The Not So "Sporty" Me

Four!!!! Antony had struck another fine boundary of a decent bowling attack by Tampines Rovers. We enjoyed every stroke played by Sreejith and Antony as we were cruising to a victory in a do-or-die tournament. Everything changed suddenly when both got out and I went to bat with just 11 runs needed of 11 balls. Yes, I messed it all up. I started playing my "not so usual" swings trying to hit every ball. Wasted 3 to 4 crucial balls and giving up my wicket by trying another stupid swing.

My presence in the pitch proved too costly for our team with the required run rate sky rocketing. We LOST!!! And "This loss was proudly sponsored by Rakesh". Every stupid shot I tried flashed through my mind over the weekend. I kept thinking, what was I trying to do? Trying to be a Hero??? I didn't have any answers to my own questions. Only think I know is that, it was my "Not so 'Sporty' me" moment. I really apologize to all my teammates who believed I could pull it off. Sorry. And great batting - Antony and Sreejith.

Actually, I love sports, to play or to simply watch it, be it on TV or be it some casual outdoor games. I have this very faint memory of my father buying me a football while I was a little boy. We didn't have lot of football loving kids those days, and I don't really remember me playing football in my childhood. The only thing I recall is a torn football with the inner rubber layer jumping out of the outer surface when I tried to fill air in it. My Achan (father) would get me all sorts of sports stuff. Even though I am not a sports champion or a well known celebrity, I still thank him a lot for what he has done. Without his support I wouldn't have known to play most of the games I play today.


We had two badminton racquets with wooden frame, and we used to play in front of our house with the gate as the net. I mostly would play with Raakhee chechi (my dearest sister) and my achan. Sometimes, my friends in the neighbourhood used to come and join. The top part of the gate was covered at that time and we would not be able to see our opponent most of the time. Sometimes, we used to play in our terrace and my amma would tell us to jump slowly or the house would come down. :)

My father got me a good racquet after the 10th standard board exams. Me and some of my friends used to go to the Rotary club Badminton courts (Cochin). Then, during my 11th and 12th standards, we used to play in a court near my friend's house. We used to cycle around 10-12 kms to go to that place. Me, Sujith, Nidheesh, Balakrishnan, Vikas, Kiran - this was the circle of friends that time. Badminton always used to be there, in school, in college, when i was working, in pune, in bangalore, and in singapore. I just love this game.

Cricket was my favourite game, as it is with majority of the Indians. My house was near the Cochin backwaters, and there used to be a big open field. There were some houses nearby, but the field was so good, full of trees, mainly coconut trees and a few mango trees. I used to play there almost every single day. After returning from school, I used to immediately change and run to the field with my cricket bat. If I dont find anyone in the ground, then I would start visiting everyone's house and would call them out to play. Balu, Jayesh, Jaison - were my playing friends that time.

I really dont remember how many cricket balls we might have lost, either by hitting it into the backwaters, or by hitting it on top of the coconut tree, or by hitting it to the house next to the ground, the aunty would never give us the ball back. If the ball goes into that house, then we never even used to wait, we would run for our life before the aunty could spot us. We would not attempt to enter that house also, as there were many dogs in that house, atleast 3. My mother was mentioning recently that they are facing the same problem, with some kids now playing in front of our house. She said my father would jump out and all the kids would run away. I am sure, my father and mother are enjoying those moments, remembering how we used to behave when we were kids.

I would never get tired playing, and my mother still says that even if the first group of kids return after playing, I would still wait in front of my gate waiting, and hoping to see another interested kid to play with me again. Finally, I would return home when it used to turn dark.

Our family (Achan, amma, raakhee chechi and me) used to get together at the Dining table every other day. No, not for dinner, we never used to have dinner together, thanks to the TV, we all could never open our mouth for eating, without the sound from the TV. Then why??? Our Dining table, used to be our Table Tennis table :). That is where I learnt to play Table Tennis. Again, thanks to my achan, I learned this wonderful game only because of him. He used to take a piece of cloth and make a net, and then we used to play. Smashes, spins, great serves, great games, everything used to be there in that wonderful stadium.


There was one table tennis table in our school, and everyone used to play there. There was a main group of players, with all expert players, and then there used to be an amateur group of players of which I was part of. We really used to wait for a long long time to get our turn on the table, and even if we got one, the expert players will smash us top to bottom, and the match would not last long. One particular incident I remember during that time, there was a tournament in our school, and my TT racquet was in bad shape, and I asked my achan for a new one. Achan was a bit tight with finance at that time, and he asked me to manage with the one I had. I went into Satyagraha, and I remember not speaking to my Achan for 3 days. Finally, Amma came and told me that I should not be doing that, and I should go and speak to achan. I broke my strike and became friends with achan again, and then very next day he bought me a fantastic racquet. I took it to the school and went boasting about it for days. I sometimes feel sad when I think of the way I behaved with my Achan, but then if not to my Achan, to whom can I behave like that :).

I remember my physical training sir in school, Poulose Sir. My school, "Kendriya Vidyalaya No. II, Cochin", was located in the Katari Bagh naval quarters. There were lot of mango trees in the courtyard of every house, and during the season the kids from the school would climb on trees or throw stones to get the unripe mangoes. And all this normally used to happen during the lunch time. The house owners often used to complain to the school management about this. Once, a few children were caught by Poulose sir, coming late to the school after lunch, and some of them had mangoes in their hand. And, by default, all of the latecomers were branded mango thieves. I was one among those unfortunate kids, although I was not involved in the mango stealing. I had gone to play with some friends, and was late. Sir caned all of us in the hand, and after the whole ritual was over, I started crying and told Sir that I did not steal any mangoes and was late for some other reason. Poulose sir scolded me for not telling him before he caned me, and then later comforted me, gave me a chocolate and asked me to stay in his PT room. That was considered to be a privilege a student can get, the room was full of sporting equipments and trophies.


My school taught me the basics of Volleyball, which I love to play even now with my friends here in Singapore. The only problem I faced, back in school, and even today, is that I am a bit short for playing this game. I like to play near the net, but to block a smash or to smash a ball would seem nearly impossible. My generous friends would sometimes lower the net for the benefit of all the short players to experience how a smash could be hit :).

I hope my body would allow me to enjoy all these sports for a lot more years in my life. I can't imagine a life without sports. Every game I play brings back a lot of memories in my life, which I would always cherish, and bring back the child in me. Sports for life....