What about your academic studies?

Right now, I'm doing my second year BA in Mount Carmels. What I'm looking forward to do is sports psychology. I'm very interested in psychology and we have only about three or four sports psychologist in India. It is very sad, we didn't even have a sports psychologist with our team at the Olympics. Even if you train very, very hard in the water, it doesn't mean you are going to do swim in a competition. You can be the best work out swimmer, but it is your mental strength in competition that counts.

As a sportsperson, I want to do that and understand myself better and understand the sport better. They have got very some good courses in Australia. I have to finish my degree and sit for some exams to try to get some scholarships to study there and once I stop swimming, I can continue my association with sports and hopefully travel with the swimming teams (the Indian swimming teams) all over when they go for competition.

With your exposure do you think the lack of a sports psychologist is a lacuna in Indian sports?

Definitely yes... even the cricket team, I think doesn't have a sports psychologist. It's one of the main things and very important for us to be mentally tough. We always see Indian sportspersons come up to the finals, but unable to finish in the medal bracket. It has nothing to do with how hard you are training. You may be training very hard, but it is the mental strength that carries you in a tough competition.

In Australia, my whole team used to meet the psychologist in Perth about once in two or three months and even that helped so much. You don't realise how much stress your friends, your family are putting on you. You have to have a lot of confidence in yourself – especially now for me after my back injury. I have been fortunate to have lots of sports people as my friends. They are helping me from their own experiences – Gopi had a very bad knee problem, Aparna Popat, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi… all of them have spoken to me and given me confidence. More than that I also need a sports psychologist to talk to.

But, Indians do have some reservations to a sports psychologist…

Yes, there is some reservation to a sport psychologist. A psychologist must be appointed with the team and instead of having the swimmers meet with the psychologist individually, we can have a whole team discussion. Like in Perth, we used to have, the psychologist tells about ways to deal with our emotions and everything and we could ask her questions. If you are not comfortable, you are feeling afraid, you can keep quiet and listen to what others say.

I think it is important even though people have a notion that you go to a psychologist only when you are crazy. But, in sports it is very, very necessary and it is something, I think, every sportsperson needs. Because your coach can offer you only so much when it comes to training, your physical trainer can give you advise on weights, but then who is there to help you mentally?

Luckily I have had it good as my parents have been very, very motivated and helped me out in every way, they know about my swimming, not to put too much pressure on my studies and everything. There are many sportspersons whose parents don't even know what they are doing. For those people they really need somebody to talk to.

What has been the most supporting aspect in carrying you through your surgery and come back?

One of the best things to have happened to me is that I have had two years off. Even though, I was swimming, I was in a lot of pain before my surgery. And I had ample opportunities, like my parents and everyone around me told me why don't you quit swimming when you are in so much pain. You go on to the Olympics, you done this and that. But, I was not really satisfied, because going to the Olympics and qualifying is just one step. I feel I can still do so much more and I'm still young.

Lots of people doubt and are still doubting if I'll get back. I have the confidence in myself and luckily my coach is very helpful, my teammates, family have been very helpful, in fact, I was at the hospital and every day I was getting calls from my teammates, my relatives – all of them saying get back soon, we know you can get back into competition. People having that confidence in you really helps. And when you don't swim for so long then you realise that you want to swim because of yourself and not for anybody else, not for medals, you just want to swim and do your best. So I think I'll swim much better when I get back, as I'm so much more motivated.

Are you still undergoing physiotherapy for the surgery?

I'm undergoing physiotherapy and working on strengthening some muscles, I never knew I had. I'm working hard on that and it is very, very tough. Because with physiotherapy you have to build very slowly and I've tried not to take it very fast. I'm so anxious to get back that I'm hurrying things. But, my physiotherapist told me to take it easy, just get back into things slowly and build my muscles.

Basically my muscles strength is not strong at all, especially after two years off. I want to get back there and hopefully in another one month I’ll be swimming my full workouts and by December I hope to be competing.

What about the highs and lows in your career so far?

I wouldn't even say that this back problem was my low. My low would be in 1995 when I was still a sub-junior and was winning at the senior level, that got into my head, I became very complacent and I thought I would win the next year. In 1995, I lost every event and won only silvers. That woke me up and it showed me… also going abroad to places America and Australia, I realised in India that I might be number one in India or South Asia, but there were so many more swimmers – like in America there may be 50 or 60 swimmers faster than me or my speed. So you have to be humble in this sport, 1995 taught me that and that was one of the lowest years of my life. Luckily, I moved to Bangalore and that gave a lot of confidence.

One of my highs would be the whole of 2000, because first all I got the International Olympic Committee (IOC) scholarship to train in Perth, Australia, after that I swam in the Australian junior nationals and qualified for the Olympics – which has been my dream, a few months later my dad called up and said that I had received the Arjuna Award and I also signed my Adidas contract that year. So, 2000 was an amazing year and I hope to have quite a few more years like that (laughs).

What is your favourite food?

I love Chinese food and pizzas, which is not healthy. I have been trying to get healthy now as I have put on some weight obviously with this lay off. What I'm trying to do now is moderate my eating and eat a bit of everything. I love my junk food unfortunately. I love chocolates, if I have chocolates I'm quite happy.

How do you unwind and what is your favourite past time?

We don't get much time apart from our swimming because we swim six days a week. Only on Wednesdays we get an off. What I like to do is go for a movie with my friends. Most of my friends are sports people. Other friends tend not to realise, they say just miss today nothing will happen, just miss one session. They don't realise how important every swimming session is for me. I go out have a pizza may be, I go to Corner House, which is one of my favourite ice cream parlours and then just relax at home with family and friends. I go into the computers a lot, surf and chat with my friends all over the world. It keeps me busy.

Which is your favourite holiday spot?

I have been to a lot of nice places. I love Malaysia and Australia of course. Australia is a beautiful place. In fact, the beaches are so clean and nice, people are so friendly, you can just go and relax…the standard of life is much better. I'm hoping eventually to even settle down in Australia, let us see.