INDIA AND THE AMRITRAJ LIVING ROOM

I didn’t realise it at the time, but in 1990, during my first visit to India, it was to be the start of a long love affair with the country and its people.  

Years earlier, as a junior player competing on the New Zealand Junior Tennis Circuit, I stayed at a house in Wellington that had just installed a colour TV.  

Now, that doesn’t mean much to younger people today, but back in 1975, a very few lucky homes in New Zealand were just starting to replace their black and white models with new colour TV's!   

It was just fascinating to watch all your favourite programmes in colour. One of the best programs to view in colour at the time was Sesame Street.  “Big Bird” was yellow!

During that stay in Wellington, New Zealand was also playing Davis Cup against India, and the Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Anand, were doing their best to beat the New Zealand team of Onny Parun and Brian Fairlie on the grass courts at Stanley Street, Auckland.  

It was really special for me to watch the dark ebony Amritraj brothers move about on a perfectly manicured grass court.  Additionally, players at the time were just starting to incorporate colour into their tennis outfits. 

This was very glamorous stuff at the time, and by the time I arrived in India to start work at the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Scheme some 16 years later, actually meeting the Amritraj family personally was very significant to me. 

My first contact was meeting the family patriarch, Robert Amritraj, at Madras airport.  Once I cleared immigration, I made my way to the family car and sat with Robert, waiting for Vijay to arrive on a later flight from Los Angeles.  It was evident that the Amritraj family was no ordinary Indian family, as we seemed to be the only ones sitting in a Mercedes-Benz at the airport, if not in the entire state of Tamil Nadu. 

However, I eventually travelled back from the airport to my accommodation alone that day. As I was to learn very quickly, not all men are created equal in India, and protocol demanded that I travel in the old van used by the tennis program. Although I sometimes got to ride in the family Mercedes, it didn't happen that often!

After washing up and inspecting our new home, my colleague, Rob Smith, and I were summoned to the Amritraj house, situated next to a cemetery and on busy Sterling Road.  

The house is a curious arrangement, as it has been divided into two parts: the top half, where the Amritraj family lives, and the bottom half, where Mrs. Amritraj’s sister lives.  Both are elderly women, but it seems they haven’t spoken to each other in so many years that no one is sure just how long it’s been.  There must have been bad blood between them, as Maggie Amritraj never mentioned her sister nor acknowledged that she existed, even though she was living directly above her!

The highlight on that first day for me was being welcomed into the Amritraj living room and sitting amongst all the trophy cabinets and tennis memorabilia.  

It was being in the company of Vijay that was special to me that first day.  Here was that guy on the TV who had captured my attention all those years ago.  I was now in his childhood home, chatting with him while stealing glances at the tennis history around the walls.  

Maybe my decision to leave New Zealand and try coaching tennis overseas wasn’t such a silly idea.  If I didn’t last very long at this new adventure, at least I had met Vijay Amritraj and had been a guest in his living room. 

Working overseas might just turn out to be a good idea.