The Korean beating retreat

The Koreans sink to the ground. The Singhs and the Tirkeys hug each other. The victory roars at the packed stadium merge in a de-stressing knoll.


What had got people to Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, on a Monday? The success of a film based on Indian hockey; the presence of a glamorous Sunil Shetty; the fact that team India’s performance at Asia Cup will give them a ticket to the Beijing Olympics; or the clash against the unsparing Koreans?

Well, a curry of reasons — like a long lost love for the so-called national game, fascination for the Tirkeys and the Singhs, among others. The stadium saw people waking up from a slumber — that of Pakistan trampling Singapore 8-0 at the Asia Hockey Cup tournament earlier that evening — to a bunch of Korean players warming up on the turf under floodlights.

I notice a Korean family walk past the spectators’ stands. A couple with a child; the man holding their flag, his partner carrying a drowsy four-year-old. Suddenly, a Korean player shouts something on the field. To this, the little girl raises her head, forgetting her nap, clapping and chuckling till she disappears into a minority. She had to cheer for ‘‘her own”. Very much like the others at the stadium; a small Sikh gathering had joined the Chennaiites in cheering ‘‘their own” – the sole sardarji and a ‘‘somewhat- Tamil” chap in the Singapore team – in Punjabi and Tamil, giving suggestions – flung across, hockey style, to the losing team during the Singapore-Pak match.

Prabhjot Singh had hardly eked out a few scoops steering, stealing and snorting when the stadium heard its first organised ensemble of cymbals and drums. No, that can’t be the Indians, I guiltily grumble. We realise it’s a group of Korean people coordinating the flag-waving and the rhythms. They were the only source that provided inspiration to the Koreans that evening.The Koreans sink to the ground. The Singhs and the Tirkeys hug each other. The victory roars at the packed stadium merge in a destressing knoll. But who’s that? An 80-something man, from the spectators’ stand, is running around with a gong. An army of tirangawallas are trailing him.

Forget the drums. This is not bad for a good restart.

copyright: The New Indian Express