On weekday mornings Dr Deepti Pruthvi and her daughter Dr Shivani Pruthvi head to their respective hospitals in Davanagere, Karnataka. On weekends they work together, as an off-road rally team. Deepti and Shivani have been doing this for the past two years and returning home with multiple trophies across categories.
Just like medicine, motorsport runs in Shivani’s blood. While she is a third-generation doctor from her mother’s side, her father BS Pruthvi is a former rally driver who used to
On weekday mornings Dr Deepti Pruthvi and her daughter Dr Shivani Pruthvi head to their respective hospitals in Davanagere, Karnataka. On weekends they work together, as an off-road rally team. Deepti and Shivani have been doing this for the past two years and returning home with multiple trophies across categories.
Just like medicine, motorsport runs in Shivani’s blood. While she is a third-generation doctor from her mother’s side, her father BS Pruthvi is a former rally driver who used to compete in the 1990s.
Shivani’s motorsport journey began in 2018 when she returned home during her college holidays. Overwhelmed with her medical education, she was looking for an escape route.
“It was all of a sudden. Growing up, I was part of the National Cadet Corps (NCC), marched in the Republic Day parade twice, was heavily into sport like roller skating, basketball, badminton. Studying was just one of the things I did. Suddenly the transition to just studying (in college), I couldn’t really take it,” says Shivani, who will turn 24 later this month.
“There was an old rally car parked at home which I took out for a spin nearby. My dad saw me drive. Trust me he was the happiest person on earth. He told me if I go do the same in autocross maybe I’ll return with a trophy. That one statement changed everything and I went to an autocross event in Kochi where I finished second in my category. That’s how it started.”
Pruthvi, who rallied from 1992 to 1999, always wanted her daughter to get into motorsports but despite being her father’s co-driver when she was in the fourth standard, for Shivani it wasn’t really love at first drive. That race was in a double zero car (non-racing inspection vehicles usually driven by retired rallyists to check and open the track).
“Even though the zero car does not travel at high speed, I was all excited. He taught me about how it goes. But I took my own sweet time to actually realise what motorsport is. I had not put my head into it even though he used to take me to different events,” says Shivani, who completed her MBBS in February from SDM College of Medical Sciences in Dharwad.
Following the Kochi event, Shivani got into circuit racing and was selected for the Volkswagen Ameo Cup. Debuting in the one-make series, Shivani finished fourth in the rookie category. She subsequently also took part in other circuit racing formats like single-seaters of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship (with all women’s team Ahura Racing) and Super Stock class in the MRF MMSC Indian National Car Racing Championship (with Race Concepts).
Enter mother
It was during this time that Shivani thought of rally driving like her father. But she had a major problem. “When I started off and was looking for navigators, I could hardly find any. The ones that were there were extremely qualified to sit with a rookie. I couldn’t find anyone compatible,” says Shivani, who recently qualified for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for her post-graduation.
That is when Deepti stepped in.
Exposed to the sport for a very long time because she would accompany Pruthvi back in the day, the pathology professor was pretty much aware how a rally weekend works. Her daughter’s need for a co-driver made Deepti help Shivani as motorsport is a dangerous business and the compatibility between a driver and navigator is crucial. “Decision making is very crucial for pathologists. When you relate medicine and rallying, it is quite crucial there too as every second counts,” says the 52-year-old, who practises and teaches at the SS Institute of Medical Sciences.
But knowing about a sport from the outside and doing it are two different things. “My husband asked me to get fitter. I was a bit scared whether I could cope with the heat,” says Deepti, referring to the temperatures of the cockpit which can soar deep into the 40s during a rally.
“Temperatures are quite high in Davanagere during the summers. They used to make me sit in a closed room for more than an hour with overalls, balaclava and the helmet; how anybody sits in a car. When I could bear the heat, we decided we were ready. They (Pruthvi and Shivani) trained me how to write pace notes, read the roadbook and trained me for the rallies.”
The mother-daughter pair did their homework; training, practising and working together with Pruthvi who eagerly shared his experience. The combine clicked immediately thanks to their trust, understanding and bonding both in and out of the vehicle and were soon reaching the rostrum and winning trophies from the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC).
“I never had any problem navigating for Shivani because the way she drives, which is similar to my husband, the fear factor was never there. She knows how I am and I know how she is. She knows how I give a call (giving directions, distance and often the condition of the track)," said Deepti. “The first time when we did the South India Rally, I skipped a pace notes page and didn’t know what the next call was. But she knew and asked me turn the page, saying ‘it would be there, you just missed it’. That’s the trust between me and her, that’s what matters between a driver and a navigator.”
Shivani is ga-ga about her mother’s navigational skills. “What better when your mother is sitting in the car navigating? You cannot ask for a better team. She was as good as all navigators in INRC. As a navigator, my mom becomes a whole new person. The josh and confidence she has in the car is insane, given the fact we are doing high speeds and risking our lives. In the car it is strictly professional between us,” said Shivani, who prefers rally driving over circuit racing.
Shivani recently competed in the inaugural Rally of Himalayas - her first mountain and cross-country rally - last month, 22 years after her father took part in the first Raid de Himalaya. Driving through some of the same stages Pruthvi competed in 1999, she finished third in her category (1350-1650cc), also picking up the best lady driver award.
Two careers
Currently doing one year of rural service in a government hospital as mandated by the Karnataka government post Covid-19, Shivani plans to pursue her racing career alongside her medical profession. “I would want to take both together. All motorsport action, especially in India, happens only during weekends so not much of it is taking time out of my medical career,” says Shivani, adding that she wants to specialise in orthopaedics and sports medicine.
Deepti agrees. “Everybody has a myth that if you are doing medicine, you can’t do anything else. But it’s not that. Scenarios have changed. Doing something else apart from your studies is a bonus for your get-away time. It acts as a real stress buster.”
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