Contract bridge is a good option on Sundays

Addiction to cards has been labeled as an evil and, in Bengali, there is a saying ‘tash, dabah, pasha, shakal karma nasha’ – this means the three vices that affect one’s normal working are cards, chess and the game of dice a-la Shakuni mama in the Mahabharata.
I had not become an addict as such but loved a game of bridge.
I began with auction bridge – that also due to circumstances. I had lost my father and so had a close friend of mine. One evening, as I was sitting with him, his brother-in-law came along. He invited me to a game of auction bridge and when I explained that I did not know how to play it, he brought out a pack of cards and explained.

Then we sat down to a game. It needed a foursome, so my friend’s wife teamed up with her brother and I and my friend got together. That was the beginning. My friend is now settled in Kolkata as is his brother-in-law.
Anyway, later, I switched over to contract bridge and would have regular sessions on Sunday afternoons in my quarter. In those days, mobile phones were unheard of and we would fix the schedule while marketing.
One fine day my friends invited me to accompany them to a night session of contract bridge. It used to be held in the Mitra Vihar club on Saturday nights and would begin after dinner at 10pm. The games went on till early hours of Sunday. Since it was duplicate bridge, it offered a level playing field to all and no one could grumble about bad break of cards or complain of any hanky-panky tricks.
I had, in the meantime, linked up with a regular partner and had devised a bidding system of our own. We wrote the details on a sheet of paper and would leave it on the table for our opponents to refer in case of doubt. Those who played by the standard bidding systems of Goran or Precision, just made a mention of that during the play. But, me and my friend devised out own system – hence had to table it as per tradition.
After gaining experience at Mitra Vihar and then at other venues like the State Bank club in Nashik, we decided to participate in the state level championship. Our HAL Recreation Club was kind enough to sponsor two teams and, it was an experience that I can never forget. (to be continued …)

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