Flourish In Suspension

A self-made community of gymnasts draws inspiration out of their own Dipa’s valiant attempt at Rio

- Dola Mitra

“I read in the newspaper that some society lady in Mumbai commented that our Indian athletes go to the Olympics to take selfies and eat free food, only to return empty­handed...without medals,” says Dulal Karmakar, shaking his head disapprovingly. He is sitting in his drawing room at Abhay Nagar, a lower­middle­class neighbourhood in Tripura’s capital Agartala. His daughter, 23­year­old Dipa Karmakar, made history this year by coming fourth in the women’s vault event in gymnastics at the Olympics, performing the high­risk Produnova vault successfully. “We are all very sad that she missed the bronze by a fraction of a score point but we are not that needy that she has to go to Rio to get free food,” he says. His wife Gouri cuts in to add, “And she is not that much into selfies either. She is very shy about publicity. Once we were out shopping and people recognised her, she just rushed out of the store.”