The Indian bridge world received a rude shock today with the news of the passing away of Pramod Joshi, one of the stalwart organizers of bridge in Maharashtra.
My first memories of him were as a player when he was a team member in a tournament in BARC. Subsequently I had had a lot of interaction with him as a player, an administrator (he was in charge of Master Points in MBA), a technician (it was with him that I first saw bridge mates being set up for an event), a director (he was ex officio director for most bridge tournaments in Pune) and an online event organizer during Covid.
My strongest interaction with him came, not unnaturally, during Covid when he was organizing events for the Maharashtra Bridge Association. One individual, who was perhaps aggrieved at the success of BridgeFromHome, offered him support to run events at a lesser cost than what BFH did. He refused, saying that he didn't believe in charging for his bridge services. Even when I offered him the same support from BFH, he continued to maintain that he would do work gratis.
Throughout Covid and beyond he ran events on BBO for MBA. This went on till it was no longer possible for MBA to do so. Even then, on his personal time and account, he used to run a weekly event for ladies.
In his personal life too, he was a great individual. He had donated a kidney to his wife when she needed one. It is easy to say, she was his wife, but it does require a lot of courage to make decisions like this.
Last weekend, there was a tournament in Pune where I was mentioning to people how people only end up doing memorials rather than praying for the good health of people who are known to be ailing. I was specifically mentioning Pramod (or Pamya as he was known to his friends) as a case in point. Little did I know that the time for us to have a memorial to him would come so soon.
Rest in Peace, my dear friend, we salute you and the life you led.
I am publishing below some eulogies written to him in the wake of his demise. While words are never enough at this point, it is all we have at this point in time.
Hemant (Baba) Kher
प्रमोद जोशी यांचे अकाली निधन ही घटना ह्रदयाला अत्यंत चटका लावणारी आहे. मागील वर्षी त्यांना झालेल्या कॅन्सर बद्दल मला माहिती मिळाली. त्यावरील उपचारही व्यवस्थित सुरू होते. त्यामुळे जवळजवळ ६ महिने ते कोणत्याही टुर्नामेंट पासून अलिप्त होते.
पण गेल्या २/३ महिन्यांपासून BBO वर त्यांचे पार्टनर श्री चंद्रशेखर देशपांडे यांचे बरोबर खेळताना दिसले. माझे त्यांचे बरोबर बोलणेही झाले आणि आता सर्व काही सुरळीत सुरू होईल असे वाटले. पण देवाच्या मनात काय आहे हे कोणालाच माहीत होत नाही.
मी एक अत्यंत जवळचा आणि विश्वासू सहकारी गमावला कारण आम्ही २००४ ते २००६ PRBA ही संस्था यशस्वी रित्या एकत्र चालवली. आमचे बरोबर श्री राजेन्द्र गोखले, योगेश अभ्यंकर आणि सुब्रमण्यम असे मेंबर होते. त्याचबरोबर प्रमोद ने MBA साठी ही खूप मोठे योगदान दिले. सेक्रेटरी म्हणून ते अध्यक्ष श्री जे के भोसले यांचा उजवा हातच होते.
प्रमोदने PRBA साठी दिलेल्या योगदानाला माझा १०० वेळा सलाम. ई
श्वर त्यांच्या आत्म्यास शांती देवो हीच प्रार्थना आणि त्यांच्या कुटुंबीयांना ह्या कठीण प्रसंगाचा सामना करण्याची शक्ती देवो. 🙏🙏🙏
Captain Yogesh Abhyankar
When I was President of the MBA, due to the nature of my job (as a Ship Captain) I was unable to look much into the administration of the association. As the secretary of MBA, he more than took over the slack due to my absence.
He was greatly instrumental in bringing about total transparency and fairness in Tournaments He master ACBL Scoring and used to let people know the results of a tournament completed at 10 pm by 11 pm! In due course, he picked up both technical as well as legal aspects of Bridge. He also was an eager learner. If some new development occurred in bridge, then he would often come home and assimilate the details sitting at my computer.
His departure from this world is a huge loss to Pune Bridge
Dilip (Appa) Karmarkar
फारच दुक्खद बातमी. काय लिहू आणि किती लिहू प्रमोद बद्दल.
अतिशय उत्साही, आनंदी आणि उत्तम खेळाडू.
शिवाय खैळाच्या सर्व तांत्रिक बाजूंची पूर्ण माहिती असणारा, केव्हाही आमच्यासारख्या, नवोदित डायरेक्टरना, अगदी अलीकडच्या काळात तब्येत ठीक नसतानाही मार्गदर्शन करणारा, हा आपल्या सर्वांचा आवडता मित्र आज आपल्यातून निघून गेला.
अजून बरंच काही लिहिण्यासारखे आहे पण परत कधीतरी. मित्रा असं च आम्हाला गाईड करत रहा जिथं कुठं असशील तिथून.
तुझ्या आत्म्याला सद्गती लाभो हीच ईश्वरचरणी प्रार्थना 🙏🙏
Ravi Raman (Principal, Bridge Pathshala)
Very sad news. Pramod has played often in our team. I have also played against him many times as an opponent. He was a gem of a person who did not have a single enemy.
I worked extensively with him in the Maharashtra Bridge Association and, and even when his health was not willing, we had some very good discussions on the administration of the game.
He was coordinating BBO tournaments even when he ailing and that speaks volumes of his dedication to the game. A cheerful and bubbly character who gave us immense joy as an organizer and player.
We will all miss a great guy. May his soul rest in peace