Monday, July 27, 2009

Sportswomen in India

There are very few female sports persons from India who have gained worldwide prominence. And in the case of Sania Mirza, one would have to admire the acclaim and recognition that she has received. Sania is the very first female player from the country to be ranked in inside the women’s top 100 on the WTA Tour rankings. She reached upto 27. She became the first Indian woman to win any grand slam event. And though as of late she has fallen down the rankings, she has to be admired for being viewed as a role model for others in the country. If we look for famous female sports persons in India then she is not he first and never the last one, however she is among the most talked about sports person in India.
According to me P.T. Usha has been the most famous female sports person in India. People of my generation have grown up listening about her. In the 1986 Seoul Asiad, she created new Asian Games records in all the events she participated. The Payyoli Express is one of the greatest athletes India has ever produced. Like Anil Kumble Circle in Bangalore, there is a road named after her in Cochin, P.T. Usha Road.
There are many more famous female sports persons in India. Saina Nehwal is one such lady. She is currently ranked number 6 in the world badminton female rankings. She scripted history on June 21 2009, becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament after clinching the Indonesia Open. She has been named The Most Promising Player in 2008 and India too has hopes in her. Aparna Popat is ranked amongst the finest badminton players in the world. She has been winning the senior national title since 1998. Shikha Tandon is another such promising sports person. Though she has not made much splash uptil now, she has great potential to perform well for India. She was awarded Arjuna award in 2005.
Anju Bobby George made history when she won the bronze medal in Long Jump at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris. With this achievement, she became the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal in a World Championships in Athletics. She was once ranked World No. 4 of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). In Chess also India has a few great female sports persons. Humpy Koneru is currently number two in the world for women. In shootings, we have Anjali Bhagwat. She was awarded the Arjuna award in 2000 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2002-03.
Karnam Malleswari, also a Khel Ratna awardee, won a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney, which made her the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. In 1995, Malleswari won the world weightlifting title in her class (54 kg) with a new record. Dola Banerjee is a cousin of the singers Shaan and Sagarika. She became world champion in archery by winning the gold medal in the women's individual recurve competition at the archery world cup held at Dubai, in November 2007. Joshna Chinappa was the first Indian girl to win the British Squash Championship title in 2003 and was also the youngest Indian women's national champion.
We have many great women cricketers too, the Tendulkars and Dravids. Mithali Raj, trained in Bharata Natyam, was the captain of the Indian women's cricket team. Jhulan Goswami is an all round cricketer who is currently the Indian Women's cricket team captain. She bowls at an unbelievable speed of 130-135 km/h, which is even on par with the male counterparts. She won the ICC Women's Player of the Year 2007.
The list of great Indian female sports persons is endless. Bachendri Pal was the first Indian woman to scale the Mount Everest, and the fifth woman in the world. Even the famous Nafisa Ali was a national swimming champion. Some one has said it so correct that “Sure God created man before woman. But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece.” I suppose Indian sports’ masterpiece is coming out now.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Ludo – I still remember

Last week I was at my native place. While I was searching for my old school diaries in an old box, just to get a little nostalgic about my school days, I found something very very interesting. I stumbled upon an old torn board of Ludo. Yes Ludo, that game which we used to play so very often. We never used to let a single evening of our summer vacations pass without a round of it. Whenever some uncle or aunt used to visit us, our parents used to instruct us to play a game of Ludo with their children. I remember once playing it even with my ‘strict’ grand-father; I played the whole game in utter discipline which was never my usual self.
Ludo, for those of you who have heard of it for the first time, is a simple board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens ‘goti’ from start to finish according to dice rolls. Some know it by its cousin ‘Pachisi’. Pachisi has a history dating back to the 6th century.


A Ludo board is normally a square marked with a cross. Each arm of the cross is divided into three columns, with the columns divided into usually six squares. The centre of the cross is the finishing square which is often divided into four coloured triangles. Each coloured triangle is combined with a coloured middle column appears as an arrow pointing to the finish. The shaft of each arrow is a player's "home column" and is five squares long. My favourite was red as it used to get the first chance to throw the dice.
To the left of each home column, one square from the edge of the board is a starting square, also coloured. During game play a piece moves from its starting square, clockwise around the perimeter of the board, and up the player's home column to the finishing square. In the space to the left of each arm is a circle or square to hold a player's pieces before they are allowed into play. Huhh, that much of an explanation!! We were the ‘experts’ of it. We used to make several rules and many a times break them too.
Usually, at the start of the game, the player's four pieces are placed in the start area of their colour. Players take it in turn to throw a single dice. A player must first throw a six to be able to move a piece from the starting area onto the starting square. In each subsequent turn the player moves a piece forward 1 to 6 squares as indicated by the dice. When a player throws a 6, the player may bring a new piece onto the starting square, or may choose to move a piece already in play. It was very pleasing to watch the face of the player who had all four of his pieces inside and he was throwing the dice waiting for a 6.
If a player's piece lands on a square containing an opponent's piece, the opponent's piece is captured and returns to the starting area. We wanted all our moves to land at such places. Once a piece has completed a circuit of the board it moves up the home column of its own colour. The winner is the first player to get all four of his pieces onto the home square.
We had some special rules like if a player's piece lands on another of his own pieces; they are doubled and form a "block" which cannot be passed by any opponent's pieces. Doubled pieces may move half the number if an even number is thrown. A doubled piece may capture another doubled piece. Ahh!! That’s called a ‘Double Bonanza’.
Ludo may seem pretty lame to most people, but when played with proper strategy it would be very absorbing. Another game, usually comes packaged with Ludo, is Snakes and Ladders. It is also as engrossing as Ludo. Here the cells are numbered from 1 to 100 and a player has to tread through it. The players would meet several ladders and snakes in between. And that adds the spice to the game.


I have spent much of my childhood playing Ludo and thus I got very sentimental about it. I immediately rushed out to buy a new one. Though it was difficult to find one, I found it at last at a small shop around a km from my home. It was a feeling of bliss when I found it. I did not buy it just to play it again, but to recall those happy days when we used to play and fight over it. I bought it because it reminds me of my childhood days. I bought it since it teaches that the game depends just on the turn of the dice but still we fought over it, so very similar to life. It teaches me about life, its true nature.