An Ode to Naku

I first met Naku,when I joined the Aravali Hostel of IIT Delhi in 1979,where Naku was a “long term resident”. I think he was in his 7th or 8th year then.

He was brilliant having got straight A s in all the Maths courses he took, no mean fit to achieve in an IIT. However he was also the complete ‘Vela’,which combined with his passion for bridge, meant that he was not ordained to graduate. I am convinced that the character of ‘Bevda’ in the movie Chicchore was based on Naku, with poetic license substituting chess with bridge.

At that point of time, I had a rudimentary knowledge of bridge, having learnt the now archaic “phony club’ system from my dad who was a very keen and good player.

Being quite a vela myself, I had resolved not to play bridge in IIT, for I feared that given my interest in all activities that were not academic in nature the addition of bridge would have led me to a path of the illustrious Naku or a Phatar. Nonetheless on hearing that I knew bridge, Naku took me into his sharan during ragging, and played several all nighters with me during the ragging period, which suited me just fine.

On the whole I did keep my resolve of staying away from the green table in IIT, but several years later when I started taking up bridge seriously, it was inevitable that Naku’s and my paths would cross. We eventually ended up as partners; a tenure that ended only because of Naku’s health, wherein he was not able to guarantee his availability for a tournament, or of lasting out the length of a tournament even if he was initially fit at the start of it.

In fact I vividly remember, after having comfortably qualified for the “A” group in the Willingdon pairs in Mumbai, Naku virtually collapsed on the table, and I had to take him to Breach Candy hospital, where he was subsequently operated on for a stent and he stayed back in the hospital and then in my house subsequently for several days to recover.

We all know that Naku was a very original player, and I certainly learnt a lot from him and continued to practice many of his concepts (with one notable exception) even after I could no longer play with him because of his health. He forced me to change my system from precision to standard, which I found puzzling, since I thought as the vastly more experienced player, he should have adapted to my system and not vice versa! But that was Naku for you; if you wanted to play with him you had to commit to playing his way or not at all!.

I am since grateful that he made me switch, not because I believe that either system is inherently superior to the other, but because it made me a more complete player, with the ability to adopt to partner’s preference of system.

Naku’s concept of random minor openings was not only fun to play, unsettling opponents often, it also removed a structural weakness of standard, wherein it becomes relatively easier for opponents to find the “other minor’ lead. Naku’s most lasting contribution to me and to the game as a whole was to effectively bury the concept of a penalty double, using the negative/take out/ bid on double for a whole variety of creative uses that substantially improved ones bidding, particularly in competitive auctions. His idea of “rebalancing” in the 4th position with weak but shapely hands was also both very different and effective.

The one idea, that I executed faithfully while partnering but did not continue thereafter was his insistence on near opening values for a simple one level overcall. I thought this to be too restrictive and out of place in today’s competitive brand of bridge. Nonetheless all his other concepts were truly different and based on uncommon insight and they have remained with me as indeed with many other bridge players he played with and against.

Naku helped me straighten out some of my bad habits at the bridge table. After 2 or 3 consecutive cracker deals for us, I would tend to extend my luck and make somewhat outlandish bids in an attempt to clobber a demoralised opposition. More often than not, and not surprisingly, this would backfire and Naku would rightly accuse me of “badhazmi” or inability to digest success!

I thought that Naku, being the flamboyant player that he was, would readily embrace my very aggressive style of preempting when non vulnerable. Surprisingly he did not, and actively discouraged me in the beginning, but to his credit, readily adopted it as the logic (and importantly results) started resonating with him.

The real tragedy of Naku’s life was that his poor health was of his own making. Realistically as his partner I tried to curb one of his twin vices, that of excessive drinking, reasoning to myself that smoking was too ingrained an habit to change. While playing tournaments, I used to stand watch over him, trying to ensure that he did not drink himself silly. I succeeded only partially, and often the first set in the morning was marred by a completely unnecessary 800 conceded to the opponents as a result of his being still hung over. There was unfortunately a self destructiveness in him, that sometimes manifest(even while sober) at the bridge table as well, which marred his otherwise unquestionable genius.

The flaws in Naku were no more or no less than in you or me. In his case they were very obvious, pretty much like the man who was an open book. He was very helpful and always willing to help out and sometimes partner lesser souls like me. His passion for the game was unsurpassable and most of his waking moments were spent on BBO. He was very fortunate in having a very strong and loving family and his wife, son and daughter in law stood by him in every which way.

His demise is of course a huge loss to the bridge community. For me, I have lost a guru, a mentor, a partner and friend.

Rest in peace dearest Naku