Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Entertainment | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

The champion at play

It's hard to write about a man who loathes speaking about himself. But Dev Sukumar was determined to both chronicle Prakash Padukone's achievements on the badminton court and catch the reticent man behind the racquet

PERSONAL TOUCH Dev Sukumar: `I wanted to get the human element more than the backhands and smashes' PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

In an age of excesses, Prakash Padukone is an aberration. He is a man who is reticent, keeps a low profile and loathes speaking about himself. It was a combination that could unnerve anyone who was keen to write a biography about the man who helped Indian badminton scale global standards when he won the All England in 1980, defeating Liem Swie King 15-3, 15-10.

However, Dev Sukumar was undeterred. His biography of Padukone, Touch Play, was launched at the Karnataka Badminton Association (KBA) courts last week during the course of the National Championships. It was a moment that capped a dream that flowered two years ago on an evening at the KBA Courts.

The 29-year-old sports writer, who flitted in and out of newspapers, was wedged between Padukone and another former badminton player, Vimal Kumar, and their bouts of nostalgia over the game and their formative years. The obvious question popped inside Dev's mind: "Is there a book here?"

Dev turned to Padukone and asked: "Prakash, how about writing an autobiography, I could help you with that?"

Padukone's famous reticence surfaced again and he declined. But the moment had come. Dev knew that Padukone's contribution to Indian badminton had to be chronicled. Later, Dev put in a request for writing Padukone's official biography. Padukone agreed. And Dev, who loves his badminton, long walks at the IISc campus and Tom Wolfe's books, logged onto the computer and stared at a blank screen.

"I was getting worked up about writing a book and then I thought let me think that I am writing a long feature. And then it all fell into place," Dev recalls.

But more than writers' block, it was the lack of archives and match statistics that unnerved Dev. He then got down to meeting everyone connected with Padukone — family, friends and rival players.

It was also a journey that had its start in a bout of anger. On December 30, 2003, Padukone's father Ramesh Padukone passed away. Ramesh, pioneer of badminton in Karnataka, was a treasure-trove of information. With his demise, a slice of badminton history was gone. Besides grief, Dev also felt like kicking himself. He had last met Ramesh Padukone in 2002 and they had a general discussion about badminton and life in Malleswaram. But that was it.

Dev needed more. Once the anger subsided, on December 31, 2003, Dev got down to tracing the Prakash Padukone story.

"I met all those who were close to Prakash. Got their versions and then got back to Prakash to jog his memory about those instances mentioned by the others. Listening to the old stories was fun but transcribing the tapes on returning home was tough. I wanted to get the human element more than the backhands and smashes," Dev says.

Months began to fly and Dev quit his regular job as a sports writer and plunged fulltime into researching the Padukone story. He travelled to Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and eventually Indonesia, where he met Padukone's great rivals — Rudy Hartono, Morten Frost, Han Jian and Icuk Sugiarto — during the course of a legends tournament.

Intense research

"I interviewed more than 200 people who knew Prakash. And I owe a big thanks to Vimal Kumar's father Unnikrishnan Nair, who had meticulously maintained newspaper clippings of old matches. I also have to mention Balan who was a great help at the KBA and goaded me to do this book besides giving me a player perspective."

As the book began to get a life of its own, Dev did the vanishing act.

"I postponed life for these two years. I stopped meeting most of my friends and avoided family functions as I did not want to mention the book till I was absolutely certain about it."

He found support in his mother and sister besides a few old friends from his days at the Asian College of Journalism who ensured that his spirit never flagged. Finally the effort paid off though Dev did take the risk of printing the first 1,000 copies of the book on his own.

He admits: "I have to forget that I am an author and now I should be a salesman. I need to tie up with a distributor and sell the copies."

And the take-away from writing the book? "Ujjala (Prakash's wife) called me up after reading the book and said that it was good. And Prakash said it was `nice'. Coming from Prakash, who hardly uses adjectives, the word `nice' has a nice ring to it."

Any more books in the offing? "I guess I will stick to badminton for now," Dev says before heading to the city's bookstores with copies of Touch Play.

Dev Sukumar can be contacted on badmintonmania@gmail.com. The book is priced at Rs. 300.

K.C. VIJAYA KUMAR

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail