14 winners, not even 15 min of fame

The bus to Rashtrapati Bhavan wasn’t scheduled to leave for another two hours but most of the awardees were already dressed and breakfasted, their excitement infecting everyone in the lobby (except the hotel boy who can’t identify footballer Bruno Coutinho until you ask for ‘‘the guy from Goa with long hair’’).

Seeing an obvious journalist, pad and pen in hand, volleyball player Amir Singh introduces himself, barely able to believe he’ll soon be meeting the President. ‘‘What makes me especially happy is the fact that I will get the award from an ‘orginal Indian’’’, he says. ‘‘I’m a farmer’s son from Farmana Haryana) and Kalam saab too has a rural background. Like him, I too will reach the top in my field today.’’

A call on the house phone to Room 266 puts you through to B Ramesh, the Tendulkar of Indian kabaddi. The wealth of his achievements — five international golds and four ‘man of the series’ awards at the National games — hasn’t robbed him of his humility. The bus is due any moment, his mother and wife are ready — all dressed up for the occasion — and waiting.

Yet he offers breakfast saying, with the mildest hint of irony: ‘‘Take your time, rarely does a kabaddi player get to invite a journalist into three-star hotel room.’’

Dressed in the awards ceremony’s standard maroon blazer, he talks proudly of what he’s done but keeps things in perspective. ‘‘I’m very happy. But winning a game for India is more vital than the individual glory of getting an Arjuna Award.’’ Then, mindful again of the women in his life now waiting not so patiently, ushers you to the stairs before bidding farewell.

One floor below, 51-year-old K R Shankar Iyer is on cloud nine. This is the happiest day of this athlete-cricketer’s life. A car accident at 20 took away much of his mobility but not his spirit. ‘‘It was agony. I was like a child who was learning to crawl. But today I think all those efforts were worth it,’’ he says. His mother Kamakshi enters the room, dressed in a yellow Kanjivaram sari, and transfers credit for his revival — and the Arjuna — to Lord Murugan. Back on the gorund floor, there’s a kind of party going on. Tennis-player Sandeep Kirtane, in Bermudas not so long ago, is in formals and chatting with Coutinho and Michael Ferreira.

Soon the bus arrives and the awardees are seated inside. They drive off, as the chatter rises to a new level, for their 15 minutes of fame.