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What ails Indian hockey?
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Wit of the week I am a lion, Singla is a lamb…I will devour him. You just wait and see, these elections will be a one-sided affair. This time I will double my victory margin. — BJP candidate Navjot Singh Sidhu in the Amritsar Lok Sabha by-election
THIS ABOVE ALL Boosting the morale of
the jawans On Record
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What ails Indian hockey? WE have descended to the lowest possible level in hockey. Federation officials, coaches, selectors, and managers of the team have all pointed out our drawbacks and limitations. This writer feels that given good training, motivation and team work, we can transform a totally demoralised team to become winning champions again.
Despite protests from NIS Patiala, the hockey team was sent to Chandigarh for training under the Punjab government’s supervision. It is worth recalling today how a demoralised team won the World Cup in 1975. Good board and lodging for the players played an important role in motivating the players and boosting their morale. A new building for girls hotel had just come up in Punjab University campus. Vice-Chancellor R.C. Paul acceded to our request to accommodate the team in this building till the World Cup. The hostel was well furnished with carpeted rooms, geysers and a good dining hall. Food is always a very important factor. Players, after training, come back tired and hungry. Arrangements were made to help players sit and eat together to develop team spirit. No buffet meals. A well known caterer was appointed to serve quality food and in sufficient quantity. A fruit rehriwala provided fresh fruit juice right in the playground after the training/match. All of us associated with the team would frequently eat with the team. This was a good motivating factor for the team. Gianiji too visited the camp often. Surely, players must look up to the chief coach with respect and awe. Balbir Singh Senior, Joint Director, Sports, Punjab, was selected. Mr Gurcharan Singh Bodhi, a great hockey player of Punjab Police, became the Dy Chief Coach. Coaches, physical trainer, physiotherapist, instructors for yoga and meditation were appointed. From Chief Coach onwards, the entire team was accommodated in the same hostel. The PGI Chandigarh looked after the health of the team. Dr P. N. Chuttani, the then Director, would visit the team thrice a week. The Christain Medical College, Ludhiana, who had advanced equipment to measure fat, muscle mass and other parameters of the body, also chipped in. Their team would visit twice a week to assess the team’s fitness. Dr R.C. Paul welcomed the team to the university at a function. Players and officials were introduced to the faculty and the students. This created a very good camaraderie. From day one, there was a good bond between the players and the spectators. Bodhi was always present to supervise the training and impart finer touches of the game. Balbir’s presence was a great motivation. After a few weeks of coaching started match practice. To ensure perfect time schedule and avoid unnecessary travel, the country’s leading hockey teams were invited to Chandigarh itself for practice matches at the state government’s cost. To raise the players’ performance level, university students, including girls, would come in large numbers and watch the training, particularly the matches with outside teams. They would cheer the teams during practice matches. Girls had their favourite players and proved to be big motivators. In their presence, every one wanted to give out his best. It was not uncommon to see both the girls and the players engaged in good and healthy tete-a-tete. Their evenings thus became interesting and rejuvenating. Behind the university was a deep sandy bed. This became a good training ground. Trainees were made to run in thick sand and play other games like volley ball, basketball etc for physical fitness. A national team is generally made to play a few exhibition matches before leaving for the international tournament. This interfered with their routine. During such matches, they get poor board and lodging, making them weak and tired before leaving the country. Despite requests from the IOA and State Hockey Associations, no such match was allowed. On the appointed day, the team left Chandigarh in a special bus for Delhi. They stayed in Kapurthala House (Punjab Government Guest House), and then proceeded to the airport. Students, particularly girls, cheered and saw them off. During the tournament, Balbir handled the team exceedingly well. In the league stage, we lost a match to Argentina. That day Balbir went to the market, bought sufficient beer, sat down with the team to share their disappointment and get them ready for the next match. On the day of the final match, he took the team to a temple, gurdwara, mosque and church before going to the venue. It was the same demoralised Teheran team which won the World Cup 1975 defeating Pakistan 2-1 in the finals. A huge crowd greeted the victorious team at the airport. Gianiji insisted that the team first go to Chandigarh where it was duly honoured by him. Dr R.C. Paul welcomed them in the Senate Hall and honoured them. The senate hall was overcrowded with faculty and students. The team members visited various district headquarters where enthusiastic public offered them garlands and presents. Gianiji made Balbir a full-fledged Director of Sports after the World Cup. This writer recently spoke to Ajit Pal Singh, Captain and Harvinder (Brig. H.J.S. Chimney) and many others to know what helped them to regain confidence and win the World Cup. They were very nostalgic about the camp even though it was over 30 years ago. They attributed their success to two crucial factors — the presence of a towering personality like Balbir; and good board and lodging. A reasonably long training camp is also necessary for making the team ship shape and promote good teamwork. Health care too is important. Facilities for quick recovery from the injuries will give the players great mental ease and comfort. Appropriate training facilities and respect for the players and the coaches can motivate the team to deliver the goods. Owing to synthetic surface of the hockey grounds, tactics have changed over the years. However, other factors for success remain the same today. In the first World Cup in 1971 we stood third; in 1973 second and in 1975 we were the champions. Since then, baring Moscow Olympics in 1980, we are no where. Before we can expect our team to give its best, the Indian Hockey Federation, the managers and the coaches have to give their best to them. A former IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, the writer was the Director of Sports in 1974-75
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Profile NOmination of her controversial film, Water, for Oscar is a rare honour for Canada-based Indian filmmaker, Deepa Mehta. The movie becomes the third Indian film after Mother India and Lagan, to have made it to the nomination list of the world’s most coveted film award. One hopes that Water becomes the first Indian film to win an Oscar as it competes with Wedding (Denmark), Days of Glory (Algeria), The Lives of Others (Germany) and Pany’s Labyrinth (Mexico). Deepa had to shoot the film in Sri Lanka with a new star cast. Originally, the film was launched in 2000 with Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das and Akhsay Kumar. “I can’t believe that a film, which was shunned by a section of Indian politicians and ripped apart six years ago, has come so far…”, an overjoyed Deepa said. Completed in 2003, Water is a heart-wrenching tale of Indian widows in the 1930s. The story revolves round the plight of widows, who were brought to Varanasi in thirties and among them was an eight-year old girl. Still a child, she did not know why her head was shaved and why she was not allowed to laugh. Innocently, she once posed the question: “where is the house of men widows?” The story then depicts various facets of a widow’s miserable life in the holy city. One does not know if Deepa is still on the hit list of the Sangh Parivar. She had evoked the wrath of Shiv Sena in December 1998 too when Shivsainiks in Mumbai unabashedly attacked cinema halls screening her another controversial movie, Fire. Their complaint was the film, having lesbianism as its theme, was denigration of the Hindu culture. While Fire could be completed and only its screening was obstructed, the shooting of Water was disrupted at the very beginning . Yet another film of Deepa Mehta, Earth, also made a mark. Premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 1998, Earth is about partition of India and Pakistan as seen through the eyes of a young girl. With the shooting of Water, she has completed her trilogy, Earth, Fire and Water, the three elements that can create or destroy but she met with an immovable obstacle, the Sangh Parivar and its front organisations. She is known to be a stubborn woman and adversaries in her personal life have made her strong willed. It is believed that her films often reflect her personality, her struggle in life, failure and success. Deepa Mehta, 50, was born in Amritsar. She got higher education in Delhi. She obtained Masters degree in philosophy from the prestigious Lady Sri Ram College. She was barely 21 when she met a TV producer Paul Saltzmann, fell in love, married him and immigrated to Canada. It was at this point that her career as scriptwriter and a producer began. She embarked upon her film career writing scripts for children’s films and worked as an editor, producer and director. Her marriage failed and as she said in various interviews later, “I have always considered myself a very liberal person. And when I was going through my divorce, it was everything in me. I mean, I suddenly found myself — may be its the racial memory or something that somehow I was being diminished as a woman, because I was — I did not want to be in a marriage. Because as an Indian woman, that is your life; you get married; you get married forever. And just those things started happening in my head, started playing within me and that’s when I started writing Fire in fact.” It was a long road of self-discovery that led Deepa to make this film which is considered as a deeply personal screenplay. Fire has been applauded and received awards internationally. Mehta has a daughter, Devyani. She wrote her scripts at the kitchen table in her Toronto house in the company of her daughter. With the break up of marriage began her quest for love and its varied forms. She was desperately in search of her roots and this brought her again and again to India, visiting Delhi’s parks and colonies and the placid banks of the Ganga in Varanasi. She has now found her roots as she hits international headlines. |
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If all exporters paid their taxes, and if we were to go and tell Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to constitute a fund that will be used to provide breakfast and lunch to 35 million schoolchildren at Rs 10 a meal, and if the government were to make a matching grant, we would have Rs 32,000 crore to bring more children to school. Some of the best books ever written have never enjoyed commercial success. William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience sold only five copies in his lifetime. When I wrote Midnight’s Children, the publisher did not pay for the launch party. He only gave me 50 pounds for the wine. The rest came from a friend who owned an art gallery. I feel very lucky to have lived only by my pen since the age of 34. Humans have much to learn from chimpazees. They should learn how to resolve disputes from them. The world will be less violent then. Ganguly was superb as he carved the Windies bowling as only he can. If this knock doesn’t prove that there was injustice done to him in omitting him from the limited overs squad, then nothing will. |
THIS ABOVE ALL All of them have the gift of the gab but he is more forthright, logical, lucid and gives chapter and verse of the sacred texts he quotes from: his memory is truly phenomenal. He draws large crowds which listen to his discourses in rapt attention. He was born in 1922 in an affluent Brahmin land-owning family of Mangarh, a village 60 miles from Allahabad and given the name Ram Kripalu. He received his
preliminary education in Hindi and Sanskrit in the local school. To the best of my information he speaks no other language besides these two. He went on to study advanced Sanskrit and Ayurveda in Indore and Varanasi and spent a year or more around Chitrakoot — evidently studying the Vedas, Upanishads, the epics and Bhakti literature. When he emerged from his self-imposed banbas and began to take part in meetings of Sanskrit scholars in different cities including Varanasi, people were amazed by his perfect pronunciation of slokas and the facile way he quoted sources without referring to any books. When he read something, it remained etched in his memory. He began to acquire admirers in increasing numbers. Today his devotees number go into the thousands across the Hindi-speaking heartland of India. In the 80s, Kripaluji is a tall, ram-rod erect figure with curly hair and aquiline features. He is a married man with sons and daughters. Besides giving discourses he has set up two modern well-equipped hospitals: one in Mangarh and another near Vrindaban. Despite preaching the divine power of healing, he provides all that modern methods of diagnosis and medicines to the poor free of charge. Despite the esoteric terminology of what Kripaluji has to say about the existence of God, purpose of life and after-life, he is down to earth and comprehensible to the skeptic and the non-believer. It is summed up in Philosophy of Divine Love, published by the Sadhna Bharan Trust, Mangarh. Poetic musings These days I read a lot of poetry, Urdu and English. A few couplets of Ghalib over and over again, and a few pages of latter-day English poets from an updated Palgrave’s Golden Treasury. Often I don’t understand what they are saying. My eyes go over the words while my mind wonders away on its own. I have to bring both into focus. Poets of both languages have more to say about love, liquor and death than other subjects. I go along with them as I also believe they have pre-occupied my mind more than other worldly pursuits like politics, violence, corruption or the state of my bank balance. Sitting by the fire on a chilly evening I was idly turning over the pages of Palgrave’s Golden Treasury. The poems are in chronological order: older poets like Shakespeare and Milton come first, living and recent poets come last. I prefer reading them backwards from the present to the past. My generation of poets tend to be obscure so that I often found myself going over the words without imbibing their meaning. Suddenly, I woke up as I read the first two lines of Philip Larkin’s (1922-1980) poem Aubade which means hymn to the dawn: I work all day, and get Waking at four to soundless Was Larkin writing about me? That’s what I did yesterday work from dawn to dusk and
imbibed two hefty drinks — a Patiala peg followed by a Parsi. I felt somewhat fuzzy in the head when I went to bed. As usual, I woke at 4 am to a soundless dark and stared out of my window on a world fast asleep. Lines that followed were also in line with my thoughts: …. I stare In time the curtain edges will grow light Arid interrogation yet the dread As far as I am concerned, the idea of death is not as horrifying as the process of dying. It is the pain and whining that usually accompanies dying that bothers me. I have tried to overcome it by meditation, and at times prayers which are believed to help one to face death boldly. They have not worked. I quote Larkin: That is a special way of being afraid A few lines further one put it bluntly: I read Aubade over and over again till I got the full implication of Larkin’s message and felt at peace with myself. Crazy inventions Waterproof towel; Solar powered torch; A book on - How to read? Padal-powered wheel chair; Umbrella with holes to see whether it is raining or not. (Contributed by Naveen
Laiker, Ludhiana)
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Boosting the morale of
the jawans As India celebrated Republic Day on Friday, two issues need to be addressed urgently. A leadership in the country loath to finding political solutions to outstanding issues of civil governance leading to an over tasking of the Army, and the morale and material wellbeing of the officers, the jawans and their families. In a democracy, governments will have to govern for the overall good of its subjects including the guardians of the frontier whose performance in the line of duty has outshone the police and the paramilitary forces. Yet a resolve leading to a political settlement of an all exclusive politico-related problem has deluded the country’s leadership. The final solution in Jammu and Kashmir can only be through a political settlement. Endless rounds of talks with Pakistan and the Hurriyat while promoting other Kashmiri splinter groups which might be temporarily on the government’s side is surely not facing the fact squarely. Political options have often been spelt out, but will the Prime Minister pick up courage and try either of these so that the people of Jammu and Kashmir do not bleed to death? In Nagaland, Assam, Manipur and much of the northeast, a political solution is needed. As the Army is preoccupied with tackling the ULFA, Bodo and foreigners’ ingress from Bangladesh, these affect its operational preparedness and training for a war on the borders. The misuse of internal security dispensation by all political parties in power calls for the framing of a directive on national security which lays down that internal security operations by the Indian Army can only be permitted under grave circumstances. Of late, cases of suicide and shooting in units and ill-discipline by troops at police stations and public places have increased. Though this cannot be condoned, these are manifestations of a soldiery which feels that it is not getting its due despite its orderly and disciplined approach. The arrears of the Fourth Pay Commission to all affected officers have not been paid so far even after a favourable ruling by the Kerala High Court in the Major Dhanapalam case. A separate Pay Commission for the defence forces as in other countries is a pressing need. More reservations in educational institutions for the soldiers’ wards, a National Commission for Ex-Servicemen, family pension for service widows who get married, making good the shortfall of nearly 13,000 officers in the Army, and 100 per cent housing for the families of officers and jawans in peace stations are measures that should have been long implemented. Frustration is bound to set in if a jawan cannot get leave to go home to his village and sort out a land dispute or civil case. The policy on women’s entry into the Army too needs a relook. The Army should run specialist courses for its junior leaders and take a fresh look at the manpower aspect. The paramilitary and police should do their job fully, leaving the Army free to carry on its own business of winning the next war whenever it is thrust upon us. |
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On Record
Excerpts: Q: How do you feel being conferred the honour by the President? A: It is a great honour. Indians go to the UK, the US for a better life. However, I was keen on serving my country. Q: Have you achieved your life’s mission? A: The mission in life is never accomplished...one only keeps on achieving milestones. When I left India, there were no enough opportunities. President Kalam has given us the path of achieving Vision 2020 by PURA (providing urban facilities in rural areas). I am making my humble contribution towards that end. Q: Is the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas more of a mela than a place for serious exchange of business ideas? A: The three-day event is a good experience to mingle with other overseas Indians, talking to the ministers and other decision-makers. Consider how overseas Indians have contributed to the country’s economic growth. Narayana Murthy of Infosys is a great example in the IT sector. In telecom, Sam Pitroda started the PCO revolution. Others followed suit and India is now world’s fastest growing telecom sector. Q: What about GoI’s plan to give political rights to NRIs only and not to PIOs? A: Voting rights can be given to NRIs who continue to hold Indian passports. It cannot be extended to others as they are citizens of other countries. Citizens living in the US, UK and other countries get a chance to exercise their franchise in the elections. Q: What about your Taxila Trust to run a school and a college in your native village, Sanghol near Chandigarh? What is your plan in Punjab? A: This educational complex will become a deemed university this year. We plan to start MBA, hotel management and other courses. We would also provide training in vocational courses and help in the growth of the rural economy. Q: You have a chain of five hotels and franchise of global brands like Ramada and Holiday Inn International. Is there any plans in India? A: We have a project to develop in five years budget hotels in India and are looking for suitable sites. India with its vast tourism potential and growing economy has immense potential for the sustenance of budget hotels. Q: Your family had migrated from Pakistan during Partition. How do you see the resolution of the Kashmir imbroglio? A: Ireland was divided along religious lines in 1921 between Protestants and Catholics. Pakistan was created along the same religious lines. The lesson is that communities divided along religious lines do not work. They have not worked in Africa, Cyprus and other places. Natural borders, and not artificial borders, last forever. There is a big difference between the Irish problem and Kashmir. Here, Pakistan is helping terrorists. It must change its attitude in solving the Kashmir problem. India, with its message of pluralism, has a lot to offer to the world which, in turn, has to learn from India to live in peace amid diversity. Q: Punjab is facing the issue of run-away grooms. Any steps from your side to provide legal protection and help brides exploited by some overseas Indians? A: It is a social problem and it must be resolved by parents themselves by being vigilant and taking enough precautions before getting her daughter married to a fly- by-night overseas Indian. By failing to do our duty, we try to blame it on the system and others. Some overseas Indians are influenced by the culture in which they live and Indian parents and girls lured by the prospect of going abroad fail to do their duty of checking the boys’ antecedents. Parents will have to do their duty properly.  |
May we light the fire of Nachiketa, that burns out the ego and enables us, to pass from fearful fragmentation, to fearless fullness in the changeless whole. Beware of a general who has a hidden agenda. He will not fight for your cause, your cause is merely the means for him to achieve his own objective. He can abandon your cause as easily as he adopted it. There is a field beyond right and wrong. Come, I will meet you there. Enjoy God’s love, dear one! while youth is fresh and buoyant.
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We lost to Pakistan in hockey finals in 1974 Asian Games. It was a demoralised team that returned from Teheran in Sept 1974. This writer was Secretary, Department of Sports, Punjab. The then Chief Minister Giani Zail Singh announced that Punjab would take the responsibility of coaching, board and other arrangements for the entire team till 1975 World Cup, which was a few months away. This was very well received. He had also called on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who asked him to go ahead.
Few may be knowing that Water was shot secretly in Sri Lanka as Deepa’s original plan to make it on the famed Ghats of Varanasi had to be aborted following violent protests by the VHP and Shiv Sena activists. Protesters burnt down the film’s sets and Shivsainiks threatened immolation if she went ahead with the film.
I am a lion, Singla is a lamb…I will devour him. You just wait and see, these elections will be a one-sided affair. This time I will double my victory margin.
Sidhu is a bhonku (a barking dog) who only knows how to shout. Let the poll day come and he will know who is the lamb and who is the lion.
I hope Fidel Castro lives another 80 years. I hope he lives another 100 years, but Fidel Castro is one of those men who will never die. He is like Che Guevera, the immortal
Che.
I’m in. And I’m in to win. As a Senator, I will spend two years doing everything in my power to limit the damage George Bush can do. But only a new President will be able to undo Bush’s mistakes and restore our hope and optimism. 
ON January 14, which happened to be Makar Sakranti, about 10 million people took an early morning dip in the chilly waters at the Sangam of the Ganga and Yamuna at Allahabad. Further downstream at Varanasi, Kripaluji was formally installed as the Fifth Jagadguru. The media did not cover the event. I mention it as of the two dozen men and women who appear regularly on TV channels to give discourses on spiritual matters I find what Kripaluji has to say makes more sense to a non-believer like me than others.