A talk by Vijay Amritraj & a revival of sorts!!

Since landing here in IIT Madras, I have been fortunate enough to witness many eminent speakers speak on a variety of topics. There is no dearth of 'food for thought'. Most of the times, the talks have been so interesting and inspiring that I wanted to write them down and share with you all. But, somehow I couldn't find any time for that or put in other words I didn't go that extra mile to sit and pen them down.

 

But today's talk was different. It was the 1st time in last 6 months, that I have seen IIT audience giving so much of respect to any speaker. We had "Vijay Amritraj" here in our Central Lecture Theatre (CLT).

 

For those of us, who have watched sports on ESPN Star Sports, Vijay is a very familiar face. He was a great tennis player. Of course, not many of us would have seen him playing. Also he is one of the best sports commentator in the world. For me he is the Harsha Bhogle of tennis. Now, you can debate whether Harsha Bhogle is a Vijay Amritraj of Cricket or it is the other way. Doesn’t matter! You simply cannot imagine sports commentary without them. Anyway, the amount of pride and joy that Vijay has given to all Indians in his playing and non-playing career is immense.

 

For the uninitiated, he turned pro on tennis circuit in 1970 and retired in 1993. He was also the captain of Indian Davis Cup team during 70's and 80's. He could climb up till world no. 39 in his playing career, which considering those times was a huge achievement for any Indian. He has been with ESPN Star Sports as a tennis commentator for past 18 years. Anyway, let me share some of his thoughts with you.

 

·         Vijay was very weak in his childhood. He used to fall ill for almost 6 months in a year. His mom used sit in all school lectures and take notes for him. It was then that the doctor suggested him to go for an outdoor sports. And he chose Tennis. And rest, as they say is history.

·         For a sportsperson, any day can be his/her retirement day. You trip over something and you don't know whether you'll be out of tennis circuit for a week or a month. Minor accident can curtail your career. If you are a student, you can still attend classes and write an exam. For a sportsperson, youth is his primetime and he has to make most of it through good fitness and a little-bit of luck.

·         It is a great struggle for an Indian to be successful in sports. He told one incidence, when he was at the top of his form. He beat all the top ranked aussies in Hong Kong open. He was just 19 then. He became a hero in India. Immediately next week, a tournament was happening in Chennai, and he lost in the very 1st round to an Australian on his home court. Next day, he was ridiculed by general public to such an extent that he had to go back to his hotel room just to cry out loud.

·         His next 6-7 months were fabulous. When he returned from US, there were some 5000 fans waiting to welcome him at the Mumbai airport with flowers n petals. He told, the one thing he learnt was to ignore both adulation and criticism.

·         He said, there is a huge difference about how people in India and US look at a sports. If somebody loses a hard fought 5 setter, an Indian or a British might say – ‘Well fought mate, but hard luck today!’ An American will say – ‘You lost! That’s it!’ Although, Vijay didn’t directly advocate anything, he did hint his bias towards having a killer instinct in sports. He wasn’t enthused by just participating and losing. An Indian mentality needs a paradigm shift.

·         He did take a dig at Indians who are a very good couch potatoes, but don’t hesitate in giving him advice over anything and everything in tennis at the airports. ‘They seem to remember all the matches that I lost.’, said Vijay. :-D . One question that he could never answer was from his grandmother. “Why do you have to go so far to lose in the end?” :-) Now, if you observe closely, the above two bullet points seem a bit contradicting. But, actually both are true. There is just a thin line that separates them.

·         The high point of his career - In 1987, he was 35 and at the fag end of his career. He was still representing India at the Davis cup. India was playing Argentina in Delhi in the scorching summer heat. Argentina had all the top players in their squad. Ramesh Krishnan lost 1st match in 5 sets. Vijay somehow managed to win the 2nd match in a 5 set thriller. 3rd match was won by India. In 4th round match, India lost again in 4 n 1/2 hour marathon. At 35, it was not easy to play two 5 setters in a matter of 2 days in Delhi's summer. The final showdown was set between Vijay and world no. 7, Martin Jaite who was 21. Martin won 1st 2 sets comprehensively and was 3-0 in the lead in the 3rd set. Most of the audience was already on their way out of the stadium. During the break, there was a routine medical check-up and it was found that Vijay had lost 11 pounds during the match. Doctors said, 'we cannot allow you to get back on the court. It can prove fatal'. Even the Indian team told him to retire from the match. They told him that everyone knows how committed he has been in playing for India and there wouldn’t be any negative press even if he backs out of the decider. Vijay asked the doctors to keep oxygen cylinders and an ambulance ready. "The only way I would leave the court would be on a stretcher", he said. He fought back to win the 3^rd set 6-4, kept his nerve in the 4^th set saving 2 match points. He won that set 8-6. And the final one 6-2. He just did the impossible that day.

·         He listed down 5 D's to be successful in sports and in life.

o    Desire - If you don't have it for something, you ought to do something else.

o    Determination -  Are we determined enough, to not take a 'No' for an answer in what we want to excel in?

o    Dedication - Lack of talent can be compensated with dedication

o    Discipline - Are you ready to sacrifice everything to do something which you are most passionate about?

o    Divine Intervention - The above D's account for 90%. The rest 10% comes from the divine.

 

·         Vijay Said - "The euphoria of winning in a sport is simply incomparable to anything in this world, doesn't matter whether you win in front of 10 thousand people or just 5 friends of yours!" - For me that was the highlight of the evening. It was so true. All those who have played sports can relate to it. There are many little-little moments from the cricket field that I can never forget. Those images, like taking an impossible catch, hitting a good shot, winning a tight match- just keep on playing on your mind-screen for many days. Reliving those euphoric moments is simply indescribable.

·         He said "It still gives me goosebumps when I remember the times, when a musical band which didn't know very well how to play an Indian national anthem, played it and there was a lone Indian flag waving in some corner of the court in some remote part of the world - just because I was playing! That feeling transcends your existence". Those words really gave me goosebumps.

 

There was a standing ovation for the speaker for the 1st time in last 6 months n it lasted 'literally' for a couple of minutes.

 

My takeaway from the lecture was an 'extremely spirited and passion-filled evening' and an autograph by the great Vijay Amritraj. :-)

 

 And btw, it also gave me a reason to revive my blog. 

 

-- vabZone