Indu, like her male counterpart Kamlesh Mehta, also won eight national titles in a glittering career spanning 13 years. After she retired in 1985, however, she was lost to the sport, maintaining little or no contact with the happenings on the paddle front.

As she took a trip down memory lane, her first impressions were the dramatic fall in fortunes in women's table tennis -- which enjoyed its best years when she was at the helm.

``We were in the top 16 in the world (1979), fourth in Asia and second in Commonwealth in the late seventies. My world ranking at the time was 63,'' Indu reflects.

``There is no reason why we shouldn't be doing better now,''she says. ``I believe the reasons for our women's poor show is a lack of motivation. I don't think our women table tennis players can complain of social pressures hampering sporting progress, especially in the cities where the game is largely played.''

Indu should know. She was a self-made player, even though she took to the game at a relatively late age of 16. With virtually no guidance, she spurred herself on to unprecedented glory, earning respect and instilling fear in opponents with her devastating fore-hand top spin and deadly smashing.

She put all that together one morning in Kuala Lumpur at the 1978 Asian Championships. Her class act conjured one of Indian sporting history's most momentous happenings, sadly obscured by the passage of time, and table tennis' diminishing profile in the country.

Indu conquered Pak Yung Sun, the undisputed North Korean world champion at the time, in a three-game thriller in the very first round.

Neither Pak, nor the media nor the stunned world table tennisfraternity could believe their eyes. Least of all Indu herself.

``It took me quite a while to realise what I had done, even after the world press virtually mobbed me for interviews,'' Indu recollects.

Indu's bespectacled photos were commonplace in newspapers round the country in the seventies and early eighties and her prowess inspired a host of players around her -- Nandini Kulkarni, Kaity Chargeman, Shailaja Salokhe among others.

A regular at the Worlds, Asian and Commonwealth championships, she feels she could have done better with some guidance as she developed as a player. She held some of the European players -- the Hungarians, Swedes and the Yugoslavs -- in awe. But not the Chinese, despite their seeming invincibility. ``I find their regimented style too boring,'' she says.

Indu, who works for Union Bank of India in New Delhi, nurtures a secret hope that Indian women paddlers will recapture their image of the past. But for that, she advices: ``Work hard, remain constantly motivated and don'texpect external factors to help. Work with single-minded dedication to get round difficulties that may exist.'' Words of wisdom from a sportswoman of substance.