Savyasaachi

It was a warm, sunny day in the midst of monsoon, which, as most Bangaloreans know, is rare. The PT teacher had called the photographer to click photos of the school representatives of various sports events, for the school magazine. Since I had represented my school in swimming, I was called as well. I was in 5th grade and had not done my homework that day, so I decided to tell the teacher that I had to be there earlier than needed, bunking a class for the first time in my life. They started the photography session with team sports and fortunately or not, the basketball team consisted of only 8 girls at the time. To fill in the space, ma’am asked another tall girl and me to stand at the back for the photo. The following year, we had a new PT teacher, who assumed that the photos spoke nothing but the truth. Seeing yet another opportunity to bunk classes for practice and stay back after school, I nodded my head as the teams were drafted for the upcoming inter-school tournaments.

Unfortunately, lacking the common sense to research the sport before signing up for the school team, I was caught off guard on my first day when I was asked to do a bunch of lay-ups. I held the ball tightly towards my chest and ran straight for the basket, stopping 2 feet from it, before doing the classic chest thrust with more force than was required, only to have the ball bang my face again and knock a tooth loose. I also crashed into the girl who came to take the rebound from the opposite side. Being much taller than the average 12-year-old, the teacher decided to let me remain on the team as I could score easier compared to the rest of the munchkins in the team then. For those who are new to basketball, it is a sport played by 2 teams consisting of 5 main players with 7 substitutes. The aim of the game is to get the ball into the basket, which stands 10 feet off the ground. Like most team sports, the game requires immense cooperation and coordination between team members. Most people who play the game get hooked right away. To them, a fair game of basketball provides a sense of euphoria while a foul match can trigger jaw-breaking anger, irrespective of the game’s outcome.

Coming back to my story, the school teacher also had connections with Jayanagar sports club in Bangalore. There, for the first time in my life, I received proper training. I played for 2 years and then shifted schools, along with a change of priorities from basketball to swimming - getting a national medal at an individual sport was far easier. My new school, although academically-oriented with limited focus on extra-curricular activities, had a fabulous boys and girls basketball team. I was so intimidated by them that I did not even want to try out for the team. Even then, being a 6-foot-tall teen with a history of good performance in the sport was apparently adequate to be included in the team as a part of the main 5. While there were many incidents where I made a complete fool of myself in front of my teammates and some tall, cute jocks; it was then that I truly fell for the game.

My first and perhaps most memorable moment was this one match, against the Cottonians, students of a certain school in Bangalore, who were considered the best at the time. Both the girls’ and the boys’ teams seemed unbeatable. Whenever they entered the court in a tournament, they had an effect on the psyche of their opponents. The match that we thought we would lose in the first quarter, ended up being extended three times by 5 minutes each, thanks to the baskets scored by the pivots, Deepa and myself. In a minute way I had contributed to making my team put up one hell of a fight against the Cottonians. Though we lost that day, by a point, it was a good day.

Some of my best memories of basketball only happened after that incident. Basketball in the rain, as clumsy as it may sound, can also be romantic at the same time (Dhoom 2 had a sequence about it too!). The mixed basketball games with both girls and boys in the same team had its own element of fun with teasing, not to mention the cheers we got when we scored while being defended by a boy who is 6 foot 4 inches tall. The games played on an uneven mud court with dust flying all over the place, blinding us contact lens-wearers, were surprisingly fun too. Falling flat on the cement court and ending up with multiple bruises following an aggressive match with tons of elbowing and surviving it with the battle scars to tell our tale had its own thrill.

Recently, I came across a note on Facebook by someone obviously passionate about the game. The note was a first-person account about a bunch of underdogs making their way to victory in an unofficial game of basketball against a superior team. There was something about the story, where the minnows win in the last quarter that resonated with me and left me with a sense of hope.

The passion displayed in the note reminded me of an incident that occurred in my first year at MMC: I was incredibly thrilled when the annual intra-college sports event, Kreida, was announced. Alongwith my batchmate, we created a team of 12 members and taught the new girls the rules of the game. After weeks of daily practice, on the big day, we came to know that the girls’ basketball game would consist of a match 24 minutes long, where running with the ball (also known as travelling) was not included in the list of fouls. Dribbling the ball was not essential! Also the organising batch had a direct entry into the finals. It was disheartening. We created a fuss, and there were tears involved. Since that emotional fiasco, things have changed a lot with regards to girls’ basketball standards in MMC. What surprised me was the passion with which my teammates, who had been playing the game for only a month, fought against the arbitrary rules. The girl, who swore in indignation at the time, told me it was not about giving a team an unfair advantage or some rules, it was about the game itself on a fundamental level. She said and I quote, “Why call this basketball? Let it be MMC girls’ ball; what is the point of us holding the ball in our hands and running across a rectangle, attempting to throw it into the basket while jumping multiple times in the process?” The arguments got so heated that Professors and the basketball coach got involved. We did have to apologise for swearing and inappropriate gestures, but hey, they were so nice they agreed to play the game by its original rules and we won (the cherry on top)!

The following year, the teachers ensured that all matches were played in strict accordance with the rules of the game and on a league basis. We did not win the tournament that year, but the final game played under floodlights, against the 2k9 batch, was an incredible experience. Special thanks to those who made that happen. Since then we have had some fantastic times as part of the batch team as well as the college team with our dear coach, of course. (A special shout out to Hita, Sahana, Manjula, and Chitra).

I terribly miss the game now. My fourth year pales in comparison to what it could have been with basketball in it. Perhaps my love for the game is limited by what I consider my responsibilities that rank higher on my priority list. For so many people I know, the game has been a source of happiness, sadness, pain, pleasure, a stress buster, a cause of stress and to put it more simply - life. If you are open-minded enough to give the game a fair chance at least at the local college level, you are up for one hell of a ride. Just remember to shoot for the baskets.