Thursday, November 26, 2009

While Mumbai was being attacked…….


While Mumbai was being attacked…….
Islamabad, 26 November 2008: I just returned to my room after dinner, played some card games with my players for passing time and checking my mails. I watched a Hindi movie on TV for some time and guess around 11 pm when I switched to the local English News Channel ‘the Dawn’ where they reported some kind of a terrorist attack in Mumbai without much detail.  I guess it’s how we Indians have become, getting used to the terrorist attacks so very often that sometimes we don’t take it seriously. They dint have much details about it and I too just rubbed it off as another ‘small time’ attack and wondering why people do this. I was sleepy and it dint take me much time to hit the bed as a rock.
When I woke up the next morning on 27th Nov, I dint even remember the news item last night and didn’t switch on the TV. When I had showered and breakfast was served, I happened to switch on the TV casually and I was dumbstruck at what was being shown on TV, Mumbai was literally under siege! I couldn’t believe what I was watching. Mumbai was live on TV channels in Pakistan. I watched it for 30 min but then I had to leave for the players’ practice and matches.
I came out of the room and I can still remember the shock on Satyajit Burman’s (father of shivika Burman) face as he saw me and said, “did you watch the TV?” I said yes and were like ‘What do we do’? He had already received the first call from his wife back in Kolkata and she wanted them to get back immediately. I knew calls would now start for me too as I was traveling with four players and there were nearly twelve Indian girls playing the ITF Women’s 10,000 tournaments.
As the thought occurred, the first call came and one of the parents asked me if everything was ok. I did say yes and we were ok but many thoughts occurred to my mind too. All these Indian players were in Islamabad for an opportunity to participate in the International tournaments. This was bang in the middle of the first tournament and we had one more to go after this.
The front office manager Mr. Usman walked up to us and shared his concern over what’s happening at Mumbai. He meant when he said it’s very unfortunate and both our countries continue to be attacked like this. We thanked him for his concern and we ventured out together to the venue which was a 10 min walk from the Hotel Embassy Lodge where we stayed.
The walk was on a street which had no traffic as such and it was a forest area. As we reached the Pakistan Tennis Federation complex, the organizers were there to tell us that they were very sorry to hear what had happened at Mumbai. They were indeed sad for what had happened.  Many of the visitors and parents of local players all came and spoke to us. All the Indian players had heard about the attack by now. We all had a strange feeling in us and it was definitely uncomfortable.  Once we reached the venue around 8 am, we dint have any updates as there was no TV or internet at the venue until we returned to the hotel in the eve.
However the whole day, we were receiving calls from India as they were all scared and rightly! We were asked to return immediately and there was a reason for them to feel this way. We were in an ‘enemy’ territory as far as India was concerned. Incidentally, when we switched on the news in the evening, we were surprised to see the fight still on. Believe me, the discussions on the local TV channels were why these attacks were going on and almost all the speakers were saddened with the developments. On the other hand, the Indian Government had started blaming Pakistan for the attack. This made us feel more insecure. This is when I decided to call my good friend Mr. Tirumurti, who is a joint Secretary with Ministry of External affairs (MEA) at New Delhi. He sounded encouraging and asked us not to worry. As helpful as always, he said he would talk with his colleague in the Indian High Commission at Islamabad and make them talk to us.  We all did offer prayers to the victims of the Mumbai attack and it wasn’t easy for us to sleep thinking about the happenings at Mumbai.  24 hr had passed and still the scene was scary.  I watched TV till late night watching the live happenings from Mumbai. By now, the discussions had turned into a fight on TV between the countries. On the other hand, we were under pressure to return home as lot of things were being said including a rumor that all travel between the two countries would be stopped and maybe India would attack Pakistan!
But to say truthfully, we never felt scared being there. People there were extremely nice.  They were concerned and apologetic about Mumbai. Whoever knew we were Indians, came up to us and spoke not just in the venue but even the taxi drivers and other people on the street. But I totally understand the concern back home what our families had.
I think it was a day later when India’s home Minister was replaced and Mr. Chidambaram was given the charge. I immediately called Karthi Chidambaram, Mr. Chidambaram’s son who is a close friend of mine and requested him to keep us informed if he got to know if there were any decisions that would be taken with regards to the relation between the two countries.  Incase if the borders would be closed or anything like that, we had to return immediately. The same day, I also received a call from the first officer of the Indian High Commission at Islamabad, Mr. Reddy who told me be relaxed and also tell that to everyone. The only caution he had is that we shouldn’t venture out anywhere as tempers between the two nations were high.  He said he would drop in to meet us in a day or two. He did drop in 2 days later and met all the Indians in the tournament.
Now I have to tell you about the common people in Islamabad. Have you ever heard of a poor taxi driver refusing to take money from you because you are a Hindustani? Have you heard of a shop keeper refusing to take money from you because you are a Hindustani? Have you heard of a manager In a big showroom walking up to you as soon as he could make out that you were a Hindustani and offering you soft drinks and a flat 50% on whatever we purchase? Yes, we experienced all these in Islamabad. We were their ‘mehmaan’ (guests) in their nation and more than that, “brothers’ for them. Yes, this is what they said and they would say, “when we have a guest at home, we don’t take money from them for anything” This is the greatness of common Pakistani people. They love Indians. They want a good relation with us. Someone even mentioned that partition was the worst thing to happen between the two countries. Most of them even said that the tension between the two countries only helped interests of other powerful nations.
 Major Rashid, Hon. Secretary General of Pakistan Tennis Federation even went to the extent of saying that it could be true that someone from Pakistan was probably involved in the attacks in Mumbai but this was more of poor people being ‘used’ by some organizations which were formed by powerful nations and the same organizations are against Pakistan also! It could be true!

One more interesting thing, we were on our way back from Islamabad to New Delhi at the end of second tournament. We had a flight from Islamabad to Lahore and a connecting flight to Delhi was six hours later. We decided to venture out into Lahore to see the city. We then decided that we visit Wagah Border from the Pakistan side. Though I had visited the border from Amritsar, none of the others had seen it. We took two taxis from the airport and drove to Wagah only to be told that the border opens for visitors only at 4 pm with tickets (for the drill) and we were there at around 11 am! We had 4 hours for our next flight. We told them we just wanted to see the border and about our flight back. The army people at the border directed us to an Army base a few hundred meters away and said they could allow us only if we had the permission of the Colonel or the Major who were the bosses there. We decided to take a chance and I went to the reception and said I was here to meet one of them for the permission. Ten minutes later, I was escorted to the Major’s office (pity I don’t remember his name now). He was a young man probably in his late thirties. He welcomed me so warmly into his office and said it was an ‘honor’ for him to give us the permission to visit the border but on one condition! He wanted to host lunch for us as it was first time in his tenure there, a ‘Hindustani’ had visited his office!!!  I excused saying that we had only 3 ½ hr to catch our flight and this gave us 30 min to spend at the border and we would have to drive back for little more than a hour. He said he would arrange an escort for us to reach the airport and we would not miss out flight. But I thanked him for his extreme hospitality and then we chatted about Cricket for 5 min. Sachin Tendulkar was his favorite Cricketer! When I got up to take leave, he went around in his office to find a gift for me but he wasn’t able to find a new Pen that he had kept somewhere! The permission was probably a bigger gift at that moment! Seriously, I never expected to get it. We then visited the border and it was a great experience for me to see the border from the other side but for the others, Satyajit Burman, Shivika, Kescia, Anushree, Prerana & Prarthana, it was probably the most memorable experience!  About 4 hr later, when we landed in Delhi, I actually felt I was in India last 15 days and was just in another state.
Though, the whole of India had an anti Pakistan feeling (evident from the TV reports), the common man in Pakistan had only ‘Love’ for us. After all, the Major at the Wagah Border was also a human being!
I understand there are tensions between the two countries mainly due to Kashmir region and at the level of the Governments. But the common people of Pakistan are extremely warm and hospitable. If there was a period when I felt proud to be an Indian, it was during my stay at Pakistan during that fortnight and mainly because our brethren on the streets of Pakistan made me feel like that.
Going though this experience, it makes me wonder why the tensions between the two nations can’t be resolved amicably and easily. If left to the people of the two countries, it may be easier!
From all of my trips to nearly twenty countries, this has certainly been the most special one!




Sunday, February 1, 2009

Indian Tennis - looking better

A month ago it was Somdev, now it is Yuki, feels good to know that our players are demonstrating that Indian players could also play singles and play at the biggest leagues and win matches! This is what we have always needed. Ever since Leander stopped playing singles, there has been a vacuum which a few players like Bopanna, Mankad, Amritraj (Prakash) tried to fill but with only a partial success. As what I have seen around while traveling to various tournaments, there is abundant talent in India, AITA should probably come up with a strong development plan and a system to ensure more such players are churned out and also help these players go beyond their limits or else we would be left with no choice but to celebrate a player emerging once in 5 or 10 yr out of their own ability. With my professional experience, i can vouch that it is possible with time.

Though I have seen Yuki as a young 8 yr old kid who used to tag along with his sisters Ankita & Sanaa and was always sitting and watching them play and he always amazed me with his understanding of the game which had come to him very naturally (this is why I always advice and think the best way for kids to learn the game is by watching / observing better players play, he was always watching his sisters or other better players in Delhi), it was in Oct 2007 during the ITF Futures we had in Bellary & Gulbarga where I was the Tournament Director that I saw he has the potential to get to the big league when he lost closely to a top 500 player. I'm just sharing what I had then mentioned in the release along with results which was carried by this website.

A time when there is a lot of talk about age cheating of Indian players in the circuit (which i personally believe is rampant), here the players cant be blamed but their parents, coaches and state associations, we have people like Somdev & Yuki who have shown that age cheating which has kind of become rampant the last few years, that it is not required at all if there is talent, hard work and determination. But certainly age cheating eats up to a few talent and somewhere the parents of a few talented kids who are playing correct to heir age, end up deciding that their kid is not good enough to continue in Tennis as they are losing to kids in the same age group but who are supposedly 1 / 2 / even 3 yr older! This is where the damage is being done. Because, Tennis or generally sport is still not seen as a way of life in this country. We have politicians raving about success of a few sports persons when they achieve something, and they get the publicity required to keep them alive in politics, but little they do to actually improve the standard of sports in this Sports unfortunate country.

Yuki should now work harder than before and have a focused program to transform into a a successful professional player. Junior Tennis and Professional Tennis are two entirely different cups of tea. Rankings don't ave any meaning in this sport. We all know that Leander himself being such an athletic and a tough person, took 7 yr or something like that to get into top 100 of ATP from the time he ended as No. I Junior player in the World at the age of 18.

Yuki needs to focus on building his strength which under good supervision would take atleast 2 yr to result. I watched him play Sanam Singh to who he lost in the qualifying rounds during the Chennai Open a month ago. He is still someway and sometime away from playing players like Nadal, Verdasco, Del Porto, Monfils to who he would probably be an opponent to after 2 yr. His planning should be taken care by experienced hands becasue if he doesn't make it to the top, this could be the cause! He should be aimed at peaking at the age of 20 and he has the next three years to work solidly.

I also hope that AITA takes advantage of terrific show by Indian Tennis players in the last one month (Somdev, Yuki, Mahesh, Sania) get players like Ramanathan, Vijay, Ramesh, Leander, Mahesh, Sania, Somdev, Yuki all together, produce a good promo and market the game the way it deserves to be to which could go a long way in bringing in focus, sponsors and create a system to produce more World Class players before it is too late!


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Re: US$15K+H India F10, Gulbarga, Karnataka (Oct 22-28, 2007)

Postby jayakris » Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:28 pm

Sunil Yajaman's writeup on the fabulous Yuki show in the news release:

"15 yr old Yuki Bhambri was clearly the player of the day as he stretched the 466 ranked 3rd seed Ivan Cerovic to the limits in his first round match at the ITF Gulbarga Open, $ 15,000 +H event at Gulbarga today. Yuki Bhambri clearly demonstrating the future of Indian Tennis makes one feel encouraged to think that there could be a player who could take forward the legacy of Krishnans / Vijay Amritraj or Leander Paes in Singles.

Experience showed when Cerovic saved two match points at in the final set tie break to close the match 6-7 (8) 6-4 7-6 (6) in 3 hr 39 minutes. The Finalist of Bellary Open last week was in no mood give up on the fighting Yuki Bhambri. Bhambri was serving 3-5 in the final set when he held his serve & broke Cerovic in the next to level it at 5-5. Bhambri held the 11th game to go up 6-5 when Cerovic served brilliantly to push it to tie break. Yuki is a solid all court player & now he needs to gain the experience by playing more quality matches & put on more muscles. When that happens, he surely will be a formidable player
."

Go Yuki!!!

Jay
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sunilyajaman@gmail.com

Monday, January 26, 2009

As we prepare to welcome the new year's, lets pray for the World to be a better place to live in, not forgetting the joys & sorrows of the bygone year, take a bit of them to either lift or balance us. Lets find time to achieve what we hoped to but could not find time to, what changes we hoped to see, bring that within ourselves, find peace and happiness within us and stop looking for it in the outer world, enjoy the tide of roughness in our lives like a great man who said "Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors." We all came into this World being equal, "You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser, you are what you make yourself to be and whatever you are today is because YOU have chosen this."

There are people who think that they could bring about peace in some place by fighting somewhere else. or companies who fire their people when things go wrong for no fault of theirs forgetting all the sweat the employees and put in all these years and contributed to the success of the company. Maybe retrenchments would only allow the top people to continue to lead a cushy life. We tend to forget that everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was. Let that not put us into darkness after all "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." Whether it has been the problem of terrorism or the financial crunch, let's hope it certainly is the darkest hour. What is, is. What will be, is what we make it. It certainly matters if we just don't give up. After all, the only way to overcome is to hang in!

Lets hope we could make the change we want to see right here & right NOW and I'm sure we could make the World in the new year a home filled with happiness for us to live and that World is within us!

Taking from the song 'We are the World' composed by Michael Jackson & Lionel Richie

There comes a time when we heed a certain call

When the world must come together as one……..

There's a choice were making
We're saving our own lives
Its true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day………..

Friends, Best wishes for the New Year and god bless us all

Sunil Yajaman

sunilyajaman@gmail.com

Monday, April 23, 2007

Someone help Indian Sports….

It should be seen as a blessing in disguise that Delhi did not get to host the 2014 Asiad. It might be worthwhile for the people who are sitting in the helm of Indian sports to worry about Grass root development in sports rather than trying to do lavish events to project themselves. Usually, about Rs. 4000 crores would be spent on an event like the Asiad. Is it possible that this money is now diverted towards grass root development & prepares athletes who could win medals in 2012 Olympics & beyond? Is it time to professionalize Sports in India further? I definitely feel that the time has come to remove all the honorary posts in federations & appoint professionals who could be accountable. Any more delay in this happening will only result in losing out a prospective medal in Olympics. Classic example is Indian Hockey & how it is down in the pots thanks to the President & other office bearers of the Hockey federation, they don’t seem to be ashamed or have lost all their moral values.

Everyone might just be happy when India performs well at the 2010 Commonwealth Games at Delhi (which is bound to happen) but is CWG a real test for our athletes? The performance of India in the previous Asiad is pathetic compared to wonderful performance at the previous CWG. Can the people who have been ruling Indian Sports or many years now wake up to call from within themselves, lay their powers down & make way for winds of change in Indian Sports? Indian Sports today need visionaries, visionaries who think of taking India to the league of Powerful sports nations of the world without any selfish motives or short term gains. It is high time we have accountable people running sports in India who should be willing to quit when there is no performance. Why can’t we incorporate the way successful Corporates are run into sports? Unless this change occurs, I’m afraid Indian sports will only go down further. It is even more alarming to see performance of Indian Cricket (though it doesn’t have any effect on Olympics) diminishing as it is the only savior for sports in India. I won’t be surprised to see Cricket reaching the level of current Indian Hockey Situation in a decade if the administration doesn’t pull up its socks. It might be worthwhile to consider having the Tatas, Ambanis, Narayanmurthys, Premjis, MIttals, Birlas, etc be given the responsibility of each Olympic sports. They don’t need to put the money in but their vision & attitude of running things professionally would be sufficient to bring in the winds of change in Indian Sports.

It makes me wonder if Delhi is the only place in India which could host an event like the Asiad. why can't the administrators think of other Indian Cities? That way, atleast World Class Infrastructure would come up in other cities. If a country like Korea could think of 3 different cities, our Sports Administrators should probably go back to learning geography.

If anyone is listening…..!