“Lose matches and win friends” is a popular adage in the Far East. I had an experience of this philosophy during my training days in Japan.
It was my first overseas trip, in the early eighties and was obviously delighted about my maiden venture. Ours was a group of six trainees with different technical backgrounds. We were introduced by the General Manager of the Machine tool Company to all the engineers and staff of the organisation. The frequent bowing of their heads and their extreme courtesy introduced us to a totally different world. As was anticipated there were only a few in the organisation who could speak English.
One of the employees, Yamaguchi, introduced himself as a “Crack”. For a moment we were startled by his voluntary disclosure. However, it transpired that he was working as a clerk and Japanese pronounce the alphabet l as r. He also told us that he was keen to improve his English. We were delighted that we can pick up some conversation with him. He also told that his pastime was table tennis and invited me to play with him.
While I was no match for him on TT table, I used to win at least one set every day. It was no secret that I owed these occasional wins more to his traditional Japanese courtesy to a foreigner rather than my playing skills. However, these random wins were enough to keep my spirits high. Beyond TT we had many interesting conversations and he drove me to many tourist spots nearby. His English vocabulary showed remarkable additions but hardly his pronunciation improved, however much he tried. On the other hand he managed to influence my accent, much to the amusement of my colleagues.
There was a yearly tournament in the town of Nagaoka and Yamaguchi got me enrolled for the tournament. It was a smooth sailing for me in the first two rounds. However as luck would have it, I had to face Yamaguchi in the third round. It was a three setter and my friend prevailed over me easily in the first set. Being a tournament I expected him to be ruthless and unsparing. However, he relaxed and much to my surprise and delight I won the second. The third set was won by him though I managed to give some fight.He went on to win the championship.
My one set win against the local champion was enough to create flutter in the small town, which had rarely Indian visitors and the media got something sensational to cover. The local newspaper interviewed me and I saw my photo with interview for the first time, the only time so far, in print. I became recognised in the little town and was rather flabbergasted by the undue adulation of the locals. My image back home soared much to my delight. After all reflected glory is better than no glory!
I asked Yamaguchi “What if by any chance I won the third set and you lost the championship?”. He chuckled “No probrem (problem). Next year I will win but you will not come next year”. I was really touched by his words and the friendship that transcended lingual, ethnic and cultural barriers.
