An evening with Ms Pragnya Mohan
Introduction
On November 29, we had a very engaging session by Pragnya Mohan, Ahmedabad based Chartered Accountant and International Athlete. She is the current Indian Triathlon Champion.About Ms Pragnya Mohan
In May 2019, Ms Pragnya Mohan became the first Indian ever at the Triathlon World Cup. She led India in the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, UK. In the last few years, Ms Mohan has competed across countries in Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa. Ms Mohan’s complete domination of the field in National Games, 2022 and National Championship, 2023 left her competition stunned. Ms Mohan loves adventure sports and is also a trained paragliding pilot. For her sports achievements she was conferred with the Gujarat State's top Sports Honour - the Eklavya Award. She has over the last 20 years won 500+ medals. Ms Mohan has been able to balance her academics with sports successfully. A good science student till the 12th standard, she qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2017. As a CA student she made paper presentations in eight National and International Conventions even winning a Best Paper Presenter award. Ms Mohan is a gifted communicator. She has given TEDx talks at IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore. She also regularly speaks at the CA and CA Student platforms. Sports media follows her actively. The BBC, Doordarshan, IOC and some private channels have made exclusive documentaries and programs on her. These are available on YouTube. Ms Mohan is associated with International Olympic Committee, the organisers of Olympic Games, in its Young Leaders program. She is the only Indian in a batch of 25 from 25 different countries. Her life story (so far) was covered in a book ‘Nightingales-2.0: How Eleven Women showed Grit, Guts and Gumption’ written by Chennai based Chartered Accountants, Pattabhi Ram and Sivakumar R.About Triathlon
Triathlon starts with 1500 metres of swimming followed by 40 kilometres of cycling and finally a run of 10 kilometres. Besides tremendous endurance, the sport requires expertise in all three individual sports. It calls for a high degree of mental alertness to deploy tactical actions in the race.
On Endurance
Endurance (physical and mental) is the secret to success in everything we do. Endurance is more than winning or passing an exam. It is about overcoming obstacles, embracing the process, discovering our strengths and moving forward.
On resilience
As a student, Ms Mohan would study at night, wake up at 4 am, and go for practice before going for her CA internship. She was racing against time on the triathlon course while trying to meet various deadlines in her CA course. What kept her going was resilience, discipline and the power of small steps.
Setbacks are inevitable. It is not about how fast we go. It is about not giving up. It is not about perfection. It is about effort. What matters is not the destination but the journey. To build resilience, we must visualize ourselves crossing the finish line. Failure is the stepping stone to success.
On breaking it down
Triathlon is a gruelling event. At the start, it is overwhelming. The secret of triathlon is to break it down into small steps- swim first, then cycle and finally run. Thinking of the entire event can be overwhelming. But if we approach the task one stride, one stroke and one pedal at a time, it is easier to handle.
The CA exam is no joke. The syllabus is huge and can be overwhelming. Again, breaking it down into one chapter and one concept at a time, helps.
On embracing discomfort
Any tough pursuit such as the CA or triathlon can be uncomfortable. But it is when we feel discomfort that growth happens.
In 2014, just before her first triathlon, Ms Mohan had a bad accident. Four days before the event, she fell down and was dragged for several metres. She was battered and bruised. But her coach told her that this was her first medal. She decided to compete. Despite feeling numb from the painkillers, she focused on testing her limit and won the title. The experience taught her that even in difficult circumstances it is possible to take part and win.
In the 2021 national cycling championship (80 km), about 800 metres from the finish line, Ms Mohan (the favourite to win the race) crashed with 15 other cycles. Even as she lay on the ground with pain, some cycles rode over her. She picked herself up and within a month recovered from the accident. Soon she hit peak form. She won the national open water swimming championship and many more events in the coming months.
Pain is inevitable. It does not define us. It is only a temporary feeling. It is how we respond that matters. if we respond in the right way, we will grow. Discomfort and pain are proof that we are stretching ourselves and growing. So, we should embrace discomfort and not shy away from it. Adversity strengthens our character.
On team support
No one finishes triathlon alone. It may be an individual event. But there is a team (family, friends, strangers who are cheering us on) behind every successful athlete. We must build our support system. It is very motivating to feel that someone has our back. We should also be there for others.
On fear and uncertainty
Ms Mohan’s scariest moment was in Australia as a 22-year-old in 2017. During a training session, she had a serious crash. Her memory was wiped clean. She had broken bones and had to undergo surgery. She was in a foreign country, all alone and isolated. She did not know where she was when she woke up in the hospital. But she composed herself and got on to the task ahead.
Fear and uncertainty can build us or break us. The choice is with us. We should look at fear as a sign that we are pushing our boundary.
Endurance formula
Here are some tips from Ms Mohan to build our physical and mental strength.
Exercise is important. About 30 minutes of daily exercise can give us 2 hours of energetic productivity. And it is fun. The world feels lighter.
We should provide the right fuel to our body. We should avoid junk food.
Sleep is sacred. Sleep is when the body repairs itself. We must sleep for at least 7 hours.
Recreation is necessary. We should make time for fun. Balance is key.
Consistent effort is more important than sudden bursts of effort. Be steady even if the progress is slow.
In a gruelling event such as the triathlon, the body tends to give up well before the finish line. It is the mind which keeps us going.
Social impact: Ek Beti Ek Cycle
Almost 60% of girls in rural India are not completing high school. They face various challenges. One of them is commuting from home to school. Ms Mohan is executing a social impact project “Ek Beti Ek Cycle” by collecting “not in use” bicycles from city school students, refurbishing these and handing them over to girl students (often by the donor kids) at rural high schools. The girls (after training) use the cycles to commute 3 to 5 km (one way) to school. Once they finish school, they return the cycle which are refurbished and given to a new batch.
Improving school attendance was the expected outcome of the project. But an increase in stamina and confidence has been observed by the teachers among the girls who use cycles regularly. The cycle has opened new worlds for these girls. They have become more aspiring and dream of becoming engineers, doctors, athletes, etc. They are determined to break barriers and shatter stereotypes.
Sustainability
Climate change is a threat to sports as well. Recent incidents have confirmed our worst fears. For example, water quality affected the triathlon event during the Paris Olympics. From last year, we have seen climate change playing out in the form of rising temperatures and humidity making it difficult for sportspeople to compete.
Since 2023 Ms Mohan has embraced sustainability in sports and now speaks at various forums on climate change and its impact on Sports. She was a speaker at the Climate Action Conference, Baku, Azerbaijan (COP 29), where she shared the stage with Olympic champion, David Rudisha. She has been nominated for BBC Green Award and Next Gen Trailblazer on sustainability issues based on her project Ek Beti Ek Cycle.
Concluding remarks
We are stronger than we think. Challenges may come our way. But we can overcome them. We should break down any challenging task. We should embrace discomfort. We should build a support system.
Taking tiny steps, such as climbing the stairs can build our endurance. Return on endurance is unparalleled. It pays off with energy, happiness and success. No matter how many times we fall, we lose only when we quit.
The best is yet to come. So, we must keep moving forward. We will reach the finish line.
Q&A
As a child, Ms Mohan had full family support. In fact, she grew up in a sporting family. Long distance running was a tradition in the family. She began to swim at a very young age. Soon she became the sports teacher’s pet. She took up multiple sports (including long distance basketball, tennis, table tennis, running, badminton, skating, rock climbing) with a focus on swimming. It was in college that she began to focus on triathlon.
Responding to another question, Ms Mohan added that she had tried different sports before settling on triathlon. She would compete in cycling, swimming and running events. She found that she was individually good in all the three sports at the national level. So, she decided to opt for triathlon in 2013.
Ms Mohan emphasised that children should explore many things before deciding on what they want to do. This is exactly what the chess champion Viswanathan Anand told the students when he visited her school. Only by trying out different things, we will know what we really like and what will click for us.
While Ms Mohan enjoyed sports, it was all along understood that education was equally important. She came from a science background but thoroughly enjoyed the CA course. She found accounting very logical and mathematical. Her favourite subject in school was maths. She did not attend any coaching classes. In fact, to save time, she did not even attend regular college. She also cut out all time wasters like watching television.
Ms Mohan joined an MNC, EY for her articleship and found the workload too heavy. There was little time for sports. So going against conventional wisdom (Most CAs intern with MNCs to get job offers.), she joined a mid-level firm. When making these trade-offs and tough decisions, she consulted her well-wishers (who had done something in this area) and gained confidence.
Being a CA has made her feel at home in different cities. There are CAs everywhere (in India and abroad). Her training also has helped her to understand the importance of data and how it can be used to improve processes. Sports is becoming data driven.
In short, academics has helped Ms Mohan to do well in sports. On the other hand, her sports background has enabled her to cope with stress as a practising CA.
During times of stress, when we are completely stretched, we should not feel overwhelmed and panic. If we panic, we will not be able to put things in perspective. We should keep calm, if required with the help of some deep breathing or meditation for a minute or two.
We should break the task down and delegate where possible. Self-motivation is also important. We should reassure ourselves that it is a temporary phase and things will get better.
We must make girls feel that it is ok to take part in sports. We should create safe spaces for women to practice. They are more vulnerable to adverse situations. Role models are important. If girls can relate to role models, they will feel connected and empowered.
Ms Mohan would like to continue as an athlete. She would like to focus on sustainability and climate change which is directly affecting sports. She also has plans to scale up the Ek Beti Ek Cycle initiative across India. She wants to inspire girls to get into sports. There is no shortage of talent. We just need to provide the right opportunities and support.
Ms Mohan is planning to spend a lot of time spreading awareness about sustainability. Climate change is indeed the biggest crisis the world is facing. We must work as a team with perseverance and resilience.
Sports has billions of followers across the world. When Ronaldo chose to drink water instead of coke, the stock prices of Coca Cola fell sharply. This example shows that sports personalities can make a great impact and drive the sustainability agenda in the right direction.
Another important point to note is that the global south is at the receiving end of climate change. However, the south has been less of a contributor compared to developed countries. So, any global solution is not possible without proper support to the poorer countries who also aspire to develop and raise their living standards.
Ms Mohan would also like to work in the area of menstrual hygiene. She wants to create more awareness of the topic which is normally discussed inside closed doors. The menstrual cup is user friendly, sustainable and pain free for women.
Ms Mohan would also like to promote swimming as a way of life. Many Indians cannot swim. But swimming is an essential life skill. These days, with growing affluence, many people go for vacations to beaches. In such situations, people are extremely vulnerable if they do not know how to swim. Ms Mohan wants to teach young people swimming.
At elite levels, all sports people are in great physical condition. What makes the difference is the mindset. The winner’s mindset separates the champions from the others. This applies to entrepreneurs as well.
One participant mentioned that endurance and perseverance are missing in today’s younger generation. They want quick results. What can we do about this? Ms Mohan felt that endurance cannot be taught. it must be experienced. One way to learn endurance is to get into a sport or a hobby. We should keep going at it daily for about 30 minutes to begin with. Then we can scale up and get better and better. This kind of an approach will make young people understand that results do not come overnight. To qualify for the Olympics, one must practice for at least 10 years.