurels that were
received from well-wishers, Pavitra would always greet them with a beautiful, humble smile and a graceful thank you.
As a team, nothing and no challenge seemed impossible. After a convincing win at the 1989 Nationals, the team was a
shoo-in for the Asian rowing camp. After winning silvers at the Asian rowing Championships in Chandigarh, gold and
silver medals were won in the Hong Kong Open Rowing Championships.
The next challenge was to represent India in the Eleventh Asian Games. It seemed impossible. But that was without taking
into account the energy, dedication and commitment of the team. 1990 saw the four winning a time-trail to become the
first Indian women's team to represent India in the Asian Games. Another remarkable first was that the team was from
the same state, the same club, with no changes. Pushing the team through, guiding them, assisting them, driving them
was a man who did it all for the love of the sport - Chacko Kandathil.
To know and understand the person Pavitra was, it is necessary to know her contribution to rowing and to her team's
success at the Madras Boat Club. Boat Club was her second home. It was where she lived four years of her lovely life.
She carried some of the same boats that reside now in the club's sheds - coxed pairs, coxless pairs, junior pairs,
senior pairs, the fours - Indira, Tara. Those boats bear her mark as much as their oars soaked in her sweat. She puffed
and panted with the rest of us, groaned and moaned through schedules tougher than anyone really knows. Pavi had a knack
of making light the most grueling schedules. She would simply request us to start quickly so we could finish quickly.
She never lost an opportunity to laugh and kept the rest of us, especially Arati, from being so serious in our efforts
as to lose perspective that at the end of the day we are all human, (and thereby entitled to a break!). She loved the
boat club lime-juice as much as any rower ever has. She adored Hindi movies and managed to drag us all to see an
Aamir Khan starrer in Pune on a precious off-day - yes, including Chacko.
Pavitra had a very simple mantra - live for today! Enjoy life and don't complain about what you cannot control. She had
enormous respect for her father and overwhelming love for her mother. She loved her grandmother, "bapamma", who she never
missed in her prayers. She always greeted family elders by touching their feet. Her favorite chocolate was Cadbury's diary
milk - without nuts or fruit, please. She was addicted to Rajaram's peanut candy. A piece had to be relished after every
lunch. If it had run out, she would trundle along the dusty road under the hot Madras sun in her father's
black ambassador (given for the team's exclusive use to and from the boat club) to the grocery shop next door to pick up
a fresh batch. Her favorite color was pink. Such a Pavi-favorite, that if it had to be anything she used, it had to
be pink! The only exceptions were the club colors, the boats and the oars.
There was nothing half-hearted about what Pavi did. She fell in love with Shashi Jacob, and was absolutely dedicated
and impossibly true to that love. She and Shashi built their world brick by brick. After marriage and the birth of Sneha
and Ahaan, they along with Shashi were her world. There is no other way to put it. Wherever she went, she was the ray of
sunshine that lit everyone else around her. It seemed to follow her around, even when it rained. Her cheerfulness was
infectious. With her around, smiles were easy, even when the going was tough. If it all had to end on a tragic day in
South Africa and on a holiday, it can only begin again every time we think of her and smile. It is probably what she
would have asked for.
May her soul rest in peace!
- Gayatri Acharya
Pictures courtesy Arati Rao and Vijaya Chari
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