Ms. Namita Nayyar: You have also been awarded and felicitated by none other than our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and this year, even by President Pranab Mukherjee. Would you like to share with us your experience receiving such high accolades and appreciation?
Ms. Dhyani Dave: I received more than five awards from Narendra Modi when he was the CM of Gujarat. He is the most dynamic personality I have ever come across. The first time I got an award from him, was when I was nine years old. Oh my God… since then, whenever he meets me, he has this ready caption for me: “Tum wohi ladki ho na, jo dimaag kuch zyaada hi chalati ho!” Ha Ha. Even the Limca Book record that I made, is because he chose me to compete. I received the ‘100 Women Achievers’ award this year and it was given to me by President Pranab Mukherjee. I shortened my Spain tournament trip to receive this award. Cancelled playing a tournament at the last moment. It was a proud moment when I shared the same table with president for lunch along with the other achievers.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: You are the Limca Book of Records holder for playing chess simultaneously with 150 contestants. How did you feel after giving such a breakthrough performance and creating history?
Ms. Dhyani Dave: Narendra Modiji organized the entire event for me because he had faith in me that I will be able to do it. It was actually very tiring to play against 150 players simultaneously. I walked about 20 kms in total during that day and the games got over after 8 long hours. This event was also addressed by LK Advani and Vishvanathan Anand. Modiji even asked me for feedback when he first started Khel Mahakumbh, which shows how down to earth he is.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: So how did it all fall into place?
Ms. Dhyani Dave: One fine day I got a call from the CM’s office saying that Modiji wanted to speak to me. He said he was planning to organize an event like this and asked me whether I will be able to participate. His voice had a surety and confidence, as if he knew I would be able to make a record. When the day arrived, I was so nervous as this was going to be tough. But when I finally did it, I was extremely happy to be receiving the award from the hands of Vishwanathan Anand, who had specially come down to Ahmedabad for it. Advaniji has also written about this event in his book. It has been the biggest one in my life until now. You know that feeling. Jab life mein kuch bada hota hai, tab magical si feeling aati hai. Ditto vesi hi feeling thi.
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