Black Day for Indian Bridge

Mak at the table

V R Venkataraman

Makarand Kulkarni and I were regular partners in Pune in the early ‘80’s – and we practised every Sunday by playing against another pair—much older to us … Gondhalekar and Kohle – both of whom have passed away.

Mak had an old Luna while I had a Bajaj Scooter but his Luna could outpace my Bajaj thanks to his adroit driving as we raced for our tryst with Bridge at different clubs – Deccan Gymkhana, PYC, Hira Bagh etc.

Many are the Sunday afternoons we met in a small room upstairs at Gondhalekar’s ( which was in the heart of old Pune ) honing our Bridge skills while long-suffering Mrs G climbed up the winding stairs to serve Sabudhana Khichdi or Vada or some such -- and piping hot tea to us.

It soon became apparent that Mak and I were the stronger pair -and the other 2 were weighing us down – so we went on to team up with others when we went to places like Sangli or even when we played in Pune Clubs … all of which had Bridge Tables open for daily Practice games ( in the sense that they were not “Tournaments” ) – and the enthusiasm and quality of the Bridge Players was really high.

One time, while playing in a local pair Tournament , as EW we moved to a new table , we were greeted by an old man with a jovial face. He was being berated by his partner for some mistake in the earlier round. The jolly -looking man was wearing a hearing-aid .

He hailed us and asked us to be seated. Then addressing Makarand, whom he knew somewhat better , he asks – “Do you want to improve your game ? We nodded vigorously. “See , young fellows, if you want to learn good Bridge, listen to me . After every deal , my partner will shout at me for some error or the other... at which point I will remove my hearing-aid. You both listen to him very carefully and improve your game.” Saying this, he guffawed loudly.

Mak and I would recall this incident quite frequently during our Pune days -as it was a source of eternal amusement.

Another incident -this time involving Jimmy Mehta, who used to, like some other Bombay Bridge players, make week-end trips to Poona and join us at some Tournament or the other. Jimmy Mehta was then a famous name in Bridge circles. Thanks to Makarand’s smart play (details of which I am unable to recall now), we got 2 “Tops” or near Tops on both the deals at a local event .

As we were waiting for the “move” to be announced , Jimmy’s friend, perhaps. from a neighbouring table or a Kibbitzer wanting to cozen up to Jimmy said “Both bottoms ?” Oh ! your partner is old Khinvasara .

In a flash Jimmy replied – “ Listen ! when I started playing Bridge, for many years I ( emphasizing the I ) was HIS partner, not the other away round. I will have you know that he is a Holkar Trophy winner " The would-be friend slunk away.

I could go on -and on about Makarand – but will stop .

I am glad I was his partner for a few happy years.

God bless him .

 

Makya off the table

Kaustubh Bendre

Makya was an intelligent, knowledgeable man who ran a successful engineering company. He worked for a while at Buckau Wolf before starting out on his own. Though he was a good engineer, his true talent lay in marketing. He was a natural born sales guy, with his pleasant demeanor and ability to get people to like him instantly.

During every Maharashtra tournament - Sangli, Ratnagiri, Poona Club, Hirabaug, Dombivali, Parle - whether he was a team-mate or an opponent, we would always spend the evenings together. He was great company and a joy to hang out with.

Discussing Bridge with him could be infuriating sometimes. He stubbornly held on to his view point and it would take hours to get him to budge. Once, he argued on a point with Shridhar into the wee hours, finally conceding defeat before going to bed. The next morning he gets up, brushes his teeth and starts defending his case again! One could never stay annoyed with him for long though, because he was such a lovable guy.

My favourite story about him involves another long argument. We were playing some Mumbai tournament - me and Aniket, Mackulky and Pramod Samant (Mac and Pramod were close friends and had played in a partnership for years). We were dining at a restaurant on Saturday when some argument started. It built up slowly and by the end of the meal the two were practically at each others' throats. We had to break them up, so I dragged Pramod out of the restaurant while Aniket held on to Makya, hoping to cool things down. As we stepped outside, Pramod got a phone call. It was Makya calling! They weren't nearly done yet.

Warm, generous guy, ready to do anything for his friends. After a Delhi tournament, he and his partner had a flight to Pune at night. His partner had had one too many, so the airline would not allow him to board the flight. Makya refused to board without his partner. He cajoled, pleaded, argued, threatened the airline people (Did I mention that the guy was stubborn?) Finally, the airline agreed to let them board if Makya took complete responsibility for his partner. Makya readily agreed and they reached Pune. His partner had to travel further, so Makya took him to the ST station, made sure he got on the right bus and only then went home. He had indeed taken complete responsibility.

He was always ready for a good time. Full of life, ever smiling, ready to burst out laughing at a joke. A big fan of rock music (I think Pink Floyd was his favourite). He was a great story teller with some good stories from his college life at Surathkal.

I will miss him as a friend and a companion on the circuit.

Fenesta - A curtain raiser

Sukrit Vijayakar

The Fenesta Open Bridge Championship gets under way tomorrow with its opening event, the ladies pairs. Sponsored by the DCM Group, it not only offers the largest prize money for an online tournament, but also offers the largest number of events in any championship including newcomers and juniors.

The ladies event, which starts tomorrow, has got just 20 participants vying for a total purse of Rs. 1,25,000. Ladies, there are just too many prizes to be won. You have to participate and try and get ranking points to play the selection trials to represent India. Not unreasonably, the organizers are disappointed and are wondering what it takes to get you to the table.

The newcomers and junior pairs events are also being conducted tomorrow.

The main Swiss Team events, which start on Friday evening, are yet to show a sizable participation. We hate to remind you that we players have a responsibility to respond to these events else, we have the possibility of losing patrons in a sport which severely lacks them. At the time of writing, we have only 19 entries each in Gold and Silver. We know there are a couple of days to go, but do start registering your teams in soon.