Quick Gun Ramanna

From the Asiad to school championship's his steady trigger finger has launched a thousand races. As one of the nation's oldest and most respected starters at athletic events, Ramanna has devised his own unique pistol for the purpose.

This story so happened when I went to cove the Inter School athletic meet at the Kanteerva stadium when I saw an old friend Ramanna sir, (as he was known to us in 1980 - 85 when I used to take part in the Inter school Athletic meets), to my surprise Ramanna sir was there after a gap of more than 23 years, still firing away his pistol at the starting point. This time he had a modernized pistol which he had designed himself which he does always. So I quickly walked up to him wished him and he at once recognized me to my luck. I quickly asked him if I could write about him and his passion for making pistol used for starting any race, to which he obliged and below is the story which was published in the Bangalore Mirror edition on July 3rd, 2008.

GET SET, READY, GO RAMANNA
His is a life as an aperitif. Unobtrusive, not quite the main course but the mandatory shot required to set things into motion. That about sums up A Ramanna’s life, as a starter at athletic events across the country. A vocation requiring a split second of work, but a critical second at that.
For, can any of the athletes sprint across without Ramanna’s boom. A starter is the person who sounds the gun-shot at athletic events, the boom sounding the go-ahead for runners poised in their on-your-mark positions. And Ramanna has been doing this for a livelihood for decades now, since 1978.

70 year old Ramanna the Race Starter fires to start yet another race in the Inter school meet in Bangalore on Wednesday 2nd July 2008. Ramanna fires from his own patented pistol which has two triggers, one for starting the race and the other to recall the runner in case of a foul start. He also trains youngesters who are intrested in becoming starters.

The septuagenarian has grown so fond of his job of 30 years, that he has now designed his own pistol or starting gun. “I have collected sulphur from crackers, made pellets of them and designed a contraption that holds this in place, like a pistol. But this can be used only for sports, it only makes the right sound and emits some smoke but is not dangerous at all” explains Ramanna.

LABOUR OF LOVE
Surprisingly, the man, who has been with the Karnataka State Athletic Association, has thus far not received a single gun for this rather important shot. This prompted him to design his own pistols and distribute them free to sundry starters across the country. “I have not received any encouragement from the Association but I’m doing this for myself because I love this job. When there is an athletic meet, I just get some remuneration “says Ramanna, who according to the rolls of the Association is called a Technical Official.
Name any major athletic meet in any part of the country and he’s been there, right from the Asiad at New Delhi in 1982 to the recent Inter National athletic meet in Bangalore. He has stepped out of India once to Sri Lanka for a sporting event. The 70-year old has designed some 15 pistols or starter guns so far, all with his own money.

A PERFECTIONIST
When he’s not attending athletic meets, he meticulously collects information on the right kind of starter pistol that can go off without any hitch. As some other officials at the Kantreeva stadium recall, there have been days when a gong or some other gun had to be used for the purpose when athletes would literally be waiting with bated breath. “The latest one I have designed has two triggers, one for the actual shot and another for recalling, if an anxious runner starts before the signal is sounded,” says Ramanna.
Smoking barrels, doesn’t the Athletic Association really think he doesn’t deserve a thing for wielding a megaphone and sounding a start?
Says Satyanarayana, secretary of the KSAA, “Ramanna retired from HAL and whenever he is the starter at a meet, he gets Rs 1000 a day. There are lots of people like him who work as starters simply for the work enjoyment ad the sense of involvement.