Exclusive: Lockdown days: Meditation, home simulators, Netflix: This is how racer Akhil Rabindra keeps himself occupied

Bengaluru, April 20: The sporting fraternity is one of the worst-hit due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak which has brought the world to a standstill. Athletes all over the world are staying indoors and resorting to various activities to keep themselves busy during these testing times.

Similarly, young moto racer from Bengaluru, Akhil Rabindra, is keeping things simple by utilising whatever equipments he has at home and plays tennis for his cardio. Akhil is meditating these days to keep himself mentally fit, something he has never done in the past.

Akhil, who was the only Asian to be selected for the Aston Martin Drivers Academy last year, practices on the simulators and plays e-sports to keep himself accustomed with the race tracks while staying indoors.

The 23-year-old racer in an interview with MyKhel gave a sneak peek of his daily activities and how he keeps himself motivated staying indoors.

Here are the excerpts:

MyKhel: What are you doing these days during the lockdown and how are you keeping yourself fit?

Akhil Rabindra: It's definitely a challenging time for all of us staying home but we got to make the most of it. I am approaching this by keeping things very simple where I'm utilising all the equipment at home for my workouts, eating clean to maintain my weight and getting a good night's sleep. I am trying to play some sports tennis for my cardio and some other sports too.

MK: How are the racers keeping fit without any track time?

AR: A lot of us have home simulators where we can drive whichever car we want and possibly any track in the world. E-sports has also picked up on a drastic scale where racers are competing with other racers from all over the world. Though a sim can only help with so much, nothing can replace real testing on the track.

MK: What mental exercises are you doing to keep yourself mentally fit during the lockdown?

AR: I have never done a lot of mental exercises, but I am starting to mediate a bit these days. I'm slowly starting with a few minutes and hopefully, I can get up to a decent time without getting distracted. Sometimes, I do visualise the tracks I have driven where I go through my mental notes on each corner of the track and relive it.

MK: With so many global events being put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, how bad is it going to hit the racers this year?

AR: This has definitely been very difficult for many industries and a lot of people worldwide; most major sporting leagues have been postponed for the time being, but they seem to kickstart once all this is over. For us racers/other sportspeople we suddenly got a lot of times on our hands to work on ourselves and come out stronger after the lockdown.

MK: When do you think global events are going to resume and how are you planning to prepare?

AR: Its difficult to judge currently, as different nations are at different stages and are tackling differently. I think everyone is working together to cooperate and fight this together. If I had to guess it would be sometime after June or maybe even July but it's definitely going to be different than before.

MK: How has been your performance in the past few months on the race track?

AR: All the racing I have done was during the tail end of last year, the races went well and had some good results. There are always things we can work on to become better and to push ourselves for being consistent.

MK: What all are you doing at home for your time pass? Anything special you are doing at home?

AR: Watching a lot of TV shows, I'm currently watching suits which is very interesting. Helping out at home by doing some of the domestic work, I also work that occupies most of my weekdays. So yeah, working out, work, domestic work and Netflix is pretty much what my days look like.