Dream of a big house on back-burner, Sadhwanis first want to see Raunak as world chess champion
| Date :15-Apr-2020 |
By Paritosh Pramanik :
THEIR dream of a new ‘big house’ has been put on the back-burner, for time being. There are loans to be repaid. The travelling cost to different parts of the world is obnoxiously high. But still, there are no regrets at all until their kid is conquering the world step by step. That too at a tender age of 14 years! Bharat and Heena Sadhwani, proud parents of city’s first Chess Grandmaster Raunak are the happiest couple despite keeping their personal desires, dreams under the wraps. For them their son’s chess career tops everything at present. To some extent, they have succeeded in guiding Raunak to the top. But there is still a long way to go. The dream of their son winning the World Chess title is yet to be fulfilled. The Sadhwanis are confident Raunak will achieve that too in near future.
A file photo of Raunak (in yellow shirt), his father Bharat, mother Heena and younger brother Armaan.
At every step, since Raunak started his chess career when he was not even eight years, (7.5 to be precise), their confidence grew. “Raunak was under nine years of age when he won the first State title (8 years and six months) in 2014. That ‘crown’ kick-started his career in chess. Before that it was a leisure sport. Raunak used to eagerly wait for his father to return from his chemical factory and play chess with him,” recalled Heena, who has now turned as Raunak’s “tour manager”. “It was that State and after that National title at Pondicherry in 2014 which helped our confidence grow. It was more satisfying as Raunak had defeated a well-acclaimed and top-rated Chennai’s Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. Those were the days when a State or National title was the topmost prize for us.
But when Raunak got selected in Indian team for World Youth, Asian Youth and Commonwealth Chess Championship (he won gold) and then for Asian Chess Competition (bronze), we decided to devote ourselves in making Raunak a master of 64 squares,” Heena told this scribe. “A few months later (in 2015), at the World Chess Championship at Greece, Raunak finished joint second. That gave wings to our dreams,” said Heena. Heena and Bharat had to do split duty as Raunak’s tour partners. They had to take care of their business (chemical factory) as well as of their second son (Armaan). And they very immaculately divided the tours.
As businessman Ratan Tata puts it “I don’t believe in taking right decisions. I take decisions and make them right’, Sadhwanis too decided first and made the decisions count right. “It was not possible for both of us to travel with Raunak at the same time. So we divided the tours. When Bharat was travelling with Raunak I took care of our business and Armaan and when I was travelling, my husband looked after Armaan and the business. By God’s grace, my maternal home is very close to my house (in Jaripatka) and my mother took care of Armaan. We are very much blessed to get her support,” remarked Heena. “Armaan, despite being just two years old, never troubled Bharat or my mother. I think Raunak winning the GM title should be attributed to Armaan too,” felt Heena.
Till a certain stage, chess doesn’t look a very costly game but as the player reaches higher level, the cost, specially of advanced coaching, travel, stay, increases. Sadhwanis, too, faced this situation but took this challenge on the chin. “Raunak’s father Bharat worked day and night. He started a construction business just to add a few more bucks which would help us in Raunak’s coaching, travel and stay,” revealed Heena with pride. “Bharat has a dream of having a big house. But we have kept that dream pending. We are now fully concentrating on Raunak’s future,” she revealed. After Raunak won the International Master (IM) title in May 2018, it hardly took him another 17 months or so to achieve the most coveted GM title. “When Raunak became International Master it became more challenging for us. We wanted him to become a GM and that was not easy. For that he had to participate in major tournaments in the world. “We took loans from various sources to foot Raunak’s tour bills,” said Heena.
The Sadhwanis were ‘forced’ to do so as Raunak had started getting acclamation and was billed as future star by several top rated Grandmasters, including GM Viswanathan Anand. GM Anand’s words gave Sadhwanis more confidence which took Raunak to that edge of glorious achievement from where the Grandmaster norm was visible. “Last year Anand appreciated him and said ‘Raunak is a big talent who is ridiculously underrated. His rating should have been much higher. The moves he is playing is of a high class’,” recalled Heena. “Once after playing against Raunak, Anand had admitted that he was ‘searching for a draw’. It is a very big compliment for us.
That gave a fillip to Raunak’s as well as our confidence,” acknowledged the proud mother. That confidence boosting words gave a push to Raunak in getting GM title last October. The Sadhwani couple still dreams of first watching Raunak becoming a World Chess Champion and then moving into a ‘big house’. “The path is very difficult but not impossible,” accepts Heena. Former India President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had said, “dream is not that which you see while sleeping, it is something that does not let your sleep.” The Sadhwanis have spent several sleepless nights and still continue to do so. It is for sure that their dreams will be fulfilled. One Day.