Fun on the Deck

A Scotswoman who has played against Omar Sharif. An IIT dropout. And anxious Kolkata businessmen on the sidelines. A bridge championship threw up a pack of characters.

A Scotswoman who has played against Omar Sharif. An IIT dropout. And anxious Kolkata businessmen on the sidelines. A bridge championship threw up a pack of characters.

Rhonda diamond has a trump card: she has played and won against Omar Sharif. Ever since she saw him in Lawrence of Arabia,the Scotswoman longed to meet him. On learning that the Hollywood star was one of the best known bridge players of the time,Diamond shuffled a deck of cards and started learning trump,notrump,dummy. The 52 cards were to be the link between her life in Scotland and his in Beverly Hills. About 10 years ago I finally sat across him at a minor bridge tournament in Scotland, said Diamond,now 68,relishing the name-dropping at the Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship in India. But I was so engrossed in the game that I forgot that talking to him was the point of my taking up bridge. I have no regrets though,my partner and I won that game! she said.

In the championship final at a banquet hall sandwiched between high-rises in Ghaziabad on October 29,Scotland had no such luck or even half a starry opponent as Diamond had. They played against the team of Kolkata-based jute businessman Hemant Jalan and lost.

Story continues below this ad

Jalans was one of the few sponsor teams (or non-national teams) in the 24-team tournament. But in cards,it is all about the luck of the draw: Scotland got the gold only because it cant go to a non-national team.

Bridge is hardly an eyeball-grabbing game in the country,but it has its devoted set of admirers and obsessive players. Like the star of Jalans team,JM Shah. He should have been a mechanical engineer but for a tense inter-hostel bridge final at IIT Madras in 1978. You had to see the number of spectators to believe it. I decided then that I wanted to be a part of this scene. When my friends had all-night study sessions,I would go through books on bridge,perfecting my style. Ultimately I decided to quit IIT,it was coming in the way of my game, he said. The pint-sized Shah,now 59,is one of the most sought-after players in the country and even travels to East Africa to teach bridge to the Asian community there.

While the game goes on in silence,much thumb-twiddling happens on the sidelines. They are the Kolkata businessmen who are patrons of bridge. Like Ashok Goel,part owner of Dhampur Sugar Mills. Once you play bridge,other card games lose their appeal. During Diwali,when everyone plays teen patti,I feel out of place. This feels like home, he said. He was ready to help out novices,explaining the nuances of the game using cricketing parlance. When a player performed a complicated come-from-behind manoeuvre known as a double squeeze,he said,That’s like a last-ball six.