He’s a young achiever and one of the most soft-spoken sportspersons around. We are talking about none other than, Pankaj Advani, the 16 times Billiards and Snooker champion, who has recently won the Kolkata Open Snooker Championship. The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee talked to us about God and some life experiences that have made him the man that he is. Here are some excerpts from the chit-chat.
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That’ll probably be my first world title. When I was 18-years-old, I went to China and made my debut at the World Snooker Championship. To everyone’s surprise, I ended up winning in the final match against my Pakistani opponent. My confidence, my career, my life changed after that!
An experience that you can’t get out of your head... Receiving the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award’ from the President of India in the year 2005 was a huge honour for me and I can still remember, the way the whole hall applauded me! Meeting the then President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was itself another huge honour for me and I remember I went blank for a few seconds; that feeling was absolutely wonderful.
Is there something you know you do differently than most people? Well, my mom calls me a pressure cooker and the reason why she says it is because I always tend to wait for everything, then get up and start performing, and come back with a win! Not that I would like to be in that position every time but, it’s so happened that on numerous occasions, I have put myself in a very tricky position in a match, and have made a comeback with a win. So, I think that in some way I am different, as everyone wants to finish off quickly and take the pressure off, and have a cool match without worrying.
How do you let go of things? Well, the way I look at it is that everything (I might sound like a saint but I am clearly not, laughs) in this world is temporary. Whatever we achieve and we have are materialistic possessions! I am not going to remember anything 25-50 years down the line. I might have broken a few records or won some titles, but at the end of it, people will forget me. There might be someone who will take over; you see the public memory is very short. The best thing is to just not take yourself seriously! I take my profession seriously but I don’t take myself seriously, and I think that’s the key. That way, you are not pulled down by your failures and at the same time, success doesn’t get to your head! You feel really light!
If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, what would you do? I would first try and devise a plan to save them, and talk to them. And obviously, if it means that there is no option of saving them, then I would ask them that ‘what is the one thing you would like to do?’ or ‘what are your last wishes so that I can try and fulfill them’!
Do you believe in rebirth? Yes, I do believe in the ‘law of Karma’, so definitely a yes!
Have you ever had another worldly experience? I am actually a huge fan of Christopher Nolan. If you are literally looking for an ‘out of the world experience’ then for me, it came while watching ‘Interstellar’, because it was literally out of the world and it was magnificent. The cinematography, the background music, and the planets they show, possibly out of the world, within the reach of those astronauts - that was fabulous. That’s what movies are for, they transport you to a different world!
How do you connect with God? God is in every one of us! It’s the voice that tells us that something is not right, and the voice that says, “Listen, I don’t think what you are doing is the right” that is God! For me, helping someone who is not privileged enough or helping someone cross the road, that is God! The voice that shows us the right path and helps us in discriminating between right and wrong is God!
The best way to connect with God is, to listen to the inner voice because normally it is always right; when you are about to do something it will always encourage you to do that thing. And I believe, the best way to connect to God is to surrender to his will.
How do you meditate? Well, I don’t actually meditate, but there are times when I have these stages that I feel like closing my eyes, controlling my breathing pattern and thinking about nothing! Being still and doing nothing are two very different things, and meditation is all about being still! A lot of people believe that for meditation you don’t need to do anything, but that’s not really true! When you are still in your mind and you know you are sorted and not scattered, that’s when you actually meditate and focus.
My connection with meditation is very old and there is one experience that I would like to share. When I was in England for 2 years, I used to take a bus every day from the place I used to stay till the academy. The bus used to take an hour to reach there and I used to meditate during that time. I used to close my eyes and control my breathing, and it worked wonder for me, meditation elevates you! You feel that you are getting in touch with your higher self.