Search the records of any kabbadi tournament from the past. In a video, you may watch someone directing diatribes at cricket. He may be accusing the willow game of trampling Indian sports underfoot. Even now, cricket-baiting speeches may creep into such tourneys. However, whenever they do, they invariably invite a yawn.
And then, there is gilli-danda . Among Rajinikanth’s incredible feats is a singular gilli-danda match. To repeat a famous Rajini-ism, “Rajini played gilli-danda at Lords and the English named it cricket.” Rajini-isms are as eternally charming as the superstar himself. Except for this one. It sounds a bit dated. Gilli-danda doesn’t need veiled attacks on cricket anymore to gain attention.
Another sport, goti, part of the rural milieu for long, has entered the hotels and clubs in the urban centres of Kerala. According to the group promoting this game of marbles, it is all set to visit metros outside the State.
Not just these three. A few other sports of our soil — lagori and killithathu — are also reportedly sharing the newfound spotlight. Cricket holds centre stage. In India, it always will. But now, these sports have their platforms too. Some of them blindingly spectacular. Take Pro Kabbadi League (PKL), launched this year across the Indian metros. It is patterned on IPL. Players are auctioned. Big stars from the world of films and cricket are associated with it. Some own teams. The matches are telecast on Star Sports. Packing in fashion and style, it has managed a following. Ask Kalimuthu Balamahendran, a member of Puneri Paltan, the Pune franchisee of PKL.
“While travelling to a new city for the ongoing Pro Kabbaddi League 2014, people recognise us at airports. Some comment on our performances. It shows they are following the tournament,” says Balamahendran, who works with the Tamil Nadu Police.
The 26-year-old policeman, who has played kabbadi for many years, is surprised at the sudden burst of interest in the sport. As a kabbadi player, he entered Loyola College in Chennai on sports quota. Kabbadi again got him a place to stay at the sports hostel in Nehru Stadium. Kabaddi landed him a job with the Tamil Nadu Police.
The sport has always been good to him, but never so good as now. According to an official press note, he received Rs. 5.10 lakh in the auction.
Professional goti players are also pleasantly surprised by the sudden wave of enthusiasm for their sport from unexpected quarters.
In 2004, a group of management professionals in Kerala started an initiative to promote Indian sports, including goti , gilli-danda and lagori . Their efforts met with failure after failure.
Sijin B.T., the only full-timer with Synergians, as the group is now called, says, “In 2004, when we tried to promote goti , the response was disheartening. No support from government bodies that could have helped us. Even people who played the sport were lukewarm in their response. We first tried to conduct a tournament in a rural area. The people there did not take us seriously. Many rejected the idea out of hand. They said goti will never become popular,” explains Sijin.
The tide turned in 2013, when the group tried a new strategy. They decided to engineer goti’ srevival from the urban centres.“We conducted a tournament for executives at an elite hotel in Cochin. The response was great. Forty-three people, including 10 women, took part.” That signalled the birth of what is now called ‘The Goti Tour’.
“These tournaments are marked by professionalism, which begins with the outfit. Players have to follow rules pertaining to dress, shoes and gloves,” says Sijin, who sees himself as a surgeon removing mental blocks to goti .
“Some see it as a kid’s game. Or a rural game. I have always been crazy about goti . At college, I tried in vain to promote it. With a meticulously planned ‘Goti course’, the sport is now being viewed in a new light,” says the 36-year-old management professional.
The second edition of the professional goti tournament was conducted recently in Palakkad. And Sijin is beginning to get more optimistic about the future of professional goti in India. “We’ve found associates in other places, including Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. The goti tour will shortly go there too,” says Sijin.
More significant is the successful push for introducing goti and lagori in a few schools. “With the help of Anil Kumble’s Tenvic, a sports promotion company, we have managed to have goti , lagori and hopscotch introduced in a few schools in Karnataka, Maharashtra and New Delhi. For students from LKG to Class II,” says Sijin.
C. Pradeep Kumar, 57, who took part in the recent goti tour, says kids will gravitate towards the sport.
“During the Palakkad edition of the tournament, I learnt from my brother, who lives in Doha, that Indian children there had marbles. They were not aware of goti . When I took some children, one of them from Doha, to the tournament, they took to the sport.”
