Raising a racket

PETALING JAYA: If there is any regret that Philip George – sportsman, traveller and lawyer – has, it’s the way he subjected his dog to the life he has lived.

George, who grew up in Prang Besar before it became Putrajaya and now lives in Italy, subjected his beloved dog – also named George – to the same intense rigours that he was accustomed to.

“Taking him on mountain climbs, swimming in the wilds, running miles every day, for example.

A copy of the book Racket Boy at Gerakbudaya on April 20, 2024.

“Perhaps I could have been gentler and more considerate of his well-being, especially in the later stages of his life,” he said.

The dog died in 2021 at the age of 14 and is buried in the garden of George’s house overlooking the Apuan and Appenine mountains in Tuscany, Italy, where they once roamed together.

The 72-year-old lawyer was replying to queries from The Star via email after having stopped by Malaysia recently to promote his autobiography “Racket Boy: Where’s My Country?”.

Named for his love affair with Malaysia’s favourite game, the badminton, the autobiography details the life of the Malaysian-born: from growing up in Prang Besar, learning the game in Kajang and leaving the country for Britain at 18 to his career as a solicitor.

While George had met many badminton legends – like Tan Aik Huang, Punch Gunalan, Indonesian Rudy Hartono and Danish Svend Pri – he has never played professionally for Malaysia.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to live it any other way. I have embraced every challenge and adventure that came my way, seizing opportunities for growth and exploration and I am happy to be where I am because of those good and bad turns in my life,” he said when asked if he had regrets.

After deciding to write his autobiography – the movement restrictions from Covid-19 have much to do with it – George set about to find a co-writer, which led to local novelist Geetha K in Malaysia receiving a call from her relative.

“He told me his friend from childhood who left Malaysia in 1970 as an 18-year-old to make something of himself in England was now settled in Italy and was looking for someone to write his story.

“And he only wanted to work with a Malaysian writer as he felt a western person would not be able to understand his thoughts and experiences with the kind of depth that was required,” she recounted.

Philip George with a copy of his book at a bookstore in Mumbai, India, on May 14, 2024.

Geetha, who herself just released a first novel, has a background in memoir writing and has been trained at a Masterclass programme in London.

To make sure that she completely understood George’s story and what with Covid-19’s travel restrictions and an entire continent coming between them, the duo had to resort to a lot of Facetime.

In fact, they only met in the flesh for the first time in Kuala Lumpur after over a year of working and Facetime discussions beginning from March 2021.

A big challenge for Geetha was trying to streamline and vet the volume of George’s stories and recollections spanning decades, develop a chronology out of it, and put it all together in a cohesive manner.

This was by no means an easy feat considering that she never recorded any of their conversations which always ran into hours.

“What really helped me was Phil’s preparedness to share everything about his life, he was ready to lay out everything to the bare bone, there simply wasn’t any no-go area, he completely spilled the beans as the saying goes and that really helped,” said Geetha, highlighting memorable scenes such as George’s first encounter with his Chinese badminton coach, or the numerous confrontations with his father.

“Phil’s also a brilliant storyteller and as he narrated, the scenes would play out like a movie in my head,” she said, adding that there were no major obstacles as they were both very focused on finishing the book.

During a premiere of a docufilm on the book Racket Boy at Auditorium Tunku Abdul Rahman on April 27, 2024.

Geetha is also very clear about extricating herself from George’s narrative and to listen without judgement.

“…This is Philip’s story, Philip’s truths. My job was to deliver an honest story of someone else’s life and I remained faithful to that,” she said, describing it as a dynamic learning experience.

The first edition of Racket Boy was published in Britain in September 2023 and launched during the Frankfurt Book Fair a month later.

In Malaysia, it is published by Gerakbudaya.

After a series of events promoting the book in Malaysia in April, both George and Geetha also embarked on a nine-week book tour to India.

The Racket Boy: Where’s My Country? is also being translated into Italian, Spanish and Odia – a language from the North Indian state of Orissa – with plans for Tamil, Malayalam and Bahasa Indonesia in the future.