Terrific trio
Three Padma awards were cornered by the country’s smallest state (area-wise) this year. The fact scientist Raghunath Mashelkar, India’s greatest tennis star Leander Paes and designer Wendell Rodricks were awarded the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri is cause for celebration in Goa indeed. Of course it will be argued that Mashelkar and Paes—both listed as residents of Maharashtra had little to do with Goa. That to us is of little consequence. Mashelkar, 71, was born in Marcel, sees himself as Goan and was last year conferred the Gomant Vibhushan, Goa’s highest civilian honour. Formerly with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research where he served for over eleven years as the director general of the world’s largest chain of publicly funded industrial R&D institutions, Mashelkar, who currently heads the Global Research Alliance, an international network for research and development collaboration, was also involved with the construct of the Goa Vision Document 2035. He has been conferred with honorary doctorates from 29 universities.
Leander Paes who crossed 40 last year was not born in Goa, has hardly lived here, spent most of his life in Kolkata, where he was born, and currently lives in Mumbai. But Paes has inherited the large family house in Velim and has Goan roots that run deep in Assolna as well. The regional jingoism though matters little when one takes into account the achievements of the country’s most successful tennis player who has won 14 Grand Slam titles, eight in men’s doubles and six in mixed doubles. His 14th Grand Slam title, the US Open men’s doubles, was clinched in September last year after Paes had crossed the 40s threshold, and in characteristically self-deprecating manner thanked his doubles partner Radek Stepanek for helping him “to get to be the oldest man to ever win a Grand Slam in the Open era”. Age was just a number, Paes had said on turning 40, promising he would still be good to go at 41, 42 and 43. We have no doubt, he will.
Shaken by the Mumbai riots, designer Wendell Rodricks moved permanently to Colvale in 1993. While some might see him as a high flyer, others as a mover and shaker, Rodricks has undoubtedly used his 20 years Goa domicile and celebrity status to root for things Goan and causes tied to the red soil. When most of Goa’s mining barons and the rich and well-connected watched silently from the sidelines as the Save Goa campaign pitched to a crescendo, Rodricks was among the few willing to lend his celebrity voice and presence to the street protests of the Goa Bachao Abhiyan over the Regional Plan. The designer who rubs shoulders with the who’s who of tinsel town was also willing to risk treading on the toes of not a few of the mining rich with his candid comments on the Shah Commission findings.
Though Mashelkar, Paes and Rodricks are worlds apart in the careers they pursued and pursue, there’s the thread of hardship, struggle, and more significantly humble moorings that resonates through their personal stories. Mashelkar speaks of the “very hard circumstances” through which his mother still managed to ensure he pursued his higher studies. Paes has often referred to his “fight against adversity” to get to where he is. In his memoir, The Green Room Rodricks writes about growing up in a “glorified Bombay chawl” and the early years of deprivation in Mahim. The designer who got the news Saturday night of his Padma Shri when on a cruise between Tonga and New Zealand said “all the hard times and hard work seem worth the journey”. We couldn’t have agreed more.
Though Mashelkar, Paes and Rodricks are worlds apart in the careers they pursued and pursue, there’s the thread of hardship, struggle, and more significantly humble moorings that resonates through their personal stories
