A fascinating journey of two Village girls through the Magical world of Bridge – The ultimate mind game.
The Village:
Not so long ago, Raibidpura was a small agricultural hamlet, a hundred kilometres away from Indore, a modern city in Madhya Pradesh (Largest Indian state in terms of area). In 2013 Raibidpura had a population of only around 5,000 .
“Bridge was introduced to us in school in 2012 by Amaresh Deshpandey Sir when he started Kisan Bridge Club in our village. We started with mini Bridge. In 2013, we attended a 10 day Bridge coaching camp conducted by Ukudave Sir. In 2014, C.D.Kumar Sir from Hyderabad and Rajesh sir from Indore gave us useful tips before the nationals. And then Vahalia Sir took over.” recalls Vidhya and Kalpana about their early Bridge days.
The Guru:
Parimal Vahalia an aluminous of IIT Kharagpur and Mrs. Vahalia had been coaching and training Bridge players in Ahmedabad for long. In the Indore Bridge tournament 2013, a team of turbaned farmers in traditional dhoti were playing as a team and sparked Parimal bhai’s curiosity. He visited the village and held the first Bridge camp with a 110 enthusiastic participants. It was a heterogeneous mix of old and young, male and female. They stayed in this village without TV/newspapers but never had to bother about food and hospitality. Later on they learned that each house hold took turns to cook for them.
In 2013 about 20 odd players (seniors & Juniors) came to participate in winter national in Ahmedabad and the Vahalias hosted them in their home.
The Process:
Mr& Mrs. Vahalia organized a three-week intensive Bridge camp in 2014. This was an Intermediate training and often went on for 10 hours a day. This gave the students a firm foundation and took them many steps up the endless ladder of Bridge excellence.
In 2015, Mr. Vahalia hosted 21 children (11 from Raibidpura and 10 from Salem- Tamil Nadu) for a summer coaching camp in Ahmedabad. Boarding, lodging & coaching was free for participants. That is when he noticed the potential of juniors.
In 2017 January at annual Indore event, he invited bridge seniors from the village for a meeting. A proposal to send juniors for higher education to Ahmedabad (where they can also learn high level/ advanced bridge) was laid. He convinced their families to have their college education in Ahmedabad under his guardianship. Parents of Kalpana and Vidhya accepted on the spot promising to send the girls when they finished schooling in 2018.
Kalpana Gujjar and Vidhya Patel joined Ahmedabad University in June 2018 and the Vahalias kind of adopted them. Every weekend, he would pick up the girls and spend many many hours on Bridge before dropping them back in the College hostel on Monday.
This continued through the pandemic years 19-20 & 20-21. In fact, in Junior Nationals, there were 7 teams of youngsters that Parimal bhai had introduced to Bridge.
Family Connection:
Needless to say the story would never had happened if Kalpana’s father and Vidhya’s uncle were not ardent bridge players. Their support enabled Parimal Bhai help chart a promising future for Kalpana and Vidya not only in Bridge but in life as well.
Parimal Bhai himself comes from a Bridge playing family and grew up watching his grandfather and friends playing the ultimate game Bridge. His elder brother Dr. Krishna Vahalia and Mrs. Tanman Vahalia had represented Malaysia multiple times in the World Bridge Championships.
World Bridge Championship 2022:
Kalpana and Vidya have been playing as partners for many years.
They had decent performances in the Word Championships in Lyon in 2017, in China in 2018 and in Croatia in 2019 they were ready for the 2022 Championship in Salsomaggiore Italy .
However, they have to be focused and be at their mind full best when facing off against the best in the world in the under 26 category. From mid-July Parimal bhai had an intensive 2-week preparation camp. Not only was bridge tactics sharpened but mental toughness and the desire to win was instilled in the girls. They knew too that it was the golden chance to prove their excellence in Bridge and thus convince their families that they could have an independent successful life. In rural India there is still immense pressure for young girls, however talented they are, to be married off at the earliest.
After leading the pair event almost right through, Kalpana and Vidya had a below average last session to finish 2nd and bag the Silver medal- Creditable indeed. The next day in the open Individual event with more than 150 participants, Kalpana finished first among the Girls and won the Gold Medal for her effort. Kudos to Vinay Desai the coach and manager of the youth brigade too.
The following picture features the triple world Champion Anshul Bhat and the medal winning boys team too.
We Indians and the Israelis have magical mathematical abilities and very high IQs. We are proving it in Chess. We can do so in the other mind game, Bridge too, IF and when our secondary school children start playing bridge.
Let us please make this our collective goal !