When Kasturi Rajamurty won a gold medal in powerlifting at the WPPL World Cup in Russia, she sure had come a long way.
From a life of penury to constantly being short of funds to fuel her passion, she had finally triumphed, and how.
When Kasturi Rajamurty, 21, heard the word 'tandoori' three times during the results of the 48-kg category powerlifting at the WPPL World Cup in Novosibirsk, Russia in November 2024 she was almost in tears.
She did not understand Russian and thought she had lost the Championship till she found everyone staring at her. And why not? She had just won the gold medal in this category and was handed the National Flag by a tea-mmate.
"I did not get up at first because the announcer said 'tandoori' three times," she tells me when I meet her in Chennai. Probably that is the way Russians pronounce Kasturi.
Her return to India with her gold medal was euphoric and she was received by the media at Delhi. What she said was lost in translation, the next day's newspapers announced: 'Porter's daughter wins gold medal'. In Tamil, when she said 'My mother works as a coolie', it meant she is a daily wage labourer at a construction site. But the Delhi media took the Hindi meaning of coolie literally.
At the Le Royal Meridien hotel in Chennai, Kasturi looks thin, petite and pretty, and out of place in the lobby.
She recounts her life and how she excelled in not one, but two sports; how she chose a sport for the first time and 18 months later, became a world champion.
Kasturi studied at a government Tamil medium school in Cheyyar, Tiruvannamalai district in rural Tamil Nadu.
She started playing football from Class 7. By the time she reached Class 9, she was in the school's football team and playing for the state.
"I played in Salem in the state football championship and we won. With that certificate, I got admission in the prestigious Ethiraj College, Chennai, where I underwent trials again. While the college exempted me from hostel fees, I had to pay for tuition and food."
It wasn't easy for her as her father suffered from mental illness while her mother was a daily wage worker at construction sites. She has two elder sisters.
One had a postgraduate degree in Maths and was preparing for the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, while the other had an MBA. Both studied with the help of bank loans.
Her family was hesitant to send her to a city at such a young age, but she was determined and knew she could look after herself.
"I did not even have enough money to pay for my food, but the head of the department of maths at Ethiraj, Prabha Ma'am, paid for my food, Rs 3,000 a month, for six months. I graduated in BSc (Mathematics)."
Knowing this situation could not continue for long, she started looking for a club or company for whom she could play football.
The Street Lights club liked her game and helped her find a sponsor who paid her tuition and hostel fees and food bills till she graduated.
Though she made it into the state university team, she could not get into the national team. "Even my best efforts went in vain against players older than me," she rues.
In the second year of college she decided to choose an individual event which did not require a team.
In April 2023, she went home for the holidays and decided one day to go to the construction site where her mother was working.
He mother was 52 years old and carrying bricks, gravel and cement with ease. "I realised that I had the same genes as her and if she could do it, why not me? I decided to take up weightlifting. There were very few weights in the Ethiraj College gym so I had to find a sports club for weightlifting. I couldn't find one, but I came across powerlifting on Instagram. I decided to go for it."
In weightlifting, one has to lift the weights to shoulder height and then over the head. In powerlifting, one has to lift the weights, stand up with them and then lie down with them on one's chest and raise them. No easy task this.
Rajamurty had promised her family that she would enter the Nationals in her final year. Her teachers in Ethiraj informed her that there were state level and national level competitions in powerlifting and she decided that this is what she would do.
Her perseverance paid off as she found a coach on Instagram and joined his club. She asked for special training and he obliged. She joined in May 2023, and would go for football practice in the morning and powerlifting in the evening.
Her coach, Bhagwati master, worked at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. Her training helped her win a district tournament in October in the 48kg category.
She next won a state level tournament. In December 2023, she entered the national championships for the first time. It was held in Maharashtra and she came fourth.
This was enough to get her full scholarship at Ethiraj. With free tutions, food and hostel in her final year, life had eased up.
In January 2024, there was a district championship in Chennai, which she won. She also won the university championship, but was not selected for the team as there was a weight norm for selection and she could not reach it.
Nonetheless, her college gave her a certificate of appreciation for being an outstanding student and reaching such a high level of proficiency in just one year, and also a cash prize.
In February 2024, she won the state tournament and in May, went for the nationals. This time it was held in Delhi and she won that too. After graduation, she went home and decided to prepare for public entrance exams in order to get a government job.
Two months later, she got an offer letter to enter an international tournament in Europe; three persons were selected from Tamil Nadu. But before that, she had to pay the visa fees of Rs 20,000, which she did not have. She approached her MLA who took her to a minister who gave her the money.
Unfortunately, the tournament was cancelled due to the war in Ukraine and the visa fees were not refunded either.
A month later, she got an invite for the World Championship in Russia. "We were all worried that this too would get cancelled. I was the only one from Tamil Nadu. From the rest of the country, one person was selected in the 89kg category and two, in the 110kg category. I was the only girl in the team."
But she needed money to go for the championship. She again approached the MLA, but he said he had to get permission from the sports minister.
She then approached Street Lights, the club that helped her in college. They gave her Rs 1 lakh, but she needed Rs 2 lakh more.
The intrepid girl that she was, she then appealed to an uncle to approach Madras High Court Justice N Kirubakaran, who is from a village near Cheyyar.
Her uncle gave the task to a lawyer, Bhaskar, who circulated her appeal among fellow lawyers. It finally reached the judge, who called Kasturi.
Justice Kirubakaran wanted to help the village girl, agreed to sponsor her trip and paid the rest of the Rs 2 lakh.
Finally, with the blessings of family and friends, she left on November 19 for Russia. Her uncle accompanied her to Delhi and saw her off.
While she knew English, her team members spoke only Hindi, but they managed as she knew a smattering of Hindi. None knew Russian.
The powerlifting federation in Russia received them at the airport and took them to their place of stay.
The next day before the competition started, they were weighed. Rajamurthy was only 42 kg, but competing in the 48kg category. She was surprised and the organisers, shocked.
That day, the men went to eat at KFC. She did not eat as she doesn't like the oil used at KFC. Instead, she ate soaked green moong dal and dry fruits carried from home. There was an Indian restaurant, but nobody to take her there.
There were six women in her weight category -- three from Russia and two from Africa. The next day was the finals and three girls were competing, including her.
"We all did our best and when the winner was announced, I did not budge as all I heard was 'tandoori'," she says.
"The third time they announced, I realised that people were staring at me. I got up in a daze and one of my team members handed me the Indian flag. They gave me a gold medal, a mantle piece and a certificate.
"I could not believe that I had done it. I cried happily. I had lifted three times my weight. One Russian official went out and brought rice and curry for me."
"The Indian Olympic Association has called me to be a part of the weightlifting team for the next Olympics. I have to concentrate on the Olympics and also get a job as it is time I looked after my mother and family."
As I was clicking Kastur's photograph with the medals and mantle piece, the chef at the Le Royal Meridien and manager came to our table. They congratulated her and took pictures.
I had ordered coffee for himself and milk for her. The bill was lying on the table. When the chef left, he took the bill with him. "It's complimentary from us to the World Champion," he said.
Talk about powerlifting.
Edited by Shobha John.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
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