 "The playing fields of India")
NATION AT PLAY A HISTORY OF SPORT IN INDIA
Author: Ronojoy Sen
Publisher: Penguin/Viking
Pages: 382
Price: Rs 599
India, at the core, is a sports-watching nation rather than a -playing one. So it is not surprising that India's sporting history isn't filled with pages of triumph and achievements. The country has had its share of sporting heroes and memorable moments but by no stretch of imagination can we call India a sporting powerhouse. More than 100,000 people can come and watch Mohun Bagan take on bitter rivals East Bengal yet the standard of domestic football remains, quite frankly, embarrassing. In the last two decades, the sporting landscape has been dominated by one sport with glimpses of promise coming from other sports as well. Hockey had its golden era at the Olympics and there have been individual talents that come once every decade, but there isn't much history to write about when it comes to sport.
Yet, Ronojoy Sen has managed to write a compelling book on the history of competitive and professional sport in India because of his interesting take on the subject. "India's mostly failed love affair with sports provides as much insight into its society and culture as sports success does about other nations," he writes.
Cricket is a dominant figure in Nation at Play but some of the most enjoyable parts of the books are when Sen talks about other sports. The portions in which he talks about football clubs in Kolkata makes you wonder how and why India has actually struggled so much and for such a long time at the beautiful game. Sen quotes several old newspaper articles that actually take you back in time. It's certainly captivating to read about how the great pehalwan Dara Singh, who as Sen points out, was "a symbol of Indian masculinity" used to draw crowds in excess of 50,000 people, which had a tremendous impact on wrestling in India. Some of my favourite bits are where Sen talks about the history of wrestling and boxing in India.
Fans often refer to the 1983 World Cup win as the watershed moment for Indian cricket, and that it is true to a certain extent because that victory brought money into the game. But as Sen correctly writes that it was 1971 that changed how India and Indians embraced cricket in a big way. As Ramachandra Guha - whom Sen quotes frequently - once called 1971 "the year that would mark Indian cricket's coming of age." Sen pertinently uses 1971 as a starting point to ask the most important question: "How did cricket become the dominant sport in India, and why did hockey and football, so popular in the 1950s and 1960s, gradually decline?"
Nation at Play is meticulously researched, though one might feel that there is a slight overdose of Bengal in the book. An entire chapter - and my favourite - is dedicated to football in Kolkata, and Sen talks about the maidans and the politics around them. Sen is selective when it comes to sports he chronicles but he does it with flair and without sermonising. Even when he - correctly -blames the abysmal standards of sports administrators in the country, Sen doesn't dwell much on the problems that plague Indian sport.
This is a book that tells us a lot about how India as a nation looks at sport and no matter how much things change, they remain the same. Sen's effort in bringing out historical aspects and unknown facts must be commended. Nation at Play is an important book because it examines the socio-economic context of sport. Sen quotes a line from Shehan Karunatilaka's engaging novel, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew: "Sport can unite worlds, tear down walls, and transcend race, the past, and all probability. Unlike life, sport matters." Nation at Play is an excellent reminder of that.
Author: Ronojoy Sen
Publisher: Penguin/Viking
Pages: 382
Price: Rs 599
India, at the core, is a sports-watching nation rather than a -playing one. So it is not surprising that India's sporting history isn't filled with pages of triumph and achievements. The country has had its share of sporting heroes and memorable moments but by no stretch of imagination can we call India a sporting powerhouse. More than 100,000 people can come and watch Mohun Bagan take on bitter rivals East Bengal yet the standard of domestic football remains, quite frankly, embarrassing. In the last two decades, the sporting landscape has been dominated by one sport with glimpses of promise coming from other sports as well. Hockey had its golden era at the Olympics and there have been individual talents that come once every decade, but there isn't much history to write about when it comes to sport.
Yet, Ronojoy Sen has managed to write a compelling book on the history of competitive and professional sport in India because of his interesting take on the subject. "India's mostly failed love affair with sports provides as much insight into its society and culture as sports success does about other nations," he writes.
Action from a match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal
Sen has taken on an extremely challenging task but thorough research makes the narrative interesting; he manages to grab your attention in almost every chapter. From tracing what and how sport was played in ancient times to how India became a one-sport country, Sen laces the book with brilliant anecdotes.Cricket is a dominant figure in Nation at Play but some of the most enjoyable parts of the books are when Sen talks about other sports. The portions in which he talks about football clubs in Kolkata makes you wonder how and why India has actually struggled so much and for such a long time at the beautiful game. Sen quotes several old newspaper articles that actually take you back in time. It's certainly captivating to read about how the great pehalwan Dara Singh, who as Sen points out, was "a symbol of Indian masculinity" used to draw crowds in excess of 50,000 people, which had a tremendous impact on wrestling in India. Some of my favourite bits are where Sen talks about the history of wrestling and boxing in India.
Fans often refer to the 1983 World Cup win as the watershed moment for Indian cricket, and that it is true to a certain extent because that victory brought money into the game. But as Sen correctly writes that it was 1971 that changed how India and Indians embraced cricket in a big way. As Ramachandra Guha - whom Sen quotes frequently - once called 1971 "the year that would mark Indian cricket's coming of age." Sen pertinently uses 1971 as a starting point to ask the most important question: "How did cricket become the dominant sport in India, and why did hockey and football, so popular in the 1950s and 1960s, gradually decline?"
Dhyan Chand
The real passion for the sport grew in 1971 when India beat England in a Test series away from home. What also helped was that Sunil Gavaskar - Sen calls him "the first real pan-India sport star after Dhyan Chand - made a splash on the cricketing scene. The popularity of cricket, as Sen notes, didn't hit a low even when India wasn't doing well at it pre-Independence or for almost two decades after Independence. Quoting India's second president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Sen writes, "like other symbols of British civilisation - the ballot box, the limited liability company and the revised version of Bible - cricket has come to stay in India."Nation at Play is meticulously researched, though one might feel that there is a slight overdose of Bengal in the book. An entire chapter - and my favourite - is dedicated to football in Kolkata, and Sen talks about the maidans and the politics around them. Sen is selective when it comes to sports he chronicles but he does it with flair and without sermonising. Even when he - correctly -blames the abysmal standards of sports administrators in the country, Sen doesn't dwell much on the problems that plague Indian sport.
This is a book that tells us a lot about how India as a nation looks at sport and no matter how much things change, they remain the same. Sen's effort in bringing out historical aspects and unknown facts must be commended. Nation at Play is an important book because it examines the socio-economic context of sport. Sen quotes a line from Shehan Karunatilaka's engaging novel, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew: "Sport can unite worlds, tear down walls, and transcend race, the past, and all probability. Unlike life, sport matters." Nation at Play is an excellent reminder of that.