J Padmakumari was too nervous to switch on her mobile phone and computer the whole of Thursday. She didn’t want to follow her son D Gukesh’s title match against Ding Liren in Singapore. But around 7pm, Gukesh’s aunt stormed into the house with the happy news — the World Chess Championship title is homebound. Raw and unrehearsed emotions poured out instinctively. “I couldn’t believe it and I cried for 10 minutes,” Padmakumari said before taking a flight to meet her son, now the darling of a billion Indians.
It was also an occasion for her to reflect on all the sacrifices the family has made to shape the career of Gukesh.
Rajnikanth, her husband, had moved away from the lucrative career as an ENT surgeon to travel with his son, as Padmakumari, a microbiologist, remained the sole bread-winner of the family.
“It is a really happy moment. But it was also a moment for us to remember all the sacrifices we made, especially Gukesh’s father.
“But all our family — grandparents, in-laws, sisters, friends…all came forward to help us in our journey. We are thankful to each one of them,” she said.
Gukesh too acknowledged the hardships his parents had to go through in his formative years.
“We were not a very well-off family, so they had to face a lot of financial struggles. But I didn’t do it at that time. At some point in 2017 and 2018, we were running so low on money that my parents’ friends sponsored me.
“My parents had to make many lifestyle changes just for me to play tournaments. They made the most sacrifices,” he had said after the victory.
But having wholehearted support is one thing as tremendous personal discipline is needed to succeed at the highest level because chess is a cold and lonely sport.
Padmakumari said Gukesh always had immense powers of focus.
“Gukesh worked really hard for childhood. We are extremely happy for this victory. He is a very disciplined child and sacrificed so much for chess.
“We are so happy that all of it came to a reality with this title win,” she said.
“I just want to see him now.” But now, the whole country is waiting to have a glimpse of Gukesh.
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