Hockey: National Game on Death Row

Gen VK Singh launches Col Balbir’s autobiography. Tuesday, 29 May 2012 13:51
New Delhi: Indian Army Chief General V K Singh, on Monday launched the autobiography of 1968 Mexico Olympic medallist, Col. (Retd) Balbir Singh Kular in the city. Christened as ‘Sansarpur to London Olympics’, by 1968 Mexico Olympic medallist and current national selector Col. (Retd) Balbir Singh Kular becomes, first book to be available for both computer and mobile downloads.
Published by Indian Sports Books and by using the technological brilliance of handygo Techcnologies, this book attempts to reach out to Indian hockey fans world across through online and digital formats as well.
“Sansarpur to London Olympics”, co-authored by sports film maker Sunil Yash Kalra, is a unique book of personal memoir, with interesting compilation of stories, funny anecdotes, sensational revelations and heart-warming vignettes of his life in the Army and as a hockey player and coach. The book is a treasure-trove of rare photographs, some of which date back to the days of the ‘Wizard of Hockey’, Maj Dhyan Chand. In places it reads like a thriller, at others like an intimate autobiography. All in all a thunderously good read, almost unputdownable!
1968 Olympic medalist, Col Balbir Singh Kular hails from Sansarpur, a village in Punjab that has produced 14 Olympic medallists since 1932 US Olympics. Right from an early age, Col Balbir Singh was obviously marked for greatness; his upbringing at Sansarpur – the matrix of Indian hockey in the halcyon days of global supremacy – aided by his inimitable genes, burning desire to emulate his forefathers, and his induction into the Indian Army all combined to catapult him to stardom.
Gen VK Singh launches Col Balbir’s autobiography

Hockey India

Hockey has been our national game. All it needed to play, as I remember from my childhood days in our village was, a vacant ground, four bricks to define two goal posts a ball and sticks. We played hockey in school and as I remember huge crowds used to gather in numbers when Aligarh and Allahabd Universities teams fought battle royals on the green grass field. We played as cadets in IMA also, Cricket was boring to watch for which we were detailed on Sundays.

Hockey seems to have fallen to bad days, especially the women's hockey, with the coffers of Hockey India become empty. Sadly the champion women are practicing in Bhopal with black band on their arms and little money in their pockets.

They are seeking help from the Nation, have opened an account in Syndicate Bank Bhopal Account No 77052010002970 in the names of Surinder Kaur, Dipika Murty, Mamta Kharb and Subhadra Pradhan. Bank code: SYNB0007705, Syndicate Bank, TT Nagar Branch, 75, Malviya Nagar, Bhopal 462003.

Let us all get together to help our team with what ever amount we can spare, what ever, it will all add up.

Brig Lakshman Singh VSM (Retd)

Leadership Qualities, Governance and Hockey

From The Tribune, Chandigarh of 15 Jan 2010.
Rites of passage by Vijay Oberoi (click here)
A very nice story by Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi Retd.

You all might remember a few odd cases where some of our colleagues were indicted/ faced action for LMF or lack of moral fibre. Well, the very young hero of this tale seems to have a lot of MF as well as OLQ.

Two more items of interest from The Tribune, Chandigarh of 15 Jan 2010
Reform Governance and Rejuvinate Hockey (click me)
Regards,
Cdr K K Punchhi (Retd)

Shankar Lakshman: The Hockey Wizard of Maratha Light Infantry

Dev Kumar Vasudevan, narrates the story of Hony Captain Shankar Lakshman, a fauji who became a hockey legend and brought great laurels to India both in the Olympics and Asian games
Shankar Lakshman was born on July 7, 1933 in Mhow. He belonged to the Shekhawat community of Rajasthan. He played hockey at a time when the goalkeeper had only pads as a protective gear. He was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning hockey team in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. The other medals he won include the 1958 Asian Games gold medal (Tokyo), 1960 Olympics silver medal (Rome), 1964 Olympics gold medal (Tokyo) and the 1966 Asian Game Gold medal (Bangkok). He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1965 and the Padmashri in 1967. He was dropped from the Indian hockey team to the Mexico Olympics of 1968 and the decline of Indian hockey also began with that tournament.

His opponents called him the Rock of Gibraltar. According to the manager of the silver medal winning Pakistani hockey team of the ‘64 Tokyo Olympics, Shankar Lakshman was the sole obstacle between the Pakistani team and the gold medal. Lakshman was the first goalkeeper captain in the world. Just take a look at his stunning record. In three Olympic finals against Pakistan he conceded just one goal and in three Asian Games finals he conceded two goals. That makes it six matches and three goals. Charles Cornelius, the former Indian hockey player had once said of him “Lakshman was among the game’s greatest. He was an epitome of courage and a role-model for others of his ilk. Unfazed by any situation, he had the ability to defuse any crisis. His team-mates were at a loss to know how his pads grew broader and broader as the contest wore on.” Referring to his performance in the 1964 Hockey finals against Pakistan in Tokyo the Australian Hockey magazine Hockey Circle had said “...for Lakshman, the ball was the size of a football. It was his afternoon of glory and fame.” Lakshman had joined the Indian Army as a bandsman in 1947 at the tender age of 14 and served in the Maratha Light Infantry’s 5th Battalion. He had retired from the Army as a Subedar Major in 1978 and was awarded the rank of honorary captain. As luck would have it one of the battalions posted in Mhow at the time of his death was the 26th battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry- his funeral was conducted with full military honours by this battalion. It was an emotional experience not only for the townspeople of Mhow but also for the Army. The Maratha Light Infantry could bid goodbye to one of its most illustrious sons. Garrison Ground Mhow has been converted into a mini stadium by the Infantry School and has been named after him. The Infantry School Mhow has also instituted the Shankar Lakshman Hockey Championship Trophy. An apt honour for a son of Mhow. This trophy was won for the first time by the 26th Maratha Light Infantry. That is something which would have made him proud if he had been alive.
Dev Kumar Vasudevan is a freelance writer based at Mhow
Remembering Hony Captain Shankar Lakshman

Learning to Command

The Corps Commander Lt Gen J N Choudhry arrives to witness the Hockey Match.

How a young officer learns to command and grow on joining his first unit and the role of the seniors NCO,s and Jawans who help him in the process . One has to learn by watching, asking, and following.

NDA
Cadets were embodied as recruits and trained as such. (As cadets we would line up in NDA early every month, for what was known as Pay Parade and were handed over the princely some of Rs 16, that was the salary of a recruit those days, that too from the Rs 800 we were required to bring from home and deposit in NDA. However, they were also introduced to the graces considered necessary in officers; Dress, Table manners, Etiquette and so on.

IMA
I was totally bereft of any idea of how to manage, lead or deal with JCOs, NCOs and OR, my encounters, till now having being with the Drill JCO the PT NCO or the Weapon Training staff at IMA and a few of the same at School of Signals. Coupled with this was the awe of senior officer ranks. The Platoon Commander at IMA and the Group Officer at the School both a Captain the first and only contact with an officer looked a towering figure; any rank above was much beyond my vision.

Section Commander
As 2 I/C of Main wireless section, it was, for me, a period of growing up as an officer, the process of learning by watching Capt Sikand and doing what he directed me to do I somehow became totally dependent on his presence and felt a bit lost when he proceeded on annual leave leaving me to survive on my own.

Troops
My grateful thanks to the NCOs who held my hand during critical periods and help develop my self- confidence. Men are very discerning possibly my attitude willingness to learn respect for their experience and knowledge made them come forward. The Indian Soldier never lets down his officer but first, one has to win his confidence and respect in turn by respecting his experience and knowledge.

Technical Stores
The Main Wireless section or rather its store which also served as the Section office with a folding table (Table Tele) and two folding leather stool for the section Officer Commanding (OC) and the Second in Command that was me to sit across was located in a ramshackle barrack.

399 Radio Set Shelter
Six Ton Studybaker vehicle with PE95 Generator
The Section had a mix of about 15 or so mobile vehicle mounted 400 watt SCR 399 radio sets of US Army and the Command Vehicle High Power (CVHP) with the Radio Set RS 53, of British origin along with Command Vehicle Low Power (CVLP) with radio set 19 HP and a number of PE 95, 15 KVA generators and assorted charging engines for the secondary batteries held.

RS 53
RS 19 HP
RS 62
The section also held Radio sets like 19, 19 HP and 62. There was a bewildering array of equipment spares, accessories and tools to my inexperienced eyes making it worse with some on the racks and the rest piled up in a haphazard manner on the floor of the store. As a routine we were required to be in the section office after lunch and before the games parade doing nothing even if we wanted to do with all the men away possible cutting grass of performing some such non- technical but essential task under the Subedar Major. What I still remember with amusement is the picture of the Section Havaldar busy most of the time making Lists, lists after lists- of men of equipment of vehicles and whatever.

The Corps Troops Shooting Competition Gill, Saran, self sitting and Siddhu on Mic

Company Commander
The OC Company the most non- technical officer commanding the most technical company was always meticulously turned out both in uniform and civies, a former Adjutant of Signal Training Centre Jabalpore where he had the reputation of changing his stiffly starched uniform three times a day, stiff most of the time he would Blow Hot and Cold. Sadly his efforts generally ended with predictable results to run the Science and Physics classes of the Ionosphere with his stick. For him winning the Corps Troops drill or shooting competition was more important that being the requirement of the day than the on- going CEME inspection of the equipment with even the Radio mechanics required for maintaining and preparing the equipment taken away from the command of the section. Maj Siddhu the Company Commander, would address me as Lakshman when in good spirits and as Mr Lakshman Singh when in foul mood. 2nd Lt were then designated as Mr, but now an extinct tribe.

Brig Lakshman Singh VSM (Retd)

Comments: The old school of Generals in the Army were sportsmen and proficient in troops games which trickled down the chain of command. Games and sports fostered and built team spirit and lasting relationships. Sadly the interest in sports and games has diminished which is discernible from the media reports where defence teams are in the background. Now our arm chair Generals, in lighter vein, would prefer to be office bound rather than find time to play/ encourage/ witness troop games.