Priyanka Gulati
When any sport is at its best, the spirit of the fan merges with the spirit of the player and the convergence in that transference is the oneness the mystics talk about.
One such moment recently in Indian Bridge was Zia playing the HCL tournament for Team Mavericks. This definitely created history, but above all, the moment inspired the soul of Indian bridge players to push to dream and to achieve the impossible, to beat Zia.
But who was the man behind getting Zia to this team? Who was the man who created these heart rending uplifting stories for Indian bridge?
Meet Subodh Maskara, the man, the bridge player and the bridge sponsor. His Facebook description reads ‘They laugh at me cause I’m different. I laugh at them as they are all the same.’
Subodh has a wide range of interests. He’s an entrepreneur and has incubated many businesses from recycling plastic bottles, making televisions and washing machines to producing movies.
The reason he was attracted as a sponsor to bridge is because bridge, like entrepreneurship, has the 3 Cs- Competitive, Complex and endless short/ long term Calculations.
He had already entered the world of bridge sponsorship in 2019, when he had conducted an invitational tournament. The second edition of this event was held a few months back in 2022.
During the lockdown, he had started a team - Mavericks, consisting primarily of close friends and mentors. The name Mavericks was inspired by the monicker conferred on him by his father. Subodh’s ideas for execution were always unorthodox, which earned him the name.
The infinite bridge drama at Poland for the World Cup inspired him to create a team which can aspire to be a winning team at the world stage. His team consists of - Keyzad Anklesaria, Debabrata Majumder (Laltu), Jaggy Shivdasani, Sandeep Thakral, Anal Shah and himself.
Subodh possesses indefatigable energy, and discipline. He is the epitome of success due to hard work and fitness. His diet chart and schedule are the secret to his physical/mental fitness.
But it’s the sensibility and the vision for his team to be a winning team on the world stage that elevates him as a sponsor. When asked how he wants to do things differently, he very humbly said- ‘ he wants to professionalize the operating model of the team by
- Designing a system for measurement of execution of his vision
- Ensuring coaching for all along with an observer in the team for analytical rigor
- Ensure that the team is disciplined and practices and meditates before the session and reaches on time.
His approach is a well structured one for enhancing the chances of a talented team combined with structure and discipline
While developing the dream to scale the apex of bridge, he also has been doing some work for the bridge populace at large. During the National Masters event, he sponsored an online event called 'Future Masters' to enthuse and attract people who are not yet there to scale greater heights.
What is not so well known is his attitude to youngsters. He is contemplating building a team of budding youngsters to learn and develop from the masters (Mavericks - B, if you will)
Today’s digital age has self promoters, hustling to alchemize public attention for private gain. Subodh is that gracious, refreshing counter- example providing money and time for Indian Bridge. May his tribe increase
Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.
A great initiation never came into the mind of other sponsors in India.