Kaanu : Kindling Interest

Miranandan S C | EAVP 5

Photo by Aumjyoti S

From the ping-pong madness to memorable encounters with The Mother, we are now in conversation with our very own "Kaanu"! From his arrival to Pondy to kindling the interest of generations in table-tennis, we have an interview with our beloved Ramakant bhai.

Can you tell us about how you came to know about the Ashram?

Yes. You see, people come to know about ashrams for many reasons. People become interested in coming to the ashram for various reasons too. Mine is fairly simple. It is because my soul was destined to come here and stay in the ashram. That is the reason. It is not because my mind decided that I'd stay in the ashram. And how did my soul decide to come here? It surely has something connected with the past life. In the past life, when you have done Yoga Sadhana, at the time of dying, the soul is controlled from above. And Sri Aurobindo and the Divine Mother call the souls that are supposed to be here, they call them. That is why I am here.

The reason I came to know about the ashram dates back to that time when I was an architect engineer, in Bombay, in 1954. I used to catch a bus at 8 o'clock every day at a particular place where I used to wait to go to my engineering office. One day, when I was standing there, I saw two booklets in a small stall; on the first one, it was written “Sri Aurobindo on India”, and on the other, “Sri Aurobindo on Himself”. There were many other magazines which have been kept there. But, I somehow got attracted to those two booklets. Each booklet cost 40 paise, not even a rupee. I obviously purchased them. Why did I purchase them? Because my soul awakened. And then for the rest of the five months, I was constantly reading those two booklets. I was mad after what was written in them. Then after 6 months of reading them passionately, I wanted to find out who the publisher was, and that is when I saw the address at the back of the book. Sri Aurobindo Centre, Bombay. It was close to my residence. I remember. It was one of the Sundays I did not have to go to the office. I desperately wanted to visit that place, and when I went there, coincidentally, I found it was Sri Aurobindo’s birthday that Sunday. Oh. I was the happiest man there; I landed there on Sri Aurobindo's very birthday. See, for us, it is a coincidence. But to Them, They are ordering it. So I started going there every day…

Before going to the office, I started catching the bus to the office 45 minutes before so that I could go there and then in the office, and then in the evening, I would get home late because after the office, I started going there. This is how I did for six months. I always had a desire that one day I'll go to Pondicherry. So, one day somebody told me that there was this first celebration of the Supramental descent, which was going to take place on 29 February 1960 in Ashram Pondicherry. They said they were going to stay there for a month; they asked whether I was interested in coming or not. So I asked my office manager if they could give me a long leave without pay, that's how I came here and stayed for a month for the first time. Believe it or not, in that one month, I saw the Mother’s Balcony darshan 30 times in the early morning. I saw Mother twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays, in the playground.

Any particular incident you remember with The Mother?

It was the 3rd of March 1960, and my one-month stay had almost ended; just one day left; I desperately wanted to meet the Mother personally; I went to the manager of the ashram; he was a Tamil gentleman, and his name was Amrita. Expressed my need to meet the Mother as I was leaving. He goes up to the Mother and tells her that there is this man who wants to meet you. She asked him to get a chit from me, asking her to allow me to come to meet her. I did as I was told.

So the next day, I went to the first floor. Champakalal, who was the attendant of the Mother, was sitting there. He said, come, come; The Mother is waiting for you only, nobody else. Then I went there, I put my head on her feet, and she put her hands on my head. I felt ecstasy.

How did you come to Ashram, Pondicherry?

Oh, that is rather adventurous; let me tell you, I was 33 years old. Since I returned from the visit to Pondicherry, I had only three words running in my mind, Sri Aurobindo, Mother, Supramental… Sri Aurobindo, Mother, Supramental…

By the way, we don’t know what it (the word Supramental) means, I do not know even till date. Laughs… That is when I made my mind up, I had to go there. So, guess what, I ran away from my house. Every weekend, I had to go outside Bombay for engineering supervision and return on Monday morning. I told my mother on Friday evening that I was going to my usual work. That is when I took the Pondicherry train and came here. Then I told the secretary that I had run away from home. He smiled and nodded. He talked to the Mother, and the Mother said all right, he has been coming here for so many years now; let him stay here. Then my mother came to take me back after a month. She soon learned that I ran away from home, as I was sending her a telegram for a year that I was doing no engineering supervision but ran away to Pondicherry.

After a month, my mom came to take me back; she came with an elderly person; how could she come alone? She is not a modern woman. She arrived, and the secretary called me to the office and said, “See, your mother is sitting here; she has come to take you back. So now you are free to go back.” I told the secretary, you see, for so many years, I have been madly desiring to come here, I didn't come here to go back. And he said, your mother is crying; she will not return without you. I frowned. He was dumbstruck; he raised his head and said, Okay, I got an idea let me talk to The Mother. After some time, my mother was taken to Divine Mother, and Divine Mother did her usual Divine magic. She put her hand perhaps on her head. And my mother came down and told me, “ You stay here, I am going back.” This was the Divine magic done by the Divine Mother…

How did you offer your engineer architect expertise to the ashram?

Well, much work, much work, park guest house, entire gymnasium building, Castellini project, so many, most of the works. with the help of other engineers, of course, we can't rub them away…

How did Table Tennis begin in the ashram? And can you give us a glimpse of how ping-pong was back then in the ashram?

Well, I was not present at the beginning of table tennis in the Ashram, but as far as I know, it was Chandu Bhai who began the whole idea of the table tennis ashram; we indeed made our tables with our very own equipment. It was a time when there was no tennis ground, no sports ground in the ashram. But it had seven ping-pong tables located in different places. As there were no grounds; there were barely any activities conducted. This was the phase of the ashram when everybody was passionate about this indoor sport. Obviously, the students and ashramites used to go very early in the day to practise, then go for breakfast and then go for their respective work. We did have brilliant gems in the ashram, like Maulai Bhattacharjee, and Manoj Bhattacharjee; they were one of the ones who kept Ping-pong alive in those days of the ashram. They showed sheer domination for 20 years in the ashram. In fact, Maulai was already a champion in West Bengal with a penholder grip. He was the one who introduced that style of playing in the ashram. That is how it was… It is as I told you that Maloy and Manoj are two brothers. Manoj, managing trustee? Manoj sir. The two brothers came and Maloy was already junior champion in West Bengal with that new grip.

What did table tennis mean to you? What’s that madness you always talk about?

One day I happened to go to a past engineering college, and that is where I saw table tennis tournaments. Seven, eight tables arrayed in one of the clubs of Bombay. This was the trigger for my passion. Well, I was not jobless, I was occupied with other things, I had to go to my office, to the Sri Aurobindo Centre etc… So I could not make enough time in my day for this newly born passion; what I used to do is I used to get up at 3:30 in the morning and go to the club and play. That is how I practised and quenched my thirst for ping-pong.

And then, when I came to the ashram, Chandu Bhai was looking after table tennis, and as Corner House newly came about, he had to leave this job and take up Corner House; now, who will look after the ping-pong? Pranab da understood my ping-pong madness very well. So, he put me in charge of table tennis. Immediately, a notice was put in the ashram signed by The Mother that Ramakant Navelkar will be in charge of table tennis from today. Anybody who wants to learn table tennis can meet him and learn it…

What was the story behind the Corner House’s quotation board?

Right after Corner House started, I told Pranab Da, Director of Physical Education, that I wanted to have a board to write Sri Aurobindo’s and The Mother's quotations and prayers. This is how the Corner House board started. I started it in 1967. He asked me to observe what Sitaraman in the dining room was writing on the board. He asked me to choose the text in such a manner that it should be comprehensive up to the Knowledge level. And now, even though I am not capable of going there and writing, I am glad that there is somebody who is keeping it going. Back then, workers and maids in Corner House did not know English and could not read the message. They used to come just to see the drawing. They could not read. They could enjoy the drawing. They used to tell me, Ayya, next time, you must draw a river and a tree. And I used to say… surely, surely… (Laughs)

Have you ever seen The Mother playing table tennis? Were there any memories you had?

I unfortunately could not witness The Mother playing table tennis. But I have got two exciting things to tell you about The Mother and Table Tennis. First of all, there was no tennis ground. There was no sports ground. The Mother used to play table tennis in Nanteuil. On the outer table which is called table number 2 now. Next to that is table number 1. Mother used to play on the outer table. Some people who had free time used to come and stand in the courtyard and see The Mother playing table tennis in Nanteuil. Well her game was simple, tip-top. There were a few people who used to play with Her. The ones who have played with her died long ago. They were the sons and nephews of Manoranjan Ganguli. Well, eventually The Mother stopped playing ping-pong as tennis courts were available.

Anyway, here is the anecdote:

There was a French ambassador representative, a very respected officer, who had come to meet The Mother personally, he had to discuss how to amalgamate Pondicherry into India. Back then, the French government was ready to give Pondicherry to India. But there were a few legal issues that had to be addressed, so that person had come here. The Mother at that time was 90 years old. And that fellow was 45. He was a very significant figure. And guess what, The Mother shocked him by asking him, “Do you like to play table tennis? He said, “What Mother? I have come here for such a sophisticated work of how to amalgamate Pondicherry in India and you are talking about table tennis?” Gives a pause and says, I must have played in my young days. Then The Mother says, then what’s the problem? I would like to play with you. So, The Mother played with that French representative in the governor's very house…

What was the role you played in bringing up Table Tennis in the ashram?

The role was that everything was ready and then needed somebody to take care of it. Which I took care of, sincerely. My job was to supervise that on all tables, there were sufficient rackets, and balls, whether the nets were properly fixed, whether the equipment was in good condition or not… And then, every year, I used to update the notice and people used to give names, from children to adults. There came a time when physical fights happened due to the matches. I had to stop the blows. I had to solve those problems also. My other goal was to conduct tournaments every year, give notice of tournaments, accept entries, put up the programs, write down the results, give them to P.E.D, every weekend and finally distribute the respective prizes. Well, digitalising all of this saved a huge hassle, thanks to Kamal Shah who helped. Pranab da was a huge support to me, he always used to stand as a helpful pillar.

How were you as a player?

Though I was tremendously interested in table tennis, as a player, I was so good that when I played for the first time in Nanteuil, out of 21, I could score only one point against my opponent. See, I was not there because I was a top-class table tennis player, I was there for the service that I had to provide. But there were players far superior to me in Nanteuil. I was sincere in my job, in carrying out my work as a table tennis player. But as far as I remember, a forehand smash was my thing. We have to be clear that I was not at all an extraordinary player. I was never a top-class player even outside, in Bombay.

What do you want to say to the current players in the ashram?

Well, I will have to say the same thing as everybody has said before. Nothing special, you cannot become proficient in anything unless you work hard. That means unless you practise a lot, on the right lines, but if you practise on the wrong ones, it is no use. So this is what the message is, as anybody else or anywhere in the world will give. That is work hard, work hard. Then only you will become a good player. In any field, for example, if you want to become a musician, you have to spend months till such a point that you must live in it. So it takes everything in you, you have to labour for years and years to become top-class.

What were the challenges you faced when you were given the responsibility of table tennis?

I got the challenge that anybody who takes up work as a manager has to face. And Pranab da gave me full support. So there were no particular challenges. Nothing. Because She knew that I was sincere. So she didn't put me in challenges. She kept me free of troubles…

How did you like teaching the children? What was your relationship with them?

You see, there Yoga is involved in that. Because I taught more than 500 children table tennis. Every year 30 children join table tennis. 30 new children join table tennis in the A4 group. 30 into the number of those years in which I have worked. When you count it goes to more than 500. So I have taught 500 souls. Because they are the souls who came to the ashram. So I used to have personal, psychic relations with all the children. I loved children and children loved me. I used to tell people that the love I received from children was much superior to my bank balance if I were well off. Love children to such an extent that if a child doesn't come to play table tennis that evening, I used to go to their boarding or house to find out what is the matter.

The parents and boarding in-charge used to tell me that no group captain comes home to find out why a child has not come. But I used to personally go. And I have memories of personal contact with children. So many contacts…

Photo by Aumjyoti S