The Hindu : Sport : Musings of a humble champion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport

Musings of a humble champion

Rakesh Rao

Anand pays tribute to Indian players who contributed to his success

— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

INSPIRATIONAL: Viswanathan Anand is a role model not only for being a world-beater in chess but also for his impeccable conduct and perception on various issues.

NEW DELHI: The simplicity of Viswanathan Anand is far from simple to understand.

Most celebrity sportspersons either do not remain grounded as they probably were before attaining success or choose to be different to suit the worldly ways. Meet Anand even for a moment and he charms you with his ways and leaves you wondering why not all celebrities cannot be like him.

Humility is an integral part of Anand’s nature and it is hard to miss. Whether he is obliging his fans at the airport, photographers at the hotel lobby, playing chess with select school children or answering questions from the media that just cannot get enough of him, the 38-year-old is surely a ‘Grand’ master in handling all kinds of situations.

Hungry for more

Increasingly, people have come to believe that Anand is indeed the greatest Indian sportsperson ever. But that does not affect the champion. “Honestly, I don’t think about it. I still have the hunger and feel that I am still in that ‘enjoying stage’. I cannot look for a big picture every while. I don’t need to. It seems I can just go to the next tournament and get excited about that. That’s good enough, somehow,” says Anand.

Sitting for lunch at a South Indian speciality restaurant, Anand enjoys everything from piping hot rasam, to curd-rice to ‘one-yard’ coffee. "It’s pretty good here," says Anand as he reaches for a second helping of curd-rice.

A smiling Aruna gives her approval and says, "every time we have some guests at home (the Anands live at Collado Mediano, near Madrid), by the fifth day you can find them relishing curd-rice."

Making it special

Having regained the World title late last month and played a few club games in Istanbul, Anand is on a ‘vacation’ in India till mid-November.

"The people (in India) make it very special for me. It is time to be with family, meet my friends and just chill. Of course, the next four or five days (in Chennai) will be busy (with a number of felicitation functions lined up).

Keeping with his simple ways, Anand has been working with several Indian players, including K. Sasikiran, Sandipan Chanda, P. Konguvel, V. Saravanan and M.R. Venkatesh. In fact, young player R. Ashwath was part of the group that shared ideas with Anand before the World Championship in Mexico City.

“Chanda comes up with interesting ideas. They were very useful and I used one against Boris Gelfand (in Mexico City). It is always great to look for new ideas. It is good to surprise your opponents at the right moment, you know. I have been collaborating for a while with some of our players,” is his simple explanation.

Interesting take

Suggest the idea of a possible ‘Challenge Match’ against Garry Kasparov, the former world No.1 who retired from the sport in 2005 to pursue a career in Russian politics, and Anand has an interesting take.

“It will be interesting if he returns. I am open to it. I can assure that it will be less physically damaging to him than his present occupation," said Anand with a smile, hinting at the assault on Kasparov in 2005 and arrest following anti-Putin protests in Moscow this April. Anand is one of the few sportspersons who can speak on the impact of growing economy and the rising Sensex on Indian sports. "Generally, a stronger economy means everyone will have more resources. But beyond that I really don’t see any correlation. You have countries which don’t do well in some sports but do exceptionally well in other disciplines. Everything else being equal, you’ll prefer to be born in a country with more resources. That’s clear."

For sure, Anand knows how to keep things simple and remain simple.

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