TENNIS COACH FIGHTS WITH BLACK BEAR

The team of Sharad Kohli, Ameya Chandravakar, Paul Dale, Zubin Engineer and Vikrant Chadha

It was always necessary to have a local coach attached to the tennis program in India.  Many times getting things done was impossible for a foreigner and we needed the “expertise” of a local.  At the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Scheme in the early 1990s this person was Zubin Engineer.  Zubin came into the program around the same time as I arrived.  What he lacked in playing ability he made up for with his commitment to the boys and the program and very soon he was an integral part of the team. 

He would sometimes travel to tournaments in India with the boys and go to extraordinary lengths to make sure the boys were looked after.  On one trip he returned to Madras from a two-day day train journey having traveled back in the carriage reserved for stock!  Tickets had been impossible to acquire so he and the players had sat in the straw beside the animals. During his first few nights back home in Madras blood ran from his mouth as he slept on his side.  A visit to the doctor revealed that he had developed a stomach ulcer from the stress of the trip.

On a trip to Lucknow once the train had just departed Madras Station and everyone was settling in for the arduous two day journey. About 30 minutes from Madras Zubin approached me, his face white with anguish. He had lost the bag containing the money for the entire trip!  If you have never been onboard a 4^th clathe ss, non-air-conditioned carriage in India you can’t imagine the chaos.  People and bags are everywhere.  Finding an elephant would be difficult but trying to find a small bag with thousands of rupees would be almost impossible.  Zubin and I starting walking through the carriages (were we even heading in the correct direction?).  About 5 carriages into our search I noticed a guy sleeping with a bag poking out of his pillow.  I called Zubin over and pointed at the bag.  The relief in his face told me we had our bag back!

Most Zubin stories however were more humorous.  On another trip away from Madras, Zubin and the boys would cut through the local zoo in the mornings on their way to the tournament venue.  This was the best time to see the zoo because it was not open to the public yet and Zubin’s team had the whole zoo to themselves! Each morning they would enjoy their detour and eventually got to know the animals quite well.  There was a huge black bear that would always be sitting at the fence watching them walk by.  Most impressive was the huge claws of the bear, which could be clearly seen wrapped around the metal bars.

One morning our team of tennis players stopped to examine the bear a little closer. Zubin had an idea; he took out one of the tennis racquets from its bag and tapped the bear on the claw. No response from the bear.  Zubin tapped some more. Suddenly, and as calm as you like, the bear trapped the head of the racquet with his claw.  Zubin pulled the racquet to free it but the bear held on.  Most annoying was the fact that the harder Zubin pulled the more calmly the bear held on.  Several of the boys held Zubin around the waist and pulled in unison. Still the bear held on.  This scene continued for several minutes, Zubin and the boys trying to release the racquet from the bear in the early hours of the morning in the deserted zoo. Finally, more through boredom than anything the humans had done, the bear released the racquet. 

I often wondered what the zoo keeper would have thought if he had arrived at work that morning and found the bear holding onto an expensive $200 tennis racquet!