Chak De Appa!

It was a lazy...rather boring Sunday afternoon. Like all other weekends, I was lounging on my bed, TV was on, channels being flipped and so was the laptop on which I was cracking scrabble against the computer. Phew...multi-tasking at its best on a Sunday afternoon. While flipping the channels came to know that 'Chak De India' was being played from 12.00 pm on Set Max. With about 20-25 mins to go I settled down on my bed with snacks and a bottle of water.

Wondering if I am catching it for the first time? Nope. Have seen it in theatre ( one of the few movies of late) and also on TV a couple of times. Then? Come on its a good movie, in fact the best sports based Indian movie for sure and I had all the time in the world thanks to the rains (has been raining for the past 3 days) coupled with it there was nothing better to watch...Hmm come to think of it, the biggest reason was that I was suddenly reminded of appa (may be am missing him...may be I'm missing a lot of people...wish I cud take a sabbatical for a year or for a lifetime!!!!) and his life which he dedicated to sports.

I've grown up watching appa strive and succeed in sports. From athletics & football to basketball and finally handball. As the move progressed I could see the parallels between appa's struggle against the establishment, against the opponents and against the odds to succeed. Right from picking a team - a healthy mix of experience, youth and talent, to training them and finally winning accolades. When the scene in the movie unfolds where in the team introduces itself and one of the girls land up late I immediately recollected a rather unique punishment which appa used to give for punctuality - if am not mistaken it was Rs. 5 for a 5 minute delay, Rs. 20 for more than that and Rs. 100 for being absent. Money collected at the end of the camp would go in either getting extra kits or a small dinner party at our place. Appa always treated the team members as his kids. Another scene where the team in the movie goes cross country running again made me recollect of days when appa used to conduct a similar exercise aimed at increasing stamina. Other scenes of the team doing warm up and practice were also reminding me of appa's hay days on the field. And so did all those scenes where SRK shows the moves on the board. I remember appa used to have this bounded book which had sketches of the handball court, wherein first he would devise moves and then share with his players during practice. In fact his team also had its share of scuffles and fights like in the movie. And so did the sarcasm from senior players...

For appa sports was above almost everything till he retired. It was his way of life. And during all those days he was forthright due to which he had a lot of admirers and quite a few angry people as well. His high point came when his team won the national championships back to back and he went on to be the coach of the services team. During the Doordarshan days and even now he watches handball matches with the same amount of eagerness and concentration which he used to possess during his years as a player and a coach. Every time I used to go home I would spend time going through his sports album and ask about his friends from those days. In fact hes still in touch with quite a few of them for the past 30 years and more!!!

With the team in the movie winning each match it felt like me watching appa's team winning. I really enjoyed watching the movie and also walking down the memory lane!!!