Disclaimer: Meant only for Michaelites- who know when and how to bunk classes , climb up OUR hill , sit on a tree trunk and gauge at the ganges... The ultimate romantics! Others with simliar bent welcome to scroll down, too!
Watching the athletics action and Bolt bravados at London Olympics.. I was dragged to a different era . The times at St Michaels, Digha .. on the banks of Ganges ! A couple of decades or more, back in time.
Carl Lewis was the best thing to have happened to the world of athletics then and he had confirmed his status as the best post Jesse Owens after his 4 gold medal haul at the Los Angeles Olympics. Then entered the Badshah Ben Stanozolol Johnson who could get off the blocks faster than a leopard! Florence Griffith’s painted nails and designer track clothes drew enough of school boyz attention. Carl lewis’s cleanliness appeared just next to godliness in the times of dope all around ! Bob Beamon record at the sand pit was getting threatened after decades and finally we were witness to that historic moment by Mike Powell.
We grew up living, dreaming and aping these guys in our own small ways! I do remember popping a strip of stanozolol – advised and given by a reputed doctor of these times, then a teen himself!
We were a bunch of talented and fanatic sports lovers with raging hormones, ready to enter our teens ! We had plethora of talented individuals in our batch itself. We had Amitabh WALL Prasad on soccer field, Amulya maverick shah who could create magic with soccer , cricket or any sort of balls, Sunit BECKER Sinha , Abhay MODI Sinha , Sunil, the captain who would marshal his troops with a deadly mix of disdain, pamper and jokes, Sumit dribble singh and many more who made each day of growing up exciting, competitive and interesting!
Among immediate seniors, We saw the on field heroics ( and off field too!) of good looks cricket stars Bhanu, Zohair, Saket, shahnawaz and chest protruding middle distance runs of Hira and Sunil. We had grown up watching super seniors Amit singh and Tathagatha sprint as if on a song , Sappu singh and Sanjiv Chaurasiya collecting medals by dozens and the latter showcasing 5 different ways to cross 5 ft plus in high jump! We had seen Sameer AKRAM Shukla set the cricket grounds on fire all over the country. All these are firmly etched in the memory. We had heard and read of records of super talented Randhir Singh but never got a chance to see his legendary talent on track . He was in semi retirement in the year he was my house captain, Reds !!!!! In our times and in our education system, Legends retired before entering university-:(
Amidst all these stalwarts.. One who stunned us, shocked us, pricked us, made us realize our lesser mortal existence , reminded us of our miniscule lung capacity and weak limbs and yet, always gave us awesome pride .. This sports whizkid was Dhawak, Gwala and with many more nick names but presently Colonel Manish Kumar of Indian Army!
Na Usain.. Nee Lewis..
Only Bolt.. Mon Bolt..
Thou were mon Bolt , Thou shall be mon Bolt..
Oh Bolt .. Mon Bolt!!
All of us would gape in awe ( even if running besides you ) at the speed and power you would generate on tracks. You would sprint like a sprinter, run choreographed 400 mtrs and 800 mtrs, run last few laps of a mile race as if back to sprints ! Long distances were your forte! You were magic in sand pit! Beyond the track, You were wizard at scoring goals at soccer field, When in whites, You batted like Dravid when required, kept like Dhoni or bowled odd bouncers if the captain asked for. You could play at all places in volleyball court with equal ease - with your height which gave an inherent (dis) advantage. You could pick up shuttle and give a cock fight to established shuttlers, You picked up ping pong racquet once in six months , still titles would come so easily! You were the best allrounder, one with a panache !!
I am told that the Bolt from Jamaica plans to play for Man U some day and bowled Chris Gayle out in an exhibition cricket match last year!
Seeing the pre and post race camaraderie between Bolt and Blake at London, I was reminded of our days at school and district level athletics meets where we had fun and I always remained a Blake to You Bolt… You are my eternal BOLT and I shall be your BLAKE always! Lets have a sprint round in 2014 ( pachees saal baad) and invite few of your fauji colleagues who are rumoured to have beaten you recently!!
My only regret , Mon BOLT, that you were not born in Jamaica where people would have pushed you to remain on tracks and not fiddle around with Resnick ,Hallidays and Zimanskies of the world!
PS- We never ran relays as one team and Mon BOLT , lemme remind you that you never beat your BLAKE at the relay-:) !… Wait and Watch the Jamaican magic unfold at London in 4 X100!
Now, You owe me a drink, Mon BOLT !!!
