Tanmay Garg and Shantanu Barve, both 23, both did their master’s in Nice and moved to Paris just over a year ago. Both are among the few Parisians who have remained in the city and are working regular hours. Garg, from New Delhi, is an investment banker with Societe Generale and works from 8:30 am to 6pm Monday to Friday. Barve, who moved here from Pune, works in sustainable agriculture with Elephant Vert, gets busy from 9am to 5:30pm on weekdays.

Garg doesn’t care much for the Olympics but, “I wanted to come because the Olympics are a big deal the world over.” Barve, on the other hand, is an ardent badminton fan. He follows all tournaments and knows all players, their coaches and the trophies the coaches have won complete with the year of victory. Barve was always going to come watch badminton at the Olympics.

“He got the tickets, I tagged along with him,” says Garg, who knew nothing about the game except that it involved a net, racquets and a shuttle.

With Lakshya Sen’s match scheduled to be the last of the four for that session, Garg had plenty of time to catch up on the rules, the game and its history. Barve, the patient friend and true badminton fan, explained everything from how the points work, how service changes, how many points the game involves and what are the limits of the court for singles and doubles during the first three matches.

By the time Sen took on Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, Garg was an expert and knew everything about badminton, but he couldn’t help droppin some cricketing nuggets for Barve in between his badminton crash course.

Barve was excited as Sen had made it to the semis as they had bought the tickets months prior without knowing the line-up. He was also thrilled that he got to watch Spain’s Carolina Marin in action despite her unfortunate injury. Garg was excited because it was an Indian athlete so close to an Olympics medal.

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