A Father's Wisdom: The Bridge Lesson That Lasted a Lifetime
A story by Stuart Showalter (BBO: Stuart539) I learned bridge from my parents in...
In 2003, I was transferred to another office, which resulted in a one hour commute by train. I had to do this for the next 4 years. So, it didn't take long for me to realize that I needed to add a bit of fun to the mix and make the journey more bearable
There were a lot of people like me traveling by train to-and-fro daily. I had befriended a few by then and successfully sold the idea of learning and playing bridge together. I bought 'The Right Way to Play Bridge' by Paul Mendelson and we soon grew into a group of Acol-ites.
Back then bridge was not popular in India. We always attracted curious onlookers racking their brains to understand what we are doing. We newbies were no better but pretended to be in control of the deal.
Once, we even got questioned by the railway police who wrongly suspected us of gambling. The local edition of THE HINDU even published a photo of us playing bridge in an article about how daily train commuters keep themselves busy.
Slowly, we heard of SAYC and switched to it, believing it as an upgrade. Later, we came to know of BBO and have been hooked ever since. Of course, we upgraded to 2/1 and also discovered that GIB is as unpredictable as human partners.
I have taught this beautiful game to more than a dozen friends, who all remain as fascinated as I am. Strangely, the love for bridge grows with familiarity.
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Bombay local trains in the 70's. Very often we didn't know the names of those we played with!
Best game ever and an enormous help to couples who have been bereaved Gives all of us a new meaning to life and never a dull moment
I learned Bridge in our Dormitory during my graduate school years at the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1963. My wife and I then started playing both Party and Duplicate Bridge up to 1994. After That I stopped playing since I was busy with other activities. In 2023 I moved to an active Senior Living Community in the East Bay, Northern Ca after my spouse of 63 years passed away. Today, I play Party Bridge 4 days a week and I am a very, very happy senior citizen.
I have written a few articles on my blogs about bridge." My Favorite Card Game is Bridge and My Favorite Tile Game is Asian Mahjong!" http://chateaudumer.blogspot.com
whst a great heartwarming story and well done you for initiating learning and playing on your journey to work.
Nice story Harikannan. Please keep helping others to learn. My passion is Bridge and Golf. I try to encourage my friends and family to learn these games. Of course, I learned bridge in my college years, after a big gap, I picked up again and I run group play on weekly basis. Thanks for sharing your story.
Nice story Harikannan. Please keep helping others to learn. My passion is Bridge and Golf. I try to encourage my friends and family to learn these games. Of course, I learned bridge in my college years, after a big gap, I picked up again and I run group play on weekly basis. Thanks for sharing your story.
I tried learning Bridge whilst serving in the Army, during my spare time in Border outposts, but continual enemy shelling and sporadic firing kept us on our toes. Later, after moving out to a peace station, other activities like Inspections, competitions both professional and sports took over. It was not till became a Lt. Col that I really got a chance to learn the game. Quietly, I encouraged my wife to learn it too.
I think we met at our local Bridge tournament in Coonor a couple of weeks ago! You were there with your wife and you were guests of Brig Mathai, if I am right. I am Capt Ravi