Hurrah Bridge: The story of Raibidpura village

Express News Service

Raibidpura village is around 25 kilometres from the district headquarters, Khargone, in the Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh. From outside, it might look like a typical Indian village with most of its inhabitants being farmers. But it’s not. 

There is an amalgamation of tradition and experimentation. Farmers here are not afraid of experimenting with non-traditional crops such as safed musli, a rare herb from the country which is used in traditional systems of medicine like Ayurveda. Apart from farming, most of the adult males from the village with around 700 houses and a population of nearly 5000 are employed in the government sector. A lot of them are government teachers too. The literacy rate is quite high and the crime rate is almost negligible.

All these virtues can directly or indirectly be attributed to villagers’ obsession with bridge, a form of card game — a sport played between two contestants.

Asian Games reignites hope

Last month when the Bridge Federation of India announced the Indian team for the upcoming Asian Games scheduled in Hangzhou, China from September 23 to October 8, the village erupted into rapturous celebration. And why not? Two of their fellow women villagers — Kalpana Gurjar and Vidya Patel — have been selected in the national squad for the quadrennial event. While the duo has been representing the country in national and international events, their selection in the Asian Games is a momentous occasion in the history of the village.

“Bridge has been an integral part of this village for decades. But it has been on the decline as youngsters are shying away from the sport due to varied reasons. Now Kalpana and Vidya’s success has the ability to restore the lost connection,” Kamal Verma, an assistant teacher from Girls’ Middle School in the village, who also plays bridge, told this daily.

Like many bridge players from the place, Verma has been working tirelessly to promote the sport. In his quest to popularise bridge, he has recently met Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with Kalpana and Vidya. “We apprised the chief minister of the village’s legacy and requested him to promote the sport in the state. We can only try and have been doing that for years. Hopefully, Kalpana and Vidya win medals at the Asian Games to bring a positive change,” Verma added.

The beginning

Villagers here have always been inclined towards card games. In the late 50s and early 60s, they, most of whom are farmers, used to play card games during their leisure hours. This association with card games led to their initiation into bridge, the sport, in around 1965 when Mohammed Zia Khan, an assistant veterinarian, got transferred to the village. An avid bridge player, Khan used to play the card game at Ranjit Club in Barwani before he shifted to Raibidpura.

“On his arrival, he saw villagers, especially the elderly playing card games in traditional formats in hotels, village squares, and other marketplaces. Given their interest, he gradually convinced them to switch to bridge. He used to sit with them for hours playing bridge. In two years, he trained around 8-10 players. These players along with Khan sir used to play tournaments held at Ranjit Club. On many occasions, these villagers even defeated Khan sir and other professionals. By the 80s, the village had around 25-30 players,” reminisced Verma.

The decline & slow rise

However, once Khan left the village, the interest in bridge started to dwindle. Gradually, villagers started drifting away from the sport. “The decline began in the early 80s and continued for some years before one Champalal Seth, who owned a garment shop in the village, gave a new lease of life to the sport. The legend has it that Sethji was suffering from acute shoulder pain. In his bid to focus away from the writhing pain, he started playing bridge in the evening in front of his shop. Usually, during that time the footfall is less. This attracted others and once again the village saw people embracing bridge. This continued till the late 90s when Sethji passed away. His demise once again served a big jolt to the development and promotion of the sport in the village,” informed Verma.

Getting break through ads

Fortunately, the sport survived the test of time as a few villagers continued playing it even when a majority of them decided otherwise. “In 2012, we saw an advertisement in vernacular dailies about the proposed open bridge tournament at Yeshwant Club in Indore. We wrote to the club secretary expressing our desire to play in the tournament. I along with five others reached there. Villagers in traditional attire playing bridge caught everybody’s attention there as bridge is considered an elite sport. One of the participants, Manoj Nair, who hails from Bengaluru, wrote about us making the village a talking point among the fraternity. I can safely say that led to the revival of the sport in the village.”

Bill & Melinda Gates connect

The news reached Amresh Deshpande, who promotes the bridge by visiting schools in urban and rural India. Deshpande visited the village in 2012 for the first time. The visit took him by surprise and he decided to reinvigorate villagers’ interest in the bridge. His blog drew the attention of senior bridge players including Arun Jain. They collected money to start a club to promote the sport in the village.

“Arun Jain donated Rs 60,000. The blog also helped in landing a donation worth $1000 from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The collection generated was enough to start the club. We rented a room in the village. Eight tables were bought. This time, we decided to connect school children with the sport and targeted class 6 and 7 students. The efforts paid dividends as we got a new generation of players which also includes Kalpana and Vidya. Later, the village panchayat gave us a room where the club named Kisan Bridge Club is being run,” said Verma.

GenNext and legacy

Kalpana’s father Balram Verma is a bridge player. When bridge was introduced in Raibidpura schools, Kalpana was among the first few to join the programme. A BSc graduate in Chemistry, Kalpana moved to Ahmedabad after finishing school just to stay connected with the game. “Parimal Vahalia sir asked us to move to Ahmedabad for pursuing BSc as he doesn’t want us to give up bridge. Before moving to Ahmedabad, I had attended summer coaching camps in the city and Nashik. So a few of my schoolmates moved to Gujarat where we pursued graduation as well as bridge,” Kalpana told this daily.

Kalpana along with Vidya participated in the Asian Games trials and got selected in the team. She along with other selected players will also represent India at the World Bridge Team Championships in Morocco from August 20 to September 2. “My father is a teacher but he plays bridge which motivated me to take up the sport. Vidya’s father Hariram Patel is a farmer. She took up the sport watching her uncle, who is also a bridge player. Around 250-300 villagers play bridge here and out of them 15-20 are teachers. This amazes everyone as they are of the opinion that bridge is only played by the rich and elite,” signed off Kalpana.

Come September, the entire village will be following the fortunes of Kalpana and Vidya. A medal will give them hope and reason to pursue the sport with zest. And ensure the legacy of Raibidpura is kept alive.

——————-
Online training
I have been training online since 2019. This has helped us a lot as even the Covid-19 pandemic couldn’t stop us from training. As far as the ladies’ team is concerned, we train online regularly. Ahmedabad-based coach Vinay Desai has been helping us with the training.
— Kalpana Gurjar, India bridge player

Bridge taught us to take risks
In bridge, there is a high chance of getting success if you do not refrain from taking risks. I think that ability to take risks has helped the villagers in other aspects of life including farming where they have navigated into growing non-traditional crops. Besides, it has also developed a bond among the villagers, which I suppose led to a peaceful society with a low crime rate  — Kamal Verma, school teacher and bridge player

India squad:
Open teams: Jaggy Shivdasani, Sandeep Thakral, Rajeshwar Tiwari, Sumit Mukherjee, Raju Tolani and Ajay Khare Reserve 1: Kaustabh Bendre and Sayantan Kushari;  Coach: Mr Joyjit Sensarma; Mixed Team: Kiran Nadar, B Satyanarayana, Himani Khandelwal, Rajeev Khandelwal, Marianne Karmarkar and Sandeep Karmarkar Reserve 1: Hema Deora and Rana Roy; Coach: Vinay Desai; Ladies Team: Asha Sharma, Puja Batra, Alka Kshirsagar, Bharti Dey, Kalpana Gurjar and Vidya Patel Reserve 1: Richa Shriram and Meenal Thakur; Coach: Anal Shah

<br /> Raibidpura village is around 25 kilometres from the district headquarters, Khargone, in the Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh. From outside, it might look like a typical Indian village with most of its inhabitants being farmers. But it’s not. </p> <p>There is an amalgamation of tradition and experimentation. Farmers here are not afraid of experimenting with non-traditional crops such as safed musli, a rare herb from the country which is used in traditional systems of medicine like Ayurveda. Apart from farming, most of the adult males from the village with around 700 houses and a population of nearly 5000 are employed in the government sector. A lot of them are government teachers too. The literacy rate is quite high and the crime rate is almost negligible.</p> <p>All these virtues can directly or indirectly be attributed to villagers’ obsession with bridge, a form of card game — a sport played between two contestants.</p> <p>Asian Games reignites hope</p> <p>Last month when the Bridge Federation of India announced the Indian team for the upcoming Asian Games scheduled in Hangzhou, China from September 23 to October 8, the village erupted into rapturous celebration. And why not? Two of their fellow women villagers — Kalpana Gurjar and Vidya Patel — have been selected in the national squad for the quadrennial event. While the duo has been representing the country in national and international events, their selection in the Asian Games is a momentous occasion in the history of the village.</p> <p>“Bridge has been an integral part of this village for decades. But it has been on the decline as youngsters are shying away from the sport due to varied reasons. Now Kalpana and Vidya’s success has the ability to restore the lost connection,” Kamal Verma, an assistant teacher from Girls’ Middle School in the village, who also plays bridge, told this daily.</p> <p>Like many bridge players from the place, Verma has been working tirelessly to promote the sport. In his quest to popularise bridge, he has recently met Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with Kalpana and Vidya. “We apprised the chief minister of the village’s legacy and requested him to promote the sport in the state. We can only try and have been doing that for years. Hopefully, Kalpana and Vidya win medals at the Asian Games to bring a positive change,” Verma added.</p> <p>The beginninggoogletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });</p> <p>Villagers here have always been inclined towards card games. In the late 50s and early 60s, they, most of whom are farmers, used to play card games during their leisure hours. This association with card games led to their initiation into bridge, the sport, in around 1965 when Mohammed Zia Khan, an assistant veterinarian, got transferred to the village. An avid bridge player, Khan used to play the card game at Ranjit Club in Barwani before he shifted to Raibidpura.</p> <p>“On his arrival, he saw villagers, especially the elderly playing card games in traditional formats in hotels, village squares, and other marketplaces. Given their interest, he gradually convinced them to switch to bridge. He used to sit with them for hours playing bridge. In two years, he trained around 8-10 players. These players along with Khan sir used to play tournaments held at Ranjit Club. On many occasions, these villagers even defeated Khan sir and other professionals. By the 80s, the village had around 25-30 players,” reminisced Verma.</p> <p>The decline & slow rise</p> <p>However, once Khan left the village, the interest in bridge started to dwindle. Gradually, villagers started drifting away from the sport. “The decline began in the early 80s and continued for some years before one Champalal Seth, who owned a garment shop in the village, gave a new lease of life to the sport. The legend has it that Sethji was suffering from acute shoulder pain. In his bid to focus away from the writhing pain, he started playing bridge in the evening in front of his shop. Usually, during that time the footfall is less. This attracted others and once again the village saw people embracing bridge. This continued till the late 90s when Sethji passed away. His demise once again served a big jolt to the development and promotion of the sport in the village,” informed Verma.</p> <p>Getting break through ads</p> <p>Fortunately, the sport survived the test of time as a few villagers continued playing it even when a majority of them decided otherwise. “In 2012, we saw an advertisement in vernacular dailies about the proposed open bridge tournament at Yeshwant Club in Indore. We wrote to the club secretary expressing our desire to play in the tournament. I along with five others reached there. Villagers in traditional attire playing bridge caught everybody’s attention there as bridge is considered an elite sport. One of the participants, Manoj Nair, who hails from Bengaluru, wrote about us making the village a talking point among the fraternity. I can safely say that led to the revival of the sport in the village.”</p> <p>Bill & Melinda Gates connect</p> <p>The news reached Amresh Deshpande, who promotes the bridge by visiting schools in urban and rural India. Deshpande visited the village in 2012 for the first time. The visit took him by surprise and he decided to reinvigorate villagers’ interest in the bridge. His blog drew the attention of senior bridge players including Arun Jain. They collected money to start a club to promote the sport in the village.</p> <p>“Arun Jain donated Rs 60,000. The blog also helped in landing a donation worth $1000 from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The collection generated was enough to start the club. We rented a room in the village. Eight tables were bought. This time, we decided to connect school children with the sport and targeted class 6 and 7 students. The efforts paid dividends as we got a new generation of players which also includes Kalpana and Vidya. Later, the village panchayat gave us a room where the club named Kisan Bridge Club is being run,” said Verma.</p> <p>GenNext and legacy</p> <p>Kalpana’s father Balram Verma is a bridge player. When bridge was introduced in Raibidpura schools, Kalpana was among the first few to join the programme. A BSc graduate in Chemistry, Kalpana moved to Ahmedabad after finishing school just to stay connected with the game. “Parimal Vahalia sir asked us to move to Ahmedabad for pursuing BSc as he doesn’t want us to give up bridge. Before moving to Ahmedabad, I had attended summer coaching camps in the city and Nashik. So a few of my schoolmates moved to Gujarat where we pursued graduation as well as bridge,” Kalpana told this daily.</p> <p>Kalpana along with Vidya participated in the Asian Games trials and got selected in the team. She along with other selected players will also represent India at the World Bridge Team Championships in Morocco from August 20 to September 2. “My father is a teacher but he plays bridge which motivated me to take up the sport. Vidya’s father Hariram Patel is a farmer. She took up the sport watching her uncle, who is also a bridge player. Around 250-300 villagers play bridge here and out of them 15-20 are teachers. This amazes everyone as they are of the opinion that bridge is only played by the rich and elite,” signed off Kalpana.</p> <p>Come September, the entire village will be following the fortunes of Kalpana and Vidya. A medal will give them hope and reason to pursue the sport with zest. And ensure the legacy of Raibidpura is kept alive.——————-Online trainingI have been training online since 2019. This has helped us a lot as even the Covid-19 pandemic couldn’t stop us from training. As far as the ladies’ team is concerned, we train online regularly. Ahmedabad-based coach Vinay Desai has been helping us with the training.— Kalpana Gurjar, India bridge playerBridge taught us to take risksIn bridge, there is a high chance of getting success if you do not refrain from taking risks. I think that ability to take risks has helped the villagers in other aspects of life including farming where they have navigated into growing non-traditional crops. Besides, it has also developed a bond among the villagers, which I suppose led to a peaceful society with a low crime rate  — Kamal Verma, school teacher and bridge playerIndia squad:Open teams: Jaggy Shivdasani, Sandeep Thakral, Rajeshwar Tiwari, Sumit Mukherjee, Raju Tolani and Ajay Khare Reserve 1: Kaustabh Bendre and Sayantan Kushari;  Coach: Mr Joyjit Sensarma; Mixed Team: Kiran Nadar, B Satyanarayana, Himani Khandelwal, Rajeev Khandelwal, Marianne Karmarkar and Sandeep Karmarkar Reserve 1: Hema Deora and Rana Roy; Coach: Vinay Desai; Ladies Team: Asha Sharma, Puja Batra, Alka Kshirsagar, Bharti Dey, Kalpana Gurjar and Vidya Patel Reserve 1: Richa Shriram and Meenal Thakur; Coach: Anal Shah<br />