Nurungukal....contd...

                It was by chance I got into the hockey and cricket teams of the college. In my school I have not played these two games. Those days football and ball badminton were my favourites. Because of the high velocity of the wind on the Pokkunnu hill badminton can not be played. I had played for the school in many tourneys,especially badminton. The Union club in Ponnani conducted an annual tourney of ball badminton. Shuttle cock was not a popular game.Teams from different places participated, and many expert players took part. Most popular were from Talassery  and Coimbatore. Kerala players wore shirt and dhothi were as Tamilians preferred shirt and pants. There was one player from Calicut who was an expert in judging the ball falling outside. My eldest brother used to crack a joke on this. In one game when a ball left by this player fell inside, he demanded to measure the court and it was found one inch lengthier!!. Similarly another player was so good in sending the ball high up in the sky, and on one occasion it never came back!!. A Tamilian was so good in swinging the ball so that it will take a tangent flight outside the court deceiving the opposite player. One year we played with a senior team but lost in straight sets. But it gave us more confidence to face other school teams.

                  But in college the intention of joining games was totally different!. There were two benefits. First was that after the game the players can enjoy a tasty biriyani from Komala Bhavan Hotel or at least a masala dosai, depending on the funds the college had. Second and the most attractive reason was that we can skip the after noon classes and can enjoy an absorbing game.If the match is in another college we can make use of the opportunity to acquaint with more friends. Also a  sport man has always an edge in becoming an hero in the campus life. But apart from all this the positive side was that we could develope a creative mind set. Similarly the training that we got being an NCC cadet imbibed a high level of discipline and confidence in facing difficult situations in our future life. More than the academic gains, I think the experience I gathered as a sportsman and an NCC cadet has helped me a smooth sail in my  carrier as a manager and in social life.