A visit to Raibidpura – The Bridge Village

The Prelude: I had first seen the villagers of Raibidpura play in the annual Maharaja Yashwantrao Holkar event at Indore. They were conspicuously visible by their attire of white pajamas/kurtas and the headband which was a sure sign of their village background. Seeing them play at the tournament tables in early 2010 I had instantly wondered about their bridge learning and background., made some checks with the local organizers and then talked to couple of them inquiring in general and expressing my desire to visit them sometime.

The wish was alive during the intervening period but many things kept the visit in abeyance. It was Amaresh Deshpande from Goa, who not only took up their cause but also spread the word around by his blog and recounts of his visits there. A common bridge friend, by chance, initiated  me to an email correspondence with Amaresh in respect to some material for bridge coaching work he was doing in Goa. The email led to talk on the village and the visit to the village was urgently fixed for the end of September 2013

I had some input from both Amaresh and then from Mohan Ukidve from Nashik who had hosted some of the brighter students for a camp at Nashik in middle of 2013. We, Nayana- my wife –without whom my coaching activities are incomplete and myself decided to undertake the journey for the cause. The villagers were consulted and agreed to the dates.

The problems envisaged: The preparations started in right earnest. We were informed of absence of most of the regular city comforts- A.C, fridge, frequent power disruptions, possibility of mosquito menace, absence of western toilets, lack of regular tables and chairs in the bridge club. For us the additional considerations were non-availibity of our style of food and snacks especially in view of Nayana’s ongoing diet restrictions.  We decided to change what we could and manage with what we could not. The travel to the village was itself a major issue that we needed to address differently. A state transport bus from Ahmedabad travelled on the Mumbai-Agra highway about 40 kms away from the village. We were advised to take that bus and get down at a specific point from where our hosts  would pick us up and arrange to take us to the village. The journey was to take nearly 13 hours on roads less than perfect because of the monsoon damage. Absence of the students for the whole day upto about 4 p.m. was also informed and we had to be prepared for almost 10 hours of  proposed inactivity daily.

The Preparations: Western toilets was a decidedly major requirement for both of us with weak knees. We purchased and carried a medical chair with us ( have left it there for others who follow us in future). We carried khakhras (the ever fresh gujarati snack for emergency feeding as well as change of taste) in large quantities along with some cookies & dry snacks and decided to find and purchase fruits at every opportunity for solving the food issues. We decided to forego the direct bus journey and instead took a night train to Indore from where we would hire a private car to reach the village about 150 kms away. The trip, apart from comfortable night journey in train reduced the strain of the road journey by bus and allowed us to pick up an important teaching aid (a projector) from Indore.

For the bridge coaching I carried my extensive notes prepared over years along-with all the coaching gadgets like score charts, bidding hands, system notes and specially designed sheets for help in learning. With practically not much briefing on existing level of competence of prospective bunch of students there (except the fact that most of them were at the mini-bridge stage I  had to carry a lot of material. I also decided to carry with me simple registration forms for better interaction with individuals who attended the sessions. Thus armed we set out on the 23r September for the adventure into an unexplored territory.

 

The place of bridge action

The reception: The travel was uneventful and we reached the village by about 1.00 p.m. The secretary of the Kisan Bridge Club – Sri Dipak, along-with a few others was available to welcome us. Lunch was arranged at the residence of Sri Devdas, President of the club. He also offered us a choice of stay either 200 meters away from the club in his own vacant house (where his family had not yet moved) or in a further distant place where they claimed the accommodation was rather spacious and more comfortable. We opted for the nearby house from where we could commute to the club on our own.

Our place of  stay during the visit

Two cousin brothers of Devdas, with their houses next door were entrusted with the task of providing us with drinking water, tea and hot water for bath during our stay there. None from these two families attended the classes yet both families took very good care of us during the stay. They also gave good company during the spare hours sharing tales and info and accompanying to market etc. A true epitome of village hospitality.

The food and cooking: The members of the club took it upon themselves by turn to cook meals for us. Most of the villagers had their lunch by 9.30 a.m. and went their ways either to the farms for farming related work, or to the schools for teaching. They returned by about 5.30-6 p.m took an early dinner and the elders The staple food in the village consisted of chapattis, dal and one dry subzi which was prepared with finely chopped veggies and was extremely spicy for our tolerance. On day 2 we had to ask them to tone down the spice content considerably. Pickles and the dry peanut chutney provided the extra zing wherever and whenever required. Dal-Bati a Rajasthani favorite and a special item for us Gujaratis was also available as change menu at many houses. Rice could be prepared whenever needed. Though the plate did not seem to have any frills, the food was wholesome, tasty and it served the basic purpose of keeping us well fed. Realizing that I was diabetic and Nayana was dieting and we both  used splenda as sugar substitute, we had a pleasant surprise when Mr Devdas asked for some satchets of splenda and personally prepared Rabdi for us on the final day.

Dinner at Bhagwanji's residence

The classes and the students: The village has a population of around 5,000 and boasts of bridge population numbering above 200, a very impressive number indeed. Bridge enthusiasts of the village are distinctly divided into 3 groups.

1.      Mini bridge group: The group mostly made up of new entrants and beginners -children of age 7-12 years. The group normally arrives by 4.15 pm, after school and stays on till about 6.00 pm. They play mini bridge and practice only card play (no bidding).
2.     Bidding group: This is the group of youngsters graduating out of the mini bridge group are basically given training of bidding systems and methods. They start arriving around 5.00 pm and stay on till about 7.00 pm.
3.      Seniors: They are the farmers and the service class people. They come to the club for regular play starting at 7.00 pm and play social bridge without entering any scores after deals and thus without any competitive element.

 We reached the village on the afternoon of 24^th September. In the evening the first to arrive were the mini bridge students. The registration process began and as the children started playing, Nayana started the supervision, checking out on correctness of contracts and the play progress with inputs on some simple trick making plays, such as simple trump removal and finessing. The children seemed to be keen to acquire new skills in card play. As a small beginning, they were all made to gather in front of the blackboard and taught the basics of rank of cards, honor and positional values etc. Bidding group members arrived next.  2-3 out of them seemed sharp.  Most of them had terrminal exams & tuition classes on from 6.00 pm and had to leave early. The blackboard teaching consisted of 1M opening and its revised responses.  

Mini bridge + Bidding group attending theory (blackboard) class

A senior theory class in progress

Seniors entered after 7 pm, playing mostly with a strong club system akin to precision.  A short watch on the proceedings was enough to see that they had very few bidding gadgets & needed to upgrade a lot for better results. Though a bit tentative they joined the theory classes for blackboard coaching  (probably their first time ever for bridge) when called. We started with a revised structure of 1 major opening.

The upshot of the first day’s efforts was that they all had become students of bridge theory, sitting  in the class in front of the blackboard and had all enjoyed the new way of learning and the inflow of knowledge it brought.  It also resulted in quick spreading of word in the village and a rapid increase in attendance next day onwards. The use of prepared notes, Hindi as medium of instruction , translation of some notes into hindi and display of copies of some written notes on the notice boards  and use of projectors all went a long way to add to the interest among the villagers, and the attendance and registration went up day by day

A common feature of the classes in 3 different groups was that every one was keen on theory learning and was happy to sacrifice the play for the same. The seniors, many of whom were teachers by profession for years, were all very keen students. The subjects taken  for coaching day by day are listed in the chart (see next page)

On Sunday the 29^th tournaments were held for all the 3 groups separately. We had 6 tables for mini bridge, 3 tables for bidding group and an astonishing 8 tables for the seniors. More surprising was the fact that the seniors event attracted some 68-70 year old veterans of many state events. The fever had definitely caught on.

The village: The village boasts of a very high level educational sensitivity, what with over 300 persons engaged as teachers in schools, and lot of young girls going to colleges at distant places. The game of Bridge surely has been a very positive influence on the village, with practically no quarrels and fights amongst the residents and no major cases of vices and addiction noted. The village has already attracted TV coverage for its bridge activities. Times of India, India’s leading national daily has featured the village in its Sunday supplement edition.

The success of the village in attracting media attention has not been lost on their neighbors. The residents of Shrikhandi, a village 4 kms away from Raibidpura are also desirous of starting bridge game there and came to meet us for the same. Something may be done to soon enough to initiate them to the game and produce some more players.

Date	Group	Bridge  teaching  & Activity	Comments
24.09.13	Mini bridge	ways to make extra tricks
Tuesday	Bidding	1H/1S revised structure
	Seniors	1H/1S revised structure
25.09.13	Mini bridge	Con 1.  1,2 (HW 3,4,5,6, Std opg bids
Wednesday	Bidding	Standard Opening bids, Leads & Signals	Prepared and gave  Hindi version
	Seniors	Leads & Signals	Prepared and gave  Hindi version
26.09.13	Mini bridge	Con 1. 3. Con 2. 7,8 HW9,10,11,12
Thursday		Responses to 1NT
	Bidding	Scoring all formats,Precision opg bids
	Seniors	Scoring, all formats,Precision opg bids
27.09.13	Mini bridge	Con 3. 13,14. HW Con 3. 15,16,17,18	List of participation on comp
Friday		Responses to 1D	Activity Sheet on Comp
	Bidding	Doubles & Redoubles, 1H/1S  responses	Hindi write up given
	Seniors	Doubles & Redoubles,1H/1S  responses	Hindi write up given
28.09.13	Mini bridge	Con 4. HW
Saturdy	Bidding	Cappality, DON’T, 1NT responses
	Seniors	Cappality, DON’T, 1NT  responses	To be given in Hindi
29.09.13	Mini bridge	Tournament 6 tables -5 rd mitchell -10 bds
Sunday	Bidding	Tournament 3 tables -all play all 15 bds
	Seniors	Tournament 7 tables Mitchell -14 bds	To install ACBL scoring and teach
30.09.13	Mini bridge	Dup scoring, Con. Chapter 5,6
Monday	Bidding	Dup scoring, 1C- 1D responses
	Seniors	Precision 2C onwards & 1D FBO, Cue bids	Should practice some deals.
		Dup Scoring
01.10.13	Mini Bridge	Con. Chap 7,8, 9	All copies given to club
	Bidding	2C onwards responses.	System notes in English given
	Seniors	Responses to 1C, Labensohl	System notes in hindi to be given.

The outings: We visited the farms of Dipak as well as his uncle Kamalji, travelling in the bullock cart. At the farm we saw a verity number of produce being cultivated. We borrowed  a motor cycle from Mr  Devdas to go to the district headquarters Khargone where the colleges and Governement offices are all functional. .Finally after the stay at village we visited Omkareshwar, Mandu, Ujjain Bhopal, Pachmadhi etc. places of tourist interest in Madhya Pradesh.

Dipak taking us to his farm

Everyone connected was wishing the coaching could continue longer. May be this trip will be a precursor to many more. May be we have a future India player looming amongst Hariom, Rohit, Nidhi, Antimbala, Vidya, Mohit, Krishna, Sonali and other children of the village who have shown immense talent and affinity for the game.

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