Operation Bhilai

The time was most auspicious. All good players were tired from their trip from Nainital playing the beautiful tournament there & coming by a not so beautiful Amritasar Mail.

And the specialists had gone to Shanghai for Bermuda Bowl ( Judging from their result, one can wonder whether Denny Sakul's coaching was that effective- but it's a different story).

So, it was in the hope of getting an easy rundown we palnned to go to Bhilai-- & we didn't bother for the railway concession either.

Debuda, as usual, found a nice weekly train for us & as unusual, actually made the trip!

& we had with us wishes from Mandira.d.battachararya & as unusual, no chicken/mutton from Siddharthada's house.

For the past few days trains were running late due to insistent rain. But we were lucky.

But another opportunistic team- Aloke Daga's--was not so lucky. They could not go as Azad Hind Exp started 5 hours late & they resigned at Howrah station itself.

(But a group of players from the western side of the Ganges were cleverer ! They started a day earlier! But the earlier day must have been a bad day, you can ask Kabirajda or Bijonda why.)

The pantry car of the weekly superfast was excellent. They make excellent cutlets, samosa & even serve fish for dinner( stale though, but fish,no doubt).

Our train was 5 hours late but we had enough time in reserve & reached the venue, a three star hotel, in time for breakfast. Only 14 teams came & so there was no queue for food & to tell you frankly, the organisers were real gentlemen, just as you expect from people settled outside their state.

They are real helpful, cordial,sincere & have not become cinical & opportunists like us- mainland people.

The venue is a very large SAIL run hotel amidst a planted jungle.Large airconditioned rooms & a nice conference hall as the venue.

The food is very simple but that is not organiser's fault. The hotel charges exorbitantly for food from the organisers. As usual, the organisers gets about 40,000/- from the participants towards fooding, lodging & entry fee for 3 events & pays away 55.000/- as prize money itself!The rooms, curtsey of Bhilai Steel Plant, costs them 100/- per day ( actual rent is 600-800/- per day).

The organisers are all retired employees of BSP & so their resourses of getting fund as souvenior donations must be very limited.

Getting fund is & has always been a problem in Indian Bridge & Bhilai is no exception.

We started well but did very badly in the quarter final league. We understand being routed over by a team from Nagpur but we cannot account for our loss with a Bhubaneswar team & a Bilaspur team which finally clinched the trophy.

Got a place in the BAM segment & myself & Debuda got a place in the Pairs too.

In this 14 team tournament, the actual result was indeed a shame for us; but then, a prize is always a prize.

Journey back to Calcutta was also smooth. The Bombay Mail arrived in time & ran in time.

& I never knew they can provide Basmati rice & Chicken curry from the pantry. In my not so few train journey, I never had such beautiful dinner from Rly pantry.Where the normal chichen meal costs 60/-, this basmati rice & chicken masala costs 70/- only.