Leave alone Insta and TikTok, there wasn’t even television then. There weren’t T20s or ODIs, either. There were only the five-day Test matches, and we, a bunch of cricket-crazy friends in school, kept track of the scores by listening to radio commentaries. For that, we even had to learn the numerals in Hindi from zero to 100, since the commentaries were alternately in English and Hindi.
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| India registered its first Test win overseas in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1968. Photo credit: Indiatimes |
There was no need for TV. The descriptions of commentators like Anand Setalvad, Suresh Saraiya (he frequently used the phrase ‘as well’), Sushil Doshi, Ravi Chaturvedi, J P Narayan, Jasdev Singh, Skand Gupta, Akash Lal, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (mostly as an expert commentator), Murali Manohar Manjul, and others were so vivid that we could visualise the match in our minds.
There was also the famous team of BBC Radio's Test Match Special commentators: Brian Johnston, Don Mosey, Henry Blofeld, Christopher Matin-Jenkins, etc. TMS still there on BBC Radio, but it's not available online -- on YouTube or radio apps -- for overseas listeners because of rights restrictions.)
I even had a pocket transistor, which probably came in the late 1970s or early 1980s. When a portable transistor radio itself was a piece of wonder (the earlier valve radios were so big one couldn’t even lift them easily), the fact that we could carry a small version in our pockets was simply unthinkable!
WINDOW TO THE WORLD
We knew not only where Dunedin is located but also how the word is pronounced! We also became familiar with places like Old Trafford, Port of Spain, and islands such as Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago. We learned what a county in England is. (These are all places where India play cricket matches.)
We even picked up the time difference between India and various cities of the world, including the one-hour gap between local time in England and GMT. Cricket taught us a lot of geography, in fact.
When India won the World Cup in 1983 (a clichéd topic now), the headline in The Hindu was “India at the pinnacle of glory”. I didn’t know what the word pinnacle meant. I looked it up in the dictionary and learned a new word.
All thanks to cricket.
SPORTS AT SCHOOL
In Sainik School, Kazhakootam, Thiruvananthapuram, where I studied, sports and games are compulsory. Cricket, football, hockey, basketball, volleyball, tennis – all of them. Besides, there were athletics like short- and long-distance running, hurdles, high jump, long jump, pole vault, and also boxing, gymnastics, and cross-country races.
Though I have done them all as part of the school curriculum, my favourites still are tennis, cricket, hockey, badminton, and athletics, though of course I follow other games as well.
The feeling one gets during and after a match or event is one of accomplishment – of having pushed oneself to the limit and given one’s best. It often surfaces in the form of beads of sweat running down the body. The tiredness is strangely relaxing as well as invigorating.
MORE THAN JUST A GAME
Sports and games are not just about the competition. They teach soft skills such as perseverance, endurance, teamwork, camaraderie, and, most importantly, sporting spirit. We pick them up while playing.
Sportspeople put in so much hard work through gruelling training schedules. They are constantly trying to do better and better, forever. Some of them have had surgeries, raised families, battled mental health issues, and yet returned to training and worked their way back on to the field. After all that, they have shown amazing agility and athleticism, and gone on to win matches.
Hats off to their indomitable spirit. Sports and sports personalities are truly inspiring.
THE PAIN OF DEFEAT
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| P T Usha misssed a bronze in 400 m hurdles by one-hundredth of a second in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Photo source: Getty Images/Olympics.com |
If, after all the hard work, it was a win, it was all hunky-dory. But when it was a loss – and worse, when the margin of defeat was the narrowest – that was never easy to reconcile with.
Imagine days, weeks, months, and years of hard work not bearing the fruit one dreamt of. One famous instance that comes to mind is the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, when India’s PT Usha missed the bronze by one-hundredth of a second in the 400 metres hurdles. That was the narrowest miss one can think of. Yet her timing of 55.42 seconds was a national record.
(Unlike now, in those days, our teams didn’t win so many medals at international events. So, you can imagine how disappointed we were with Usha missing a bronze in the Olympics.)
Sports and games teach us the golden rule: be gracious in defeat, applaud the winner, and move on.
A rule applicable to every aspect of life.
GROWING OLDER, STAYING INSPIRED
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| This post is part of the Blogchatter Blog Hop |
Today, age has caught up with me. I can barely do 20%, or at most 30%, of the intense physical activities I once could in my younger days. That’s a reality I have learned to come to terms with.
But I haven’t given up on following sports and games on TV – whether live action or, when I miss them, the highlights.
They continue to infuse in me so much positivity and energy – to always do my best and move on.
Hari Om
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful review of the role and purpose of sport in life! I do miss those earlier cricket commentators... But everything moves on, heh na? YAM xx
Hi Yamini - Thank you! Also, now there is also too much of cricket in too many forms in too many places to sustain the same level of interest.
DeleteIn India, cricket is a religion. Looks like you were too young to listen to Vizzy, V. M. Chakrapani, Anand Setalvad, P. Ananda Rao, etc. There was no Hindi commentary at that time.
ReplyDeleteI have to mention the sportsmanship at that time. India vs New Zealand in New Delhi in 1965. Last day. Indians started to bat for their second innings. India needed 70 runs to win withabout 80 or so minutes left. Drinks came on the field. NZ could have wasted precious time by taking drinks and made the test to end in a draw. NZ captain John Reid told the drinks people to get off the field and continued the bowling without drinks. India won by 7 wickets. Nowadays it is very rare to see a player like John Reid.
I never knew of this rare incident of sportsmanship!
DeleteThank you
I remember Anand Setalvad. One of my favourite commentators during my school days. It's very sad that a recording of his commentaries are available anywhere online. But there is a bit of Suresh Saraiya's commentary on YouTube!
DeleteRegarding sportsmanship, yes, very rare nowadays. But like the case of Reid, there are a few instances here and there.
For example, remember the golden jubilee test match in Bombay in 1980? India's captain Gundappa Viswanath recalled England batsman Bob Taylor who was given out by umpire Hanumantha Rao 'caught behind'. But Viswanath felt there was no bat involved and after consulting his team, persuaded the umpire to reverse the decision. England won the test, though not because of this particular decision. Taylor made only 43 but Botham hit a century.
I need to get in better physical shape after failing to get proper exercise all summer. Be well, my dear!
ReplyDeleteHi Darla - Hope you would be able to.
DeleteSports can teach so much. I'm not a fan, but I appreciate that there are many who are. (Ah, I remember 1984. The Olympics were local. I was too young to see any events, but it was just the knowledge that they were so close. Looking forward to 2028.)
ReplyDeleteYes, the next one is in LA.
DeleteAnd there were students like me who had no interest in playing any sport, aside from badminton at times if I had to play, and I was never interested to in learning about sport, although, it is hard to avoid knowing some things about sport in Australia. So, not for me but I think it is great for kids to learn and to follow.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, late one night perhaps 25 years ago, I turned my bedside radio on and cricket was being played in England, and what a delight the commentator was, and very humorous. I later learnt his name was Henry Blofeld, or Blowers as his nick name went.
Among all the commentators in BBC's Test Match Special team, Blowers was easily the most entertaining. His eccentric charm and vivid observations were what made him so endearing. There are plenty of his commentaries on YouTube.
DeleteWhat I remember the best is his commentaries during the matches in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. In the 1980s and 1990s there used to be plenty of one-day international matches for Sharjah Cup and Champions Trophy, if I remember correctly.
Henry Blofeld used to describe not just cricket but also whatever else that caught his attention like birds, buses, clouds and even jewellery (especially earrings) worn by women spectators!
We really miss him ... This was his last commentary at The Oval in 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uhcQK0c69Q
Hi Pradeep, I always look at those professional athletes and think of the hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours their parents put in to get them to an elite level, and then the same amount they have to do to keep themselves there.....and it can all come crashing down in a minute with injury or someone being a milisecond faster. It definitely takes a certain type of person to sustain that commitment.
ReplyDeleteHi Leanne - That's so true. They all start training at a very young age. It's not easy at all.
DeleteThe power of sports …I’m an American, I like baseball, and I have fond memories of bringing a transistor radio to school during the World Series.
ReplyDeleteAs an adult … I live just outside.NYC and remember how baseball helped this city heal after 9/11.
Sports and games have lots of positivity and can bring people together.
DeleteThis post is so relatable and i am glad to read and i agree to all that yo have spoken about the sports and the spirit of the game. I remember having a small transistor radio as a teenager and listening to the commentary, we used to be so excited to hear the scores and the whole of neighborhood would be listening to the commentary, sports united us and we enjoyed not just listening but also talking about it. Thanks for sharing:)
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about radio commentary is commentators' descriptions of not just the games but also various other things around the stadium. It can be as entertaining as the game.
DeleteFor some reason that I never deciphered, I never took interest in sports and games though I played basketball for some time in my youth for reasons of maintaining health. This cricket frenzy is something I have never understood. I always thought of it as a rather silly game.
ReplyDeleteHi Tomi - Perfectly understandable that you aren't interested in sports and games. Glad to know you did play basketball though. Good choice for exercise, because it really sweats you out. Well, regarding, it's more than a sport, at least here in India!
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