In the death of J M Shah, Indian Bridge lost one of its strongest players in the last few decades. As a player, most current players respect him as one of the best that they have encountered in the country over the past 30-40 years.
We present below a few tributes paid by various players. While some of them have appeared in other groups, all are reproduced here with permission.
Hema Deora
I started to learn bridge from JM many moons ago. I had just learnt strange words like Spade, Heart, Diamond and Club as I was not allowed to play cards by my father. No indoor games allowed!
Someone suggested I should learn from Mr. JM Shah, the legendary five or six time National master and one of India’s top players. The very thought petrified me! Apparently this news went to JM’s sharp ears and he approached me saying “Madam I can coach you. We play three times a week and while playing you can pick up the game!” I gently uttered “Ok sir I will let you know”, but he said “Madam tomorrow at 12pm at the Willingdon club.”
I barely slept for two hours that night. JM was at the club at sharp 12 with a few pages of bridge notes in his bold hand writing. He was always very punctual. He told me to read them and come prepared the next day! At home my darling husband's hectic schedule would make me run from the pillar to post and I could barely lay my hands or eyes on those notes. The next day he bid something, and I came up with a disastrous response. If I played ♣ 2 instead of ♣ 3 he would be so upset and say "Why are you playing that way?" It would go over my head like a flying saucer!
To cut a long story short, we had regular teaching sessions, and as my mistakes began to increase, his God’s patience started to wear out slowly but steadily. Sometimes there would be a piercing yell- his eyes would glare, cheeks puffed red, with hair raised! The whole field would look at us and I desperately wanted to crawl under the table. Ten minutes later he would bring me a hot cup of coffee with his guilty sweet smile. I thought that was a rather sweet gesture!
In the future JM would play all tournaments with me, big or small. Together we won so many of them, including the Bhartia Trophy.
It was a sad farewell when he left Mumbai for Manipal. I missed his stern guidance, his corrections, and most importantly the Bridge ethics that he carefully taught me. He was a very simple, humble, helpful and honest human being. Small built but still a very tall figure in the Bridge world both in India and abroad. I was truly fortunate and privileged to have him as my Guru, as were so many others.
An IIT alumnus, he was extremely well read and had a deep understanding of various subjects, which solidified his stature and made him something of an institution.
We pray his noble soul rests in peace.
“Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.”
K R Venkatraman
It is with a heavy heart that I have to share my thoughts on JM Shah. He was my batch mate at IIT Madras hostelmate at Jamuna and both of skipped classes to play bridge. After we both quit IIT, our paths diverged. JM went on to become probably India' best player.
When in 1988, I took to bridge again at a near novice level I ran into JM at a small tournament. He recognized me and said "Why dont we restart a Partnership". When I humbly protested pointing out the gulf between our levels he said "Don't worry I will teach you in 3 months what many won't learn in 10 years."
Ihad the privilege of having The Master as my Guru and though he was a tough taskmaster, it never affected our friendship.He did manage to teach me almost everything I know today in bridge.
He was far ahead of his time in bridge thought processes .With due modesty I must state that over the space of next 5 years we went on .to become one of the most successful pairs in India. But JM always remained humble. He hardly cashed in on his fame and took meager sponsorship though he could have charged the earth. He was honest to the core .- never even took 1 Re extra tax ifare.- never kept a debt.
He was ever helpful to anyone who wanted to learn .Indian Bridge has lost one of its brightest stars.For me personally it is a heavy blow.It will take a while for me to absorb this loss.
May his soul Rest In Peace.
Archie Sequeira
JM was an indomitable spirit with a never say die attitude. A man of simple tastes with a weakness for gutka. - SIMPLE LIVING AND HIGH THINKING.
He was fiercely independent and stood his ground on principles. Was gifted with a strong constitution and would walk around for miles.with boundless energy.
Though sometimes he might have been gruff on the exterior, he was soft and kind at heart. Had a great attachment to his near and dear ones.Always would buy and carry gifts for his brothers children and fly.
Unassuming in nature; his achievements in Bridge have been phenomenal and countless.Truly a great loss for Indian Bridge. Personally I would miss him very much.
Kaustabh Nandi
Back in 2010, in the Kolkata Nationals, I was playing the quarter finals against JM’s team – can’t remember the full team. I can remember the 2nd session, myself partnering Suhas Vaidya, playing at JM’s table, not sure who his partner was (may be Sandeep Karmakar?).
Probably on the first board or may be on the second, we had a not so convincing auction to reach a vulnerable 4Hs and got doubled by JM. After dummy appeared, I found that there were 4 losers if I could manage the trump suit for one loser, otherwise it would be down two. Not having played against JM many times before and not having a very good idea about him, I tried to take a 4-1 trump break protection and eventually set up a ruff for them (trumps were 3-2) and ended up with -500.
What I understood, he did not like our auction, and he doubled – not based on his hand but from his bridge intuition he felt this contract would not be going to make.
I mentioned this incident as this tells a lot about J M Shah. He was not only technically superb, but he had a very sharp bridge nose. I would say, I found him more dangerous as opponent compared to most of the other big names.
Whereas other great players will also do good things on the table, but they might not take unconventional actions. JM would not miss any opportunity to score imps on the table – he was very active on the table. Unlike other super active players though, he had an amazing strike rate with respect to the unconventional actions he too.
Dr. Prakash Paranjpe
It was the Sharad rutu of 2001. India Blues, the team that had dominated the RUIA trophy for years had a couple of vacancies and JM roped us - Vivek Bhand and I - in for the National Masters as well as the Winter Nationals. We won both the team events at the Kolkata Nationals and around those championhips, I had a lot of interaction with JM. After the Nationals, there were aeven few occasions when JM came down all the way North to my home at Thane.
JM was passionate about the game. Discussions with him were quite intense. He sort of believed that playing DEMICOMA, we could bid every slam. There was a slam we didn't manage to bid in the final of the RUIA trophy. I had a hard time convincing him that there was no way to bid it with conviction and the argument continued weeks after the final was over!
The other thing I remember is his ideas about competitive bidding. Although we had a different box of tools, and were pretty imaginative in using it, our bidding was sort of passive, linear, of the kind that remained the same irrespective of the form of the game, or the type of opponents, or the position of the bidder. JM forced me to rethink. JM impressed upon me that bids such as 2NT after weak 2H-X, for one example, needed to have some meaning if you wanted to compete effectively.
And then there was his insistence on sound overcalls. He was not in favour of lead-directing overcalls. 'Partner will find the right lead', he used to maintain. I couldn't agree with that, but I was so agitated with that disagreement that I once pulled Rajesh Dalal aside and checked with him.
Bridge against or with JM was always a quality game. Indian Bridge will miss that great passionate mind. RIP JM.
Mini Naidoo
A fond non-bridge memory of JM Sir ...Once, I reached his table and asked him for some paan masala without tobacco. He didnt have any but offered me some elaichi pearls instead, which were delicious.
We met again at another tourney after a few months. Immediately he came upto me and handed over a long strip of the silver Elaichi Pearls to me ! I was most touched... and enjoyed the pearls at leisure for months, remembering him fondly each time.
Wish I had been presented with more opportunities to enjoy his Pearls of Wisdom. I'm sure my game would've benefitted greatly.
Fond farewell to the Pearl of Indian Bridge. RIP
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