Free stay and langar meals

What happens to people when they are surrounded by members of their community and a few close friends In this case a sporting legend the Chitrapur Saraswat community and pals in the form of veteran badminton players like Kiran Kaushik Leroy DSa Shirish Nadkarni Iqbal Maindargi and Mangirish Palekar They shrug off their shy selfeffacing reticent selves and open up on bits of their professional journey that have not been heard beforeThats what Prakash Padukone did recently during a conversation with sports enthusiasts Sunil Ullal and Praveen Kadle at a function organised by the Kanara Saraswat Association at Tardeo Mumbai while the badminton virtuoso was in the city for a few daysPadukones success mantraGoing down memory lane the 1980 All England champion recalled Four decades ago we young badminton players were sent for an intensive sixweek training camp in Indonesia We did not have the luxury of checking into a hotel or a wellfurnished rented apartment Fortunately a group of helpful NRIs came to our rescue We were allowed to occupy a room in a local gurudwara We slept on the floor and had our free meals served daily during the langar If one has to strive for excellence one should have an unconditional love for the sport and be prepared to make sacrifices and adjustments in life said Padukone with his charming smileThe incident in Indonesia will also remind badminton buffs who have read The Prakash Padukone Story by Dev S Sukumar In the book the author recalls an incident in which Padukone and his fellow state badminton players had to sleep in freezing conditions at Lucknow station where they were stranded at due to a railway strike right in the middle of their journey back to Karnataka from the 1973 Gorakhpur nationals This was after his hattrick of national singles titles and Padukone continued dominating the national championships till 1979 He also partnered DSa to win the doubles crown in 1973Prakash Padukone shows how its done at a recent function in TardeoTalking about spending nights away from home Prakash according to the book loved retiring for the day early to be fresh for the next days challenges While travelling the one thing everybody noticed about Prakash was that he would invariably climb to the upper berth and doze off as soon as the train started He had to preserve his energies for the tournament The others amused themselves by playing cards or reading Everybody carried their own bedding Each trip would involve a great deal of luggage wrote SukumarIm fondly called BuddhaIn one of his witty moods at Tardeo the other day Padukone famous for his calm demeanour while executing his tactful strokeplay on the badminton court made an interesting revelation Since I am generally calm even at home I am also fondly called Buddha Even as he displayed his famous stance with the racquet on the court Padukone 64 the father of Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone added One need not display explicit emotions by shouting at the umpire or the linesman or throw your racquet to flaunt your killer instinct My role models have been badminton legend Rudy Hartono and tennis icons Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer In India it was Sunil Gavaskar and then Sachin Tendulkar There is so much that one has imbibed from them with regards to exemplary dignified conduct at all timesThe Bangalore based icon who has been helming his badminton academy for the 25 years is delighted with the popularity quotient his sport enjoys The shuttlecock game now ranks second after cricket in terms of popularity especially after Saina Nehwal won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in 2012 Now that a biopic is being made by director Amole Gupte on Saina Nehwal would Prakash be also game for his own biofeature movie Not yet he told this writerCricket great Sunil Gavaskar with Prakash Padukone at the Pune Indian Masters event in 1979Asked to share his philosophy on handling lifes pressures the selftrained Padukone remarked Health is my top priority followed by peace of mind then comes money Even if I am offered a million dollars to do something which I am not comfortable with I will insist on not doing itClearly Indias first All England champion is at peace with himself Indeed he must stay a role model to younger members of his tribe To the budding players in the audience Padukone said Do not expect instant results Have abundant patience try to optimise your potential but always give your 100 per centCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereAlso download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates