A recent visit to a a small souvenir shop in a quaint part of Montana revealed a sentimental connect. The shopkeeper, a Russian, on knowing that I was from Chennai asked me if I had heard of Vishwananthan Anand. My answer being obvious he wanted to test if I was fooling around. He mentioned casually about Anand playing tennis is it not. Hearing my emphatic No he smiled. He is a professional chess player and was a fan of Anand. I felt so proud that Anand was remembered with fondness so far away from his homeland.
Today a Chess carnival is on in my city- the city of V Anand. Yet I find him featured minimally in the State's official welcome song for the event. I hardly saw any picture of Anand associated with the event. Politics above genius!
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