Kalpana Gurjar

2019 Youth World Championship - Croatia

Squeals of laughter by opponents
As needles of pain pierced her (Kalpana’s) heart
From holding 2nd position till 17th board, the pair Vidya and Kalpana ended up on 5th position

2022 Youth World Championship - Italy
Miracles of life dance around
As the result Is beyond my Kalpana (dreams)
Pair Vidya Patel and Kalpana Gurjar were rewarded the silver medal for their performance

I had a chance to ask Kalpana about how was 2019 different than 2022.

Few women exude the kind of simplicity, humility that Kalpana does. In simple words she said “We had decided to bring back the medal” (Thaan liya tha). In addition to the Silver for the Under 26 Women's pairs, she also went on to win a gold for the Individual event.

She did not know the result of the last session so played her natural game. It was only later that they realised that it was in the last board that they dropped the 1st position to come 2nd.

I couldn’t believe I was talking to a World Bridge Champion. She went on to say that she dedicates her medal to all the naysayers in the village who used to tell her father not to let the girls play. Hopefully this win will seal their lips forever.

Kalpana hails from a small town. Rabidpura is a village in Khargone Tehsil in Khargone District of Madhya Pradesh State. I had not heard about it till I heard about the two girls competing in 7th Youth World Bridge Championship from India. What is unique about the village is that there are more than 200 bridge players - that’s an amazing 4% of the population!! Undoubtedly the highest density in the world.

They had, in 2012, started a bridge club and used miniBridge to teach their children to play. Rajesh Tiberwala, who had visited and taught the villagers on how to play bridge, had predicted 10 years back “Raibidpura offers an excellent opportunity to groom players for the future.”

Kalpana says that she prefers to defend as that gives them a chance to show their camaraderie as partners. Vidya and Kalpana are like Siamese twins, they think and act together. As people around them say -  ‘maa alag hain par behno se bhi jyada hain’ ( They have different mothers but are closer than even real sisters).

Kalpana went on to add that nothing would have been possible without her coaches ‘Vinay Desai and Parimal Vahalia’. Vahalia sir trained them in Ahmedabad, where they completed their graduate studies. During the lockdown, Vinay Desai helped them to play online and practice daily for 2 hours. I was totally struck by her dedication to her coaches. As I completed my talk with Kalpana, she messaged saying "Please do highlight the effort of the coaches Vinay Desai and Parimal Vahalia. Without their effort we would not have been here".

Above all, its bridge forever for Kalpana and Vidya. The attractive infinite drama that the game brings, the potpourri of people, the display of emotions, the bids and the elegant passes, the speed and agility and bids in all forms for the beautiful slam, the dramatic defence on the surging attackers, the breathless doubles ahh the triumph, the sweet revenge, the flamboyant celebration of victory and the hope for the next to play a better and bigger game.

We salute these princesses and wish them all the best for the future.

Jai Hind