Games People Play

 What are the games I have played? Well, I was in the cricket team at my school, Hyderabad Public School. I also swam in a relay race once in Osmania University College of Engineering.

I have also tried Hockey, Volleyball, Basketball and Tennis, apart from Tennis.  We played a lot of Bridge when I was growing up. And a lot of Badminton. 

Now, I play Golf when I get a partner to play with. The last time was at Kodaikanal with Vijayakumar and Dhanapal. I also like to train unsuspecting people- students, faculty, friends, relatives- in the basics of Golf. Sohni Roy, a colleague in Prestige University, and some faculty at NMIMS Bangalore (Tanmeet, Alisha, Prerona) were my victims, along with lots of students, and some alumni. Also my international friend, Veronica, who visited Prestige Indore to teach a course, along with Snehal Singh, visiting faculty. And Natasha, a visiting friend.

Sohni Roy above, and Snehal Singh, top.

My brother in the U.S. learnt and then taught Hapkido, a Korean martial art. We all were inspired by Bruce Lee and Kung Fu at one time! I have also watched live some Kalaripayattu performances in Kerala when I worked at IIM Kozhikode. And American Football at Clemson University while studying there. 

We invented the game of Frisbee Footer- where you pass a Frisbee and score goals- at IIMB out of necessity, because we had no facilities yet for any other games. And had a Frisbee!

 

Sports Tournament

 Our Undergraduate students Sports Club kicked off their first tournament after a long time! Started with basketball, which was fun to watch. Mixed teams ensured that girls played too, and a referee was also a girl. Great to see some sports action. Pics from today's game...

Game of Drones

Looking at the immense popularity of GOT, I decided that I will launch the following games (patents pending)-

GOD, or the Game of Drones. This will consist of 5 really boring lectures, to be given by human drones. Whoever stays awake through the droning, wins. He could go to the International edition, where he will be subjected to global bores, to really test his listening skills.

GOS, Game of Stones. This will be played with coloured stones, some of which will be precious, and some not. The game consists of guessing correctly, which is which. Women players will have to pay the price for guessing wrongly, by buying the fake at the REAL one's price.

GOP, Game of Phones. Your phones are kept in a loft about 4 metres high, mixed with other phones which are procured from various sources. You have to reach up, get the bag of phones down, and blindfolded, pick your phone out of 7 or 8 that are in the bag. Pick the wrong one, and you are banished to an island with no phones. For 7 days. Pick the right one, you are sent to Bali for a week.

Wilde Quotes

Wit and Oscar Wilde have a correlation of 1.0, that is, high correlation. Sample some of these-

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

I live in terror of not being misunderstood.

It's perfectly monstrous the way people go about nowadays saying things against one, behind one's back, that are absolutely true.

I must decline your invitation on account of an engagement I am just about to make.

I always pass on good advice- it's the only thing one can do with it.

Of course I have played outdoor games. I once played Dominoes in an open air cafe in Paris.

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

Golf Lessons for New Students

Life's lessons can be learnt in many ways. Sports can be pretty useful in learning some. I played cricket for my school team, and have played many other games like Badminton, Table Tennis, Tennis without a table, Basketball, Volleyball, Hockey at some point at least for a trial. Badminton a little more than others.

Golf was a late entrant into my life, and we started because of easy access to some cheap courses in the U.S. For about 5 dollars, we could play nine holes in the Clemson, SC area. So we just hit the ball around, not achieving any degree of expertise. In Harihar, while I was at Kirloskar Institute, we had an 18 hole course within walking distance in the campus, and made full use of it.

This week, we started Golf lessons for the new batch of IMT Nagpur students. It's just an intro, but the idea is that those who get interested will pursue the game. Looks easy, but is a tough game. And teaches you a lot about yourself, like most others. One lesson I have learnt from it is that you are competing (fighting?) mostly with yourself, and not with an external competitor- student, colleague, wife or boss. If you are at peace with yourself, it shows in your (Golf) swing and game. If not, it also shows- and how! Anyway, the excitement among the learners was palpable, and it gives them something to talk about, even if they don't play it hereafter! B school is also about networking, and Golf terminology adds to the vocabulary too.

On the academic side, I have written a case about a company called Golftripz with an accompanying video (interviews with two directors of the company), which illustrates the launch of a new service aiming to take Indian golfers out to play on foreign shores. Used this in some training sessions, and it led to some good discussion.

Detain A Celebrity- A New Game

Immigration clerks are a bored lot. Day after day (or night after night), they look at passport photos (in itself a depressing sight), and ask some dumb questions to passengers who are about to slip out of their grasp. So what do they do?

Invent a game, of course. It's called detain a celebrity. Why should only cops who bust gangs of smugglers or a haul of opium hog all the limelight? Just detain a celebrity for an hour or two, and you can appear on national TV- without any talent whatsoever, not even needing to proclaim your love for Mother Tersa, and wanting to save the starving children in Sub-saharan Africa (where is that?).

So the game is on. First Abdul Kalam, for sporting a suspicious hair-style, and Shah Rukh, for laughing in a kinky manner, to Kamal Haasan, for appearing to be a good actor (and therefore, having things to hide). But forgetting an important dialogue in the process. Khel tumne shuru kitya hai mere dost, magar ise khatam main karoonga. Wah, wah. Taaliyan.

A Morning Well-spent

After a long time, played a good round of golf yesterday at the Air Force Golf course. Most things went right, and the balls did not get lost..well, one did, but that's a negligible quantity. Got over my fear of hitting the Driver- no.1 club, which is tough to hit with because more often than not, you end up playing the ball where no man intended it to go (sorry, Star Trek).

Anyhow, the weather was also conducively mild, and we ambled along in comfort. Planning a repeat of the game today, having sufficiently recovered from the after-effects of the exertion of yesterday. Such relaxation along with minor bouts of concentration (while hitting the ball) is a unique pleasure which I think everyone must try at some point in life..I have promised many people that I will teach them the game, so that may materialise sometime. Maybe instead of doing (other ) useless things, we could start more golf links in the country. Mary Antoinette's modern avatar can then say, "If you don't have bread,play golf" or something to that effect. Can lead to employment generation for millions to prepare golf courses, maintain them, and of course, serve as caddies to the players. And if I invest in one, maybe I could retire..