Sukrit Vijayakar
The Indian Bridge fraternity lost another iconic character yesterday with the passing away of Bharat (Buddy) Shah. Most of remember him as the manager of VU Graph on BBO. He was present at every major event, regaling everybody with his anecdotes and infusing everybody with a 'joie de vivre' with his ever jovial spirit.
For me, personally, Buddy invokes more memories. It was partnering him that I first qualified for the post league stage of a teams event. He was also my team mate and partner in my best result in any Nationals tournament. We finished third. On a sadder note, he was also my team mate in the last event that he played competitively. I remember remarking to him that he looked distinctly unwell. He suffered a second stroke a few days later and then never played serious competitive bridge again.
In one hilarious situation, he was my opponent at a major bridge event in Mumbai when, after having reached a terrible contract and getting punished for it, he uttered some expletive at his partner. Said partner, being of an eccentric nature, took offense and left the table midway during the game. Subsequently we always addressed each other by that expletive.
Buddy was also responsible for getting me involved on the administrative side of bridge. He convinced the BFI to use me as part of the support staff of the Asia Cup, held in Goa. This led me on to to writing about bridge and then returning to directing events. Indeed, BFH may not have been what it is today had it not been for that small lift from Buddy.
We have seen a lot of eulogies to Buddy in various WA groups. We would request you to share your memories of Buddy as comments to this post so that readers can have them all at one place to read.
Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.
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I met Buddy first time at a BBO get together organised by him during Pune summer nationals in 2012. We were teammates for few local Mumbai tourneys.
Buddy was a very sentimental soul ,he always credited JM Shah for advising him to take up BBO as his contribution to bridge. It takes a very large heart to give to the game, buddy had a larger heart then most.
Great fun and a jovial character.My bonding with him was in a Casino in Goa :). RIP Buddy. Heaven must be a happier place now
Omg ! Shocking ! Meenal Please convey my condolences to Buddy’s family. True to his name he was a good buddy to so many of us.
Bishma pitha Maha of vu graph in India. Prayers for his soul to attain Sadgati . OM Shanthi 🙏
Not an age to go my friend, will always remember the friendly interactions we had in most of the Bridge tournaments. Your contributions will surely be remembered in Bridge community.
So sorry to hear this. Buddy was such a gentle soul and very friendly with one and all. The bridge fraternity will certainly miss him.
May his soul rest in peace.