‘Difficult to handle Anand when he loses’

She is not just a life partner for the former World champion, but a manager, mentor in some ways and the one who handled his pressures and tribulations off the board after every battle. Aruna charted Anand’s schedule, travel, stay and everything he needed to take care when he was on tour for almost two decades now, something which his mother used to do when he was a teen. 

But she has now her son to attend to at home and she is not travelling as frequently as she used to in the past with Anand. “I think I enjoy life being Anand’s wife, Akhil’s mother & more over just being myself,” says Aruna. 

But of late she has to manage Akhil more than Anand. “We enjoy going on vacations with him. There is so much to learn from a kids enthusiasm and innocence,” said Aruna. “I don’t travel much but I do most of the things from here like travel schedule etc to the best of my ability.” 

Akhil is in UKG at Bala Vidya Mandir, Adyar. “He is into gymnastics, swimming, he likes to play with cars. I am not pushing him into anything. He plays chess too. Of course, I do travel with Ahhil if Anand plays during his (Akhil’s) vacation. It depends on the tournaments,” adds Aruna. 

She says it is difficult to handle Anand when he loses a game. The first hour is generally very difficult. “Every time he loses he devalues himself thinking about the loss. Some losses hurt badly because he would be thinking about the chances that he had to avoid the loss. But these losses also act as catalysts because you push yourself for the challenge the next time,” said Aruna.