Hi everyone!
Well this is my 1st EVER blog.. since I am not very good at writing, i just thought I should wait for an interesting topic instead of depending on my personal descriptive talents..& FINALLY, I have got that opportunity 2day!! Yayy!
A week ago, I got a phone call from Sahara Parivar that I have been nominated for the Sahara India Sports Awards, 2010. To be held on Saturday, 30th October, in Mumbai.The whole Event was going to be managed by Percept - & I must say they have some super sweet people working for them.
I think it’s a wonderful initiative by the Sahara Group and Shree Subroto Roy to encourage Sportspersons, especially non-cricketers, in such a grand way! Many people have money, many people have the ability, but very few people actually have the goodwill to think of such a concept and go ahead with it:)
I had heard about the awards ofcourse, & naturally I was very happy to know that I have been nominated. But then, I had just been nominated..which is not the case in usual award / felicitation functions. U usually go there, accept the award, thank them & come back! But here, I was going to be competing with a few other, if not more then atleast Equally Deserving Sportspersons for the prize! & who knows wot the jury had to say of my performance..it was an interesting situation to be in :)
There were around 20 Categories, for which around 400 journalists from the "Sports Journalist Federation of India" had chosen a handful of nominees from all the different sports, by voting. Then, these chosen nominees had been presented to an esteemed panel of 12 Jury members, comprising of some topnotch sportsmen - & women :) Chess was being represented by Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, whom I had worked with for a couple of sessions in 2005, and the Chairperson of the Jury was Mr. Sunil Gavaskar. The winner of each category was decided by secret voting, and the result was revealed only at the awards night, even to the jury!
So on 30th morning, I started for Mumbai, they had arranged a car to pick me up as it’s a 3 hr drive from my city, Pune. My father was quite keen on accompanying me infact, but I thought there was no need for him to take leave from office just to attend “an award function”, specially when my grandmother was not keeping too well.. Later on, I realized how big this is going to be & wot an absolute IDIOT i was, to ask my dad not to come!After all, I had always wished for him to present at tournaments where I had done well, & also it would have been a good change for him from the routine stuff..I hope to more sensible the next time :)
It was a realllyyy nice hotel – The Hotel Trident of Oberoi Group, in BKC, Mumbai. I have stayed in a few good hotels before, but never was the lobby so grand, my room so beautiful & the staff so courteous! The best part about my room was the bathroom hahaha! It had glass - Transparent - "walls" !! I 1st thought it was a "honeymoon" room :P:P But the actual reason, as my cousin rightly pointed out, was so that we can watch TV from the Bathtub! Haha, talk about making everything as convenient as possible.. now I know wot these super rich people do with all their money :)
It was a realllyyy nice hotel – The Hotel Trident of Oberoi Group, in BKC, Mumbai. I have stayed in a few good hotels before, but never was the lobby so grand, my room so beautiful & the staff so courteous! The best part about my room was the bathroom hahaha! It had glass - Transparent - "walls" !! I 1st thought it was a "honeymoon" room :P:P But the actual reason, as my cousin rightly pointed out, was so that we can watch TV from the Bathtub! Haha, talk about making everything as convenient as possible.. now I know wot these super rich people do with all their money :)
In the Evening, I went to the venue, accompanied by 2 very dear cousins of mine.
It was full of reporters - so many hosts & presenters & cameras rolling, the Red Carpet had been laid out – It was something like watching "Zoom" on Tv :p :p
It was full of reporters - so many hosts & presenters & cameras rolling, the Red Carpet had been laid out – It was something like watching "Zoom" on Tv :p :p
We went in to find out there was a separate area in the front for all the Nominees and the Jury, along with ofcourse the Sahara Parivar, and well, other celebrities from the sporting as well as the glamour world..It was nice to see all the sporting icons of the country under one roof and I felt even more happy to know that I had been given such a rare and unique opportunity :) I was sitting with our AICF joint secretary Mr. R. M. Dongre, and Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran, captain of the India A Men’s team, which had been nominated in the “Best team” category. Vishwanathan Anand (our hero!) was nominated in 2 categories but could not attend the event as he was playing in China..
The function started a bit late – or shud I say, as per “Indian Standard Time” :P – and while we were waiting I got the opportunity to fulfill a long cherished childhood dream – I met Rahul Dravid!!! My dream Guy!! You should have seen the look on my face when he gave me his autograph, & signed it “ To Soumya, with Best Wishes, Rahul Dravid” – How sweeet!! I think that was the moment when I felt this night is going to be Super Rocking! How often do our childhood dreams come true afterall :)
So, now the awards started - & the 1st award happened to be the one for which I was nominated! “ The Young sportsperson (Female) of the year “ . & the award goes to…
ME!!!!
I was really happy! & at that moment I really wished my father would have been there..I hope we dont miss the TV telecast now!
Anyway so the award function went on for like 3-4 hrs. with many performances by many filmstars, & ofcourse there was the Indian Cricket Team present – including The Super Awesome Sachin Tendulkar and his wife - & also Shahrukh Khan – so well, the combination was quite entertaining & we had a nice time in general..Anand won " The Best Sporting Moment of the year" Award, for winning his World Championship Match against Topalov, so Chess won 2 awards, which is not so bad considering there are so many sports in contention :)
The only thing I felt a little bad about was that though our Indian chess team had been nominated, and all the players were in India at the time, only the Captain, Sasi anna was allowed to attend..It would have been great had they all come, as all of them are my friends and its not everyday that you get to meet players from such a variety of sports, some of them icons, some of them inspirations, & some of them young talents , all at the same time, under one roof! Also, it would have been a lot more fun :)
The funny part is, all this happened only yesterday, but I feel like it happened ages ago..like i was in a completely different world! Such breaks are always welcome - provided I can come back to reality on time :)
