Former international Table Tennis player Vilas Menon is not amongst us today. But, his friends and well wishers still recall his memories. In fact, one of his admirer Ramnath Sharma reminded magzmumbai about his birth anniversary on 18th October 2018 and this prompted me to write about him on the eve of his birth anniversary. Being a Libran, Vilas had attained that celebrity status during 70s which no other sportsperson from India other than our cricketers experienced those days. Besides Ramnath Sharma another ex RBI TT player and an old friend of Vilas Mr. Girish Vagal recalled his good old days in the company of Vilas and some of his memorable matches, which he never missed, whether they were played at University Stadium, Khar Gymkhana or Matunga Gymkhana. Actually people from TT field remembering their favourite player’s birth anniversary, 16 years after his death, itself speaks very high about that person called Vilas Menon the legend of TT.
For the information of new generation of table tennis, Vilas Menon had many well wishers and friends not only from India but also from other countries. It was not only limited to the game of Table Tennis, but also other games . Former India Cricket captain Dilip Vengsarkar was his close friend as both of them studied from R.A.Podar College, Matunga. Those days, Vilas lived in Hindu Colony , Dadar and Matunga Gymkhana was just stones throw distance from his residence. In the field of Table tennis former international Niraj Bajaj was his good friend. When Vilas was hospitalized and later recovering from his illness Niraj Bajaj used to visit him and his family regularly. According to Renu Menon wife of Vilas Menon ( also a former National level TT player) , Niraj stood like a real friend in need to help the family. “He is still in touch with us . Very Soft spoken and A real gem of a person,” says Renu while praising Niraj.
When magzmumbai called up Renu to recall some memories about her husband on this occasion, she said, “ Recently, during Asian games I heard that our Table tennis pair won the medal at Asian games for the first time. I would like to point out that it was Vilas along with Manjit Dua won the first medal in table tennis Doubles in Asian games and this appears in Limca Book of records. After the institution of Shiv Chhatrapati awards, Vilas was the first table tennis player to receive this prestigious award. Along with him was Sunil Gavaskar the cricket legend. Vilas was also the first first ever TT player from India to receive the Fairplay award in World TT Championship held at Kolkatta . Vilas was also the first TT player to win the Maharashtra Junior and men’s championship simultaneously. Perhaps, he was the only TT player, who played for three teams, namely Maharashtra, Railways and Punjab at the National championships. He was also Railways and Punjab champion. Vilas also participated in world railways TT championship at Czechoslovakia and had the honour of having his name written on Railways Board.”
There are many stories of Vilas Menon and his huge fan following, but once during the South Zone TT Tournament I personally experienced his fan following at Bangalore Railway station. His well wishers had brought vehicles to welcome him. They also used to come to the hostel for pick up and drop during the tournament. It was a VIP treatment for him. Before leaving for matches in the morning Vilas used to come to our room, which was just next to his room to say Hi-hello over breakfast. This was sometime during early 80s, when he played for Punjab and was employed with Punjab Wireless. But, before that when I played North Zone at Dharamshala, I had witnessed his popularity among the locals over there. Vilas was also a good event organiser. During his stint as a coach in Dubai, he organized TT tournaments inviting top players. In Dubai Vilas had formed Ping Pong Club and Mr. Lulla owner of Astoria , Mr. Ismail Ali and others came forward to sponsor these events. He always wanted to popularize the game of table tennis and for that he used to invite top celebrities to play exhibition TT matches. Many top celebrities like Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev,Sanjay Manjrekar , Shakti Kapoor had responded to his call to display their skills in Table Tennis in front of good crowds.
Vilas passed away at a young age on 13th September 2002. Today, on the eve of his birth anniversary, I wish his family members comprising of Renu, Gaurang and Aliya a happy, peaceful, healthy and prosperous life. After his sad untimely demise his wife Renu had organized few exhibition tournaments in his memory during the period 2003 to 2011 to carry forward his work of promoting Table tennis, when many celebrities like Salim Durani, Karsan Ghavri, kapil Dev, Archana Puran Singh( actress, former TT player and a good friend of Vilas Menon) , Sunita Menon, Nana Patekar, Arbaaz Khan and many TV artistes had taken part. Now, his wife Renu wants to carry forward his last wish and accordingly she has formed ‘Vilas Menon Trust’ in his name, which will offer free training and kit to selected children from Municipal schools in Mumbai. Once again, family friend Niraj Bajaj came forward to extend his helping hand to this trust becoming the first contributor.