Joydeep Karmakar’s son Adriyan (top) and father Santo. Pictures by Arnab Mondal

When Joydeep Karmakar was gunning for Olympic glory at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London, his father was sitting at his sister’s house in the dark, praying, and his seven-year-old son was watching him in action, convinced that he had a better shot at it than his father.

A power cut in Nagerbazar robbed Santo Karmakar, 79, of the chance to watch Joydeep’s bid for an Olympic medal. But little Adriyan recognised his father straightaway on TV — at their residence a 10-minute walk away from his grandfather’s — from the tricolour stripes on his gun and his “typical aiming style”.

“My father says he ought to learn from me, I am that good. I have already hit 10 at father’s club,” he brags to Metro hours later.

“I sat alone and meditated,” says Santo, a three-time national swimming champion, holding a photograph in hand — that of the podium finishers at the 2010 World Cup in Sydney. Bronze medallist Sergei Martynov is to the right and silver-winning Joydeep to the left. “I used to motivate him showing this picture, that he had beaten even Martynov.” Before leaving for London, Joydeep had described the Belarussian shooter as “the god of prone” to Metro. It is he who bagged the Olympic gold in 50m rifle prone on Friday.

When power returned, the event was all but over. In hindsight, Santo feels he was better off not having watched the action live. “I would have been far more tense.”

Meanwhile, Adriyan, a Class II student of DPS Mega City, has opened the box containing his father’s old rifle. “He cleans Joy’s rifles. He takes the duty very seriously,” laughs Santo.

Adriyan takes aim and declares: “I want to shoot in all three positions — prone, kneeling and standing.”

The father, ranked 41 in the world, had outdone the odds to take fourth place at the Olympics. The son now wants to outdo the father.