All the best, Nikhil

Many years ago, I was reluctantly attending the basic course of Art of Living. One of the guys attending the course looked vaguely familiar. He was tall, wiry, shy, and carried with him, a big pillow to sit on. He introduced himself as Nikhil. I was the chatty kind back then, and within two days, I had made friends with him. As luck would have it, he and I got grouped together in one of the interactive sessions. In the course of the discussion (about our lives), he revealed that he was a badminton player. "Nikhil + Badminton-player" resulted in a google-like search of my sparse brain, and a tiny bell tinkled somewhere in the depths of my mind.

Me: What's your full name?
He:Nikhil Kanetkar
Me:*mouth agape* THE Nikhil Kanetkar? I've seen your photo in the papers!
He:*Smiling unassumingly* Yes, you might have.

My brain morphed the shy, unpretentious guy in front of me into a sportsman, racket in hand, and a steely determination on his face. Then it morphed him back into the guy in front of me. I now knew why he looked so familiar.

I took some time to come back to normal. My head was whirring. I was in the same room as an international level badminton player from the past two days, and I got to know it only after he told me! And there he sits, completely unknown, without anyone gawking or asking him for autographs!

I listened as he reeled out all the tournaments he had won, the championships he had played in, and the countries he had visited. "I am out of action for a while", he said. "Jaundice and a leg injury". Well, that explains the pillow, I thought. "Gopi (Pullella Gopichand) says he benefited highly from the Sudarshan Kriya (taught at the Art of Living course). So I thought I would try it out".

That night I went home and googled him out. The information about him was painfully little, but what was there, was very impressive. I remember being very proud of my new celebrity friend :) I was also suddenly intimidated, but his easy demeanour put me at ease. He even gave me a very sweet card, thanking me for being a good friend. (Yes, I still have it, and treasure it!).

We met once or twice after the course, at one of the follow-up Kriya sessions. After that we called each other a few times. He was training at the Prakush Padukone academy, and stayed in a flat with other players. He told me that the female players stayed next door to them, and they all ate dinner together. Calling his flat was a kind of thrill. When someone else answered the phone, I would wonder which player was on the line. If it was a girl, I would think "Could it.... could it be Aparna Popat?" :)

In later years, we kept in touch only through email, as he was travelling a lot. I kept him informed about all the milestones in my life - my degrees, my change of jobs, my wedding, and I also sent him a birthday wish every year. He kept me updated on his life too - but still, our correspondence came down to half a dozen emails a year. I kept track of him through the World Badminton site, as the newspapers talked next to nothing about badminton. Sometimes, caught in work and other activities, I would neglect to see the site, and would lose track of what was happening in the Badminton arena. Then out of the blue, I would get a mail from Nikhil, which would be just like him - Simple, straight, to-the-point. It would update me and some other of his friends, on the latest. And the mail was always from some other country - Germany, Malaysia, South Africa.

One of his mails read "I am happy to tell you that I got selected at the last moment to represent India at the Athens Olympics, as someone else dropped out." I whooped with joy. I hold the Olympics in great esteem, and my friend was actually getting to play there! Added to that, Indian Oil(with whom he was employed), had put up huge hoardings on the Mumbai Highways. It carried photos of the four badminton players in their employ, who were representing India in the Olympics, and wished them luck. Nikhil looked very good in that hoarding, composed and smiling softly. I would silently wish him the best. At the actual event, he cleared the first round, and entered the second, before being beaten by Peter Gade of Denmark. Both his selection, and his first win, were just given a one-line mention in the newspapers.

Another mail in June of last year informed me "I am glad to inform you that I won the South Africa International championship". A couple of photos were attached. It was a big thing for him - the first international event he had won (He has been runner-up in a number of prestigious events, though). I was thrilled. I took down the newspapers, and combed the sports pages for a mention of this victory of his. Nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Shunya, etc.

Last month, I received a mail from him. He had attached a scanned picture in a German newspaper. It was the news of his engagement to Shruti Kurien, another elite badminton player. The photo was quite a big one, and the write-up seemed substantial. In my initial joy, I almost missed the irony. That the news of his engagement, which occured in India, between two top Indian players, was conveyed by him to his Indian friends, through a news item in a German newspaper. Well, what can I say about that?

Today I read the news that the National Badminton Championship is beginning today, and Nikhil is playing. As usual, here is a silent wish from me to him.

All the best, Nikhil.


Update: Happily, this inspired an excellent post by Sue at Dutch Diary.