The spirit of adventure

Hockey has always been my first love and playing the game has given me an unalloyed pleasure. The late 1960s would count as one of my most memorable years. I had just got into St. Joseph’s College to pursue my degree, and like every aspiring sportsman, I was keen to get the selectors nod. When I turned up at the trials, my hopes were dashed by a blatant show of politics and favouritism. However, Dame Fortune would soon smile on me!

I represented the Bangalore Muslims — a local club side in Frazer Town — comprising of a bunch of enthusiastic veterans and greenhorns. As luck would have it, we were drawn to lock horns against Josephites . I got in a goal, emerging victorious. The college principal, Father Sequeira, whose eyes were glued to the field, was impressed by my prowess. On learning that I was a Josephite, he lost no time in meeting me on the sidelines and implored me to join the college team at practice the next day.

The college team figured in a number of tournaments. Father Sequeira was an ardent sports lover. Once while participating in the M.G Srinivas Inter-Collegiate tournament in Mysore he promised a trip to Madras if we bagged the trophy. In a tough final, we managed to prevail over the Government College, Mercara, by scoring a solitary goal! In Madras, we lodged at the Loyola Christian College and played five exhibition matches against local college teams. The college had a cinema theatre exclusively for students and we were offered free tickets to the 6:30 pm show of the Hindi comedy film, “Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi”. Since some of the players found it hard to comprehend Hindi, five of us decamped to the Tamil film, “Palum Pazhamum” being screened at the newly opened Shanthi cinema for the late-night show. The ‘houseful’ board hung out in the front caused us major disappointment, but we refused to give up and after pleading with the manager that we are hockey players from Bangalore, our efforts were rewarded with five balcony seats reserved for VIPs.

However, the show ran into rough weather when the big screen curtains refused to go up. The repairs meant that the movie stretched into the wee hours. When we reached the college, locked gates and ferocious dogs greeted us. The watchman on duty turned a deaf ear to our pleas. The spirit of adventure got the better of us, and we scaled the compound wall and jumped in but had the onerous task of keeping the canines at bay. Suddenly a beam of a car flashlight appeared. It was the college principal escorting a sick student to the hospital. “Who are these boys and what are they doing at this hour?” he blurted out as the car disappeared down the driveway. He was unaware of the circus that we had performed to gain access to the inside of the compound. Cringing in our shoes we managed to reach the safety of our rooms.