this year we all remembered him..missed him. the team of doctors participating in carrom tournament remembered the champion of the game . i played with him 2 years back in the finals of the championship tournament. he was not a member of the association and even did not belong to the city , he was specially invited for that year only, going out of the rule books, to see his game and we all accepted him in the spirit of the game . he came on wheelchairs ..he was suffering from polio affecting his right lower limb, tuburculosis, cirrhosis and portal hypertension with ascites with oesophageal varices (an end stage liver disease) with pedal oedema..he was a brave heart , a doctor working in a village . we knew that he has never lost a game in any tournament so far , it was surprising but understandable that he never cared to aprticipate in any of the professional tournaments at national level (he could easily have been the champion at any level) and we were all keen to witness his game ....it was my first year in the tourny and i didn't knew how i would fare against the big giants . i survived all of them to reach finals and there he was ...before that i had just seen him entering in the hall and witnessed his half game as i got busy in my own matches. i didn't knew how well he played till i started playing him....never seen anybody with such magic on board..remember the old man of munnabhai M.B.B.S fame and the shot he played to take the 'cover' for the queen . i was lucky to just win a game against him as he had not so far even lost a game to anyone in the tournament so far . he won the match and board , i congratulated him . next year he didnot come though we invited him and this year we could not invite him as he expired few days before our match. we knew it was coming but we were all still shocked and sad ,very sad .one of his very close friend refused to participate this year but we all convinced him ,dedicating the tournament to this great champion.i came to know that his family was facing hardship after his death..i didnot know him so well except that single interaction 2 years back but i felt that i owed him something due to that bonding of sport so i pledged a financial contribution to his family and expressed the desire in the tournament to my friends..many of them also took a pledge that day to contribute ...tournament ended and a month passed then yet another month passed but no initiative from my seniors ..it started pinching me all the time ..i was depending on others to help somebody i wished to help. it was not fair for me to do so , so this week without waiting more for others to contribute i went ahead and completed my pledge ..i know others too will do it soon.i have not seen his family but spoke to his mother recently over phone ..i wish to go to his house and meet his family soon and try to help them further if possible for me.