David Surveys Petit Seminaire Premise

14/01/2009

Puducherry, Jan 8: It was a pleasant evening and the ride from Chennai to Puducherry went on smoothly. We reached Pondy (as this city is commonly known) by 10 pm and quickly settled down to catch up some sleep with great expectations of a morning where three out of the five schools were lined up for their tryst with hockey.
The morning was busy, with our host and local Project Coordinator of the One Thousand Hockey Legs, Mr Manickam, hurriedly transporting the sticks and other equipment to the schools. Despite the busy schedule, he refused to relent and squeezed in time to take us to his place and the Lady of the house served us a sumptuous three-course breakfast that included some unforgettable south Indian delicacies.

It was time to roll our sleeves and begin our journey into the realms of unknown with great expectations. Anything to do with little children always evoked strong sentiments and it was no different this time. The only dampener was the unusual slight drizzle at this time of the season but we treaded forward and our host assured that we were 20 minutes early. The drizzle continued and we reached the popular school on the MG road. Petit Seminaire is a well-known destination for the parents to seek admission in this prestigious school and once in, the kids are proud of their admission and the saga goes on.

First we met Mr Jayakumar, the Physical Education teacher, who presented a tall picture with his intimidating mustache. But behind the big face, there was a humble man who was all ears to the new project and was eager to start the hockey team. Then joined the respected Chemistry sir and finally we met Rev Fr Principal, a dedicated sports-lover. We had a brief but interesting discussion about sports but he looked worried with the drizzle refusing to give us a break. Arrangements were made for the morning assembly and with the clock ticking away, the disciplinarian decided to hold the assembly in the indoor auditorium. However, the drizzle miraculously stopped and the Chemistry sir prevailed as he already made everything ready for the outdoor assembly which would provide the entire school to witness the little but significant ceremony of presenting the hockey sticks to the school and its induction into the One Thousand Hockey Legs Project. Ultimately, the drizzle failed to dampen the spirit of the hockey lovers and the Gods relented as hockey took centre-stage.

And on the dot, the assembly began with a solemn prayer song and the whole congregation of children singing with one voice evoked a sense of calm and peace. The rhythm and the discipline with which the assembly unfurled was a tale that tells about the dedication of the teachers and the staff in maintaining the culture and tradition of the school that made it one of the best in this Union Territory. The chemistry sir took over from the school leader and in his typical articulate style, detailed the purpose of the OTHL project and urged the children to utilize this chance to take up hockey. ``Hockey is being introduced by Hockey Citizens Group in the schools of the major metropolitan cities in India and Puducherry is lucky to cross their minds,'' he whispered and said that the goal is to create 500 players, that is 1000 hockey legs and said 50 would be from our school. ``They would provide the sticks and other equipment free of cost but we have to produce players and play dedicated hockey to bring back the glory for our country,'' he mused. He introduced me to the children saying: ``David, has been a writer for almost two decades but he is also a qualified hockey coach who has represented his university during his playing days.'' Fr Principal honoured both the representatives of Hockey Citizen Group and then 20 hockey sticks were presented to Fr Principal and later were distributed to the school children.

I was asked to speak for two minutes and I exhorted the students to work hard and be sincere in whatever they do to achieve success.
``You are future citizens of India, and only hard work and dedication will bring you success. I will give you examples of two great men who became big because of their hard work. Ambedkar, the father of Indian Constitution had a big family and during his childhood had to be awake till 12 o clock as there was not enough space in the small hut for the 12 family members to sleep. So his father decreed that six would sleep till midnight and then the other six would sleep from midnight. During this period when they were forced to sit cuddled in one corner, Ambedkar chose to walk till the end the street and preferred to study under the street lamp. He read almost all the books in the world is a later-day story. Likewise, Dhyan Chand was a soldier in Indian army. But his exploits in hockey ultimately got him the rank of a major. But not before he worked hard to get there. The father of hockey used to finish all his parades and chores before he retires for the day and used to practice under moon light. Thus Dhyan Singh came to be known as Dhyan Chand. I also explained the past glory of Indian Hockey which brought eight Olympic gold medals and urged the children to take up hockey and show dedication and perseverance. ``I want students of this school to play for India in the future, I concluded.

First session: We returned to the school in the evening for the practice session and I was overwhelmed by the response. About 40 children turned up for the session and the PD tried in vain to send back many a kid. We had an introduction in the class room where the basics were taught. First it was the spirit with which the game has to be played. The kids were also told about the importance of not getting injured and not injuring their teammates and opponents. It was stressed that: Sportsmanship is the primary objective.

Then after a brief warm-up session, the boys were taught the correct grip and were explained about the different strokes like stop, push, hit, dribble. But the practice session concentrated on the right grip and elementary rules of holding a stick to make it a potent weapon.

After about 45 minutes, the session abruptly ended with rain gods opening up the skies but the session was almost over but the best present from the school was the joy that was unmistakable from on the faces of the kids when they were allowed to hold the hockey stick.