INDIA AND THE AMRITRAJ LIVING ROOM
I wasn’t to realize it when, in 1990, I first arrived in India, but 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 colour TV. Now that doesn’t mean much to younger people today but back in 1975 some 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 programs in colour. Oddly enough one of the best programs to view in colour at the time was Sesame Street. “Big Bird” was yellow! During my 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