India might not have featured anywhere near the top in the Paris Olympics medals tally but there was one aspect where the Indian performance was deemed the best. The India House at the Olympic Games was reportedly the most popular haunt among visitors to the Parc de la Villette, which was called Nations Park during the Olympiad.

The India House was a temporary hospitality address that provided an immersive experience, celebrating India’s athletes, and drew not just the diaspora and Indian tourists visiting Paris but also Parisians and tourists of other nationalities wanting to get a feel of India’s sporting and cultural legacy. A first-of-its-kind initiative of Reliance Foundation in partnership with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), India House offered experiences like Indian cuisine, yoga and chance meetings with athletes who dropped by.

Smriti Bhat welcomes shooter Shreyashi Singh to India House. Sourced by The Telegraph

“There were 19 countries which had put up such pavilions at the Nations Park. We got featured on the official Olympic broadcaster, France 2. The host, who interviewed me, had been to all the other pavilions and said India House deserved the gold medal,” said a beaming Devendra Kumar Chhajar, a 27-year-old Behala boy who went to France six years ago for his Masters and stayed back.

The pavilion was covered from view from outside but with dholaks playing a boisterous beat that was audible from afar, it drew long queues of the curious. “In the morning, there were a lot of foreigners while desi folks came mostly in the evenings,” he said. Inside, there were Bollywood dance tips, block print from Rajasthan and mehndi application, other than live broadcast of India’s events. Daily tickets cost €5.

Devendra Kumar Chhajar waits to show table tennis veteran Sharath Kamal around at India House Sourced by The Telegraph

“Other pavilions mostly had a bar and music. We had handicraft items on sale as also Bollywood dance and malkhamb performances. One could taste vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. We broke attendance records daily,” Chhajar smiled.

Smriti Bhat, a Bangalorean who has done her Masters from Sciences Po, the public university for political studies in Paris, was in the PR team. “I showed people around, explaining activities like weaving of Benarasi saris and carpets on the loom.” A resident since 2013, she has picked up conversational French.

Riya Chakraborty clicks a groupfie with her colleagues at Club France, a hospitality stand in La Villette, where she was working Sourced by The Telegraph

A bonus for the youngsters was meeting the players. “I put a tika on (badminton star) Lakshya Sen. I also met (shooting double medalist) Manu Bhaker and (table tennis star) Monica Batra,” Smriti smiles. Devendra saw Bhaker, (paddlers) Batra and Sreeja Akula, (shooter) Sarabjot Singh, (hockey goalie) P.R. Sreejesh, Rahul Dravid and designer Manish Malhotra but missed meeting javelin star Neeraj Chopra. “He came on my day off,” he lamented.

Smriti had to explain the Billion Strong Flame to visitors. Since India is bidding to host the Games in 2036, there was a QR code which one could scan and add one’s name to the digital petition which would flash on the screen. “We collected thousands of signatures at the event,” Smriti said.

India House was open from 11am to 10.30pm and duties were allocated in two shifts. Smriti stays in the 14th arrondissement (borough). “It took me 35-40 minutes to reach.” For Devendra, it was a longer commute as he stays on the outskirts.

He watched the India-Germany semi-final hockey match and athletics on his off days. “The hype started here two years ago when the Seine started getting cleaned. I bought the tickets then.”

Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris Olympics organising committee, and three-time Olympic gold medalist, takes a selfie with Riya Chakraborty and others in the background Sourced by The Telegraph

Anjali Joshi, a 25-year-old Goan, who had opted for a sports programme as part of her business school course in France, applied to an agency that was the hospitality partner at the Games. “Their job was to facilitate VIP movement. Once I was selected, I was given a choice of role. I did not fancy being a parking attendant in peak summer. So I chose box office coordinator,” she said.

Anjali was assigned to a cabin at the entrance of the venues — the Velodrome, hosting the cycling events, or the Chateau de Versailles, the home of pentathlon and equestrian sports. “I had an all-access card but could not enter the stadium and take a seat. Versailles is so big that it takes 20 minutes to reach the other end. The cross-country horse riding was taking place in a garden. So I could see the action in passing. It was my first event and I was thrilled!” she said.

Her biggest spot was Novak Djokovic. “The day after he won his tennis gold, he came to Versailles with his family. His daughter was wearing his medal. We were not allowed to click. He walked right past me. It was surreal!”

French football superstar Antoine Griezmann might not have been in the Olympic team but he attended an event. “My colleagues were screaming and jumping. I saw only half his face and a bit of his hair.”

Back home, Anjali’s folks were so excited that they opened a WhatsApp group called ‘Anjali at Olympics’. “I was asked to post not just my own pictures but also whatever my friends would send from other venues.”

Versailles being 20km away from Paris, she could not visit anywhere else. “There was no Metro on that route and the only train was low frequency. For early morning shifts, we got Uber coupons. Otherwise, it took me an hour and a half to reach,” Anjali said.

She loved watching the dressage event. “It’s an obedience test. They make the horse move to the music. Though we could not leave the booth, we could follow the horses on the giant screens.”

Riya Chakraborty, a 24-year-old from Pune, works in a sports management agency in Paris and was assigned to a bank that was a premium partner at the Games. This meant she had to work with the athletes supported by the bank, creating content on their Olympic journey for the bank’s sites.

“There were over 250 athletes that the bank supports, mostly French. I had to read up on them. About seven or eight stars were expected to win. But it was more interesting to track those who performed beyond expectation,” says Riya, who has made Paris her home for four years now.

An event space was created in front of the Grand Palais, the venue for fencing and taekwondo. “It was accessible only to customers and athletes.”

Riya would accompany the athlete’s family in the stands when she was creating content on his or her background. “I saw a judo match at Champs de Mars (near the Eiffel Tower) where the athlete got a bronze.” She also watched rock climbing at Le Bourget.

The bank also supported two basketball players. “They brought the entire French team with them and signed on our wall of fame.”

Riya’s most memorable experience is interviewing the gold and silver medallists in women’s fencing, both French. “I asked Sara Balzer, the silver medalist, how she felt competing against a compatriot in the final. She said she had no regrets as she knew whoever won, France would get the medal. That message stayed with me.”

She is also full of admiration for a gold medallist surfer. Since the Mediterranean Sea in southern France is calm and the Atlantic waves in Bordeaux are not fit for competition, the surfing events took place in Tahiti, in French Polynesia, 16,000km away from Paris. Kauli Vaast, the winner, was jetlagged as he had to take a flight shortly after his event to reach Paris. “Yet he took the stage, answered all our questions and posed for pictures. He said he had not slept well in 15 days. It was a lesson in professionalism.”

She also got to interact with triathletes and, from their feedback, made light of the debate over the water quality of the Seine. “A French triathlete, Leo Bergere, told me that they are used to swimming in the dirtiest of waters to build immunity. He had been practising in the river long before the Games started, to get used to the current. He said he couldn’t see his hands sometimes, the water was so dirty. Yet he did not mind,” she said of the Olympic bronze winner.

The end of the Olympics has created a void in their lives. “I miss the Olympics. It’s the best international experience I could have asked for, to be surrounded by the world’s best athletes, competing at the highest level, doing what they love. It was truly a dream to be a part of it,” Anjali signed off.