One evening, Prakash was sitting in his office when the same friend came to visit him, the one who had once told him the story about two friends at the club. As they were chatting, Prakash suddenly remembered that old story. It was something that had happened years ago.
Prakash asked his friend, "You told me that after winning abroad, the friend’s son stopped listening to his father, but you never told me why. Did the boy become arrogant after his victory, or was there something else?"
Hearing Prakash recall such an old incident, his friend's eyes welled up with tears of joy. He felt like Prakash remembered something from his childhood even after conquering the world.
Deeply moved, his friend explained, "The boy didn’t become arrogant at all after his win. He remained as humble and obedient as ever. But the reason he stopped following his father’s advice was something else, something all fathers should understand.
The thing was, when his father allowed him to go abroad to play, he gave him three conditions. The father said, first, he should never drink alcohol during his trip. Second, he must never think about gambling. And third, he should keep his distance from girls throughout the journey.
Prakash responded, "Well, those all seem like good pieces of advice. Most fathers would give similar warnings to their growing children."
His friend continued, "When the boy first went abroad, he was walking around and passed by a bar. He thought to himself that his father probably advised him not to drink because he didn’t want him to become addicted. But he felt he should try it just once to see if it really was as bad as they said. So, he went inside and ordered a drink. As he was grimacing while sipping the bitter drink, an announcement was made from the counter: ‘Today is the bar owner's birthday, and in celebration, we've drawn a lottery for all our customers.’ By chance, the boy won a prize of one hundred dollars.
Surprised, the boy left the bar and started wandering around the market. Suddenly, he saw a casino. He thought, ‘Gambling is definitely a bad thing. I would never wager a single penny of my father’s hard-earned money on this. But right now, I have these hundred dollars, which I didn’t earn through hard work. There’s no harm in gambling with that.’
By sheer luck, the boy won a massive jackpot with that money.
Even after becoming a champion, he was careful not to talk to any girls who came to him for autographs. But girls can be persistent! Eventually, one girl managed to get the address of his hotel.
The boy didn’t have a good day after that. While returning to his hotel from the stadium, he accidentally left his bag on a local train. That bag contained not only his belongings and gifts for his family but also the precious medal he had won.
He was preparing to leave for the airport in disappointment when the same girl arrived at his hotel, carrying his bag. She told him she had found the bag at the stadium and identified it from a photo inside.
He hastily thanked the girl and called his father...
Since then, the boy hadn’t followed a single piece of his father’s advice after returning home.
Many such stories were associated with Prakash Padukone’s fast-paced sports career, and countless dreams were shaped.
Prakash worked as a badminton coach for nearly three years. He was pleased to see that both his daughters were interested in sports. His younger daughter leaned toward golf, while his elder daughter, with the desire to carry forward her father's great legacy, was pursuing badminton.
She had seen the world’s best shots and smashes from her childhood. For her, they were as easy as playing with toys. Just like some parents amuse their kids by clapping or jingling rattles, Prakash’s children had learned to smile and laugh from the flick of the racket on the shuttlecock.
Prakash had never imposed his wishes or opinions on his children. From the start, he believed they should be completely free to do whatever they wanted in their lives.
In contrast, their mother, Ujjwala, was known for her strict discipline. Once, Ujjwala publicly admitted that her children and husband were annoyed by her strictness. She even joked that if they had their way, they would have thrown her out of the house.
But even in that joke, there was an expression of love between the daughters and their mother, and the mother’s affection for her daughters was evident. Prakash himself was always cheerful and sociable with everyone, so how could his own family be any different?
He announced his retirement from active sports right after the birth of his younger daughter.
Whatever Prakash envisioned for the betterment of future athletes in the country, he made sure to bring it to life. He wasn’t one to merely express concern for the sports world in words; he constantly worked toward it. Wherever he found government support, he used it, and where there were limitations, he put in personal effort and resources to make things happen.
In collaboration with world-renowned billiards player Geet Sethi, Prakash established a key organization for athletes participating in the Olympic Games.
