Rohit Brijnath in The Hindu:
“Hockey is in my DNA, it’s part of my code, as it is with millions from India. Its sound will never exit my brain, especially the click of sticks like knitting needles as we once bullied furiously for the ball, and the crack of ball colliding with the wood of goal. Of the many rites of passage as a boy, buying a hockey stick was one, flexing it, poking it with a compass, rubbing on oil, looking at it resting in the lonely corner of your room.
“Hockey had its own special pain, of the cork ball hitting unprotected shin in cold winter. It had its own way in which teams were made at lunch break at school, which involved a kid sitting on the ground, his eyes covered and picking sticks from a pile and throwing one to each side.”
Read the full article: Alas, a thing of joy won’t be foreever!
Cartoon: courtesy Mahmud/ Deccan Herald
i guess it takes more than a facility with words and empathy.
though i can vouch for the sweat pain of the chins. signature scars of the mostly make-do sticks and the balls which my mates and i can carry as trophies.
keep it personal and keep it local. if neither you nor your kids are playing it stop pissing on those who do.
even now i go to watch the local teams dribble with it. though it is only young girls who play it here.
Yes it is sad to see India not qualifying. With most of us not really caring, and focused on cricket in all its forms, this event was not totally unexpected.
Let us not start the blame game or shed crocodile tears. Instead we should support the team and more importantly the game in our country. With that things can only go up.
How is it that other developing countries like China win so many gold medals in a variety of sports and athletic events in Olympic games whereas we struggle to even qualify? Isn’t something fundamentally wrong? Why is physical fitness and sports the last priority in school/College?
lets give hockey a break. How can you expect the boys to win everytime? that too with the so limited resources, thick political cloud around the game and complete ignorance by the media, poor federation and blah blah blah.
there are so many impediments for the game to prosper. nothing will be solved if the commie Gurudas Dasgupta is listened to.
Many years back when we were the best in hockey, before going for the Olympics or the Asian games, the Indian team would always play a match at Bangalore Hockey ground / Behind Mayo hall or behind MG statue against a local Mysore team, with some players from MEG, Coach factory and locals. Invariably the Indian team would lose this match and go on to win the Championship. We used to go all they way from Mysore to see this match. The Hockey federation stopped this practice saying that the players were getting demoralised. Once they stopped this practice we never won any Championship consistently.
Oldies will remember!
Ethos!
Your tale is fantastic and I suspect you are more nostalgic than accurate. The last time India won anything at International level was the World Cup in 1975. With Pillai and Ballal we won the Asiad in 1998. So your nostalgic tale simply doesn’t fit in. Care to elaboarte?:)