When I played hockey for the first time, it was with a Khunda – a nicely chiseled out curved tree branch that resembled a plough. And the ball used in the game was made of a worn out piece of cloth held in shape by a large number of rubber bands cut from a discarded bicycle rubber tube.

For the first several months, it was my favorite stick as boys of my age group from my immediate neighborhood would assemble every evening for a game that would at times continue for more than an hour.  Two broken pieces of bricks or even chappals (Slippers) would serve as goalposts at either end of the uneven playfield. The game was played barefoot. Gradually we all started mastering the skill of keeping the ball close to the stick while attempting to dribble past an opponent.

Hard hitting was normally avoided as the ball would peel off with broken rubber bands scattered all over. The makeshift indigenous playing equipment, however, served the purpose well with teams of three to four players each.

Since our “khundas” looked a little crude, we could not carry them to our school – Government Model Middle School (Jhullian Wala School) – for a game during the recess break.

Our most memorable day came when we were in sixth standard. A couple of boys in my neighborhood, who also went to the same school, were all smiles when our PT teacher asked us who all play hockey. And all the hands of boys in my Section went up in affirmation. To our great surprise we were asked to go to another room where there was a huge steel box. The school peon, Bhajan Singh, was already there.

After PT Madam arrived in the room, he opened the box and started taking out hockey sticks. Each one of us got a brand new stick. Thrilled and excited as we were, we immediately rushed to the school playfield for our first game with new hockey sticks and a leather ball. Since we were not used to holding the stick and playing with a regular ball, the first game turned out to be a mere hitting match. It was almost after a week of practice with the regular sticks and the leather ball, we all started playing well. Broken or damaged sticks were replaced on approval by the PT Madam.

Those who played football were issued a couple of balls for regular practice. Interestingly, the football team also had most of the hockey players in it.

An Inter-Middle Schools tournament was our first tryst with competitive hockey. We won the first two matches but lost the third to a better organized and professionally trained team.

However, we had consolation as four members of our team were chosen for the Zonal team that was to play in Inter-Zonal for selecting a district team. Incidentally I was one of them. Other three included Gurdishpal Singh, who ultimately went on to represent India in international hockey, Sukhjit Singh and Manjit Singh.

Hockey continued with most of us to our next institution – High School.

The intervening break between the Middle and High School saw most of us joining an evening game of hockey at the neighboring Gujar Khan Khalsa High School. The school was later converted into an educational hub with a separate school for girls, a women’s arts college, a business school, and an English medium school besides a few other specialized institutions.

The Gujar Khan Educational Centre is run by a Board of eminent people.

On the sprawling Gujar Khan playfields, most of the promising sportsmen and women of the area would come for training. In addition to school and college teams, outsiders including cricket, hockey, football, basketball players and athletes used the playfields for their training.

At times, the management would not take it lightly with outsiders using the playfields. The police would be called to chase away outsiders or players practicing there. It was an unending conflict as outsiders supported by their parents would maintain that the ground belonged to the society of which they all were members. Many students of the institutions run on the premises were also treated as outsiders in case they were not members of the regular teams of the Gujar Khan institutions. This unsavory aspect apart, it was Gujar Khan playfields that gave a major exposure to young and budding players of the area.

Several senior hockey players, including alumni of the Gujar Khan institutions, would make it a point to attend the evening game. Among regular ones were Jagtar Singh and his brother, Raminder Singh (both sons of Mr. Mehar Singh, a leading criminal lawyer of his time. Both Jagtar Singh and Raminder Singh had the distinction of playing for India. Col Raminder Singh, son-in-law of Punjab CM Beant Singh had also led one of two Indian teams in an invitation tournament played at Ahmedabad. He also played for Signals and Services. Besides, he  served Punjab as Director of Sports), Gurainye (Devinder Singh Benepal, he was also in India’s camp for the 1975 World Cup but an alleged medical aberration saw him leave the camp), Golu (Ajit Singh, one of toughest hockey players of his time), Jawahari (Col Jawahar  Lal), Jagdeep Singh Phoolka (He was a goalkeeper of the 1966 Asian Games gold medalist Indian hockey team), Bau Ji, Dhiri (Randhir Singh), Dhobi (Durlabh Singh), Teja (Tejinder Singh Sandhu), Billa and Kala (brothers who played for Gujar Khan School team), Bubby (Col Jatinderpal Singh Ahluwalia, who later captained SCD Government College hockey team), Sheela (Sushil Kumar Gupta), Hari (Harjit Singh Dua of Deson group), Chhindi (Charanjit Singh), Sarabha and Bhutewalia (both from Guru Nanak Engineering College hockey team),  Kallu (Ajinderpal Singh, a promising center half with superb stickwork),Pinky (Gurdarshan Singh Mand now settled in Surrey) besides a few others. They all used to be regular for the evening game which was played over “shakanjavi”.

Among other known faces to play there were Shiv Jagday (who later became national coach of both Canada and US hockey teams), Rajwinder Singh (played for India in World Cup), Dr Rajinder Pal Singh Bawa (now Vice Chancellor of Chandigarh University), and Jasjit Singh. After the game, most of them would head for the Bengali Sweets Shop in the Model Town Market and laze around there.

Other than the regular evening game, this group, which was known outside as Model Town Lions Hockey Club, also used to invite teams from outside for friendly games.

Corps of Signals (because of Col Raminder Singh) that had young MP Ganesh (who later captained India and also was the national chief coach), SN Pawar (member of the 1975 World Cup champion team), Maghar Singh and Gurdial Singh (deep defenders of Corps of Signals), was a regular. We as youngsters were lucky to watch MP Ganesh play barefoot on the dusty playfields of Gujar Khan and grow into an international star.

BSF Jammu was another team that came for friendly games…

We also used to wait for Sports School and Sports College teams from Jalandhar. Players like Hardyal Singh and his brother Hardev Singh besides Surjit Singh Rehal (they all later represented Kenya), Shiv Dutt aka Pandit Ji, Murthy and Kulwant Singh Mangu have all played at Gujar Khan school playfields.

It was on this ground that the Lions Club started organizing Major Bhupinder Singh Memorial All-India Hockey Tournament that featured almost all top teams of north India. Donations of two annas, four annas, and one or two rupees, were collected from willing hockey fans to run the tournament. There were also a few regular sponsors and friends of the Club who extended financial and moral support to the organizing committee. Prominent among them were Mr. DS Bhogal, Mr. Inder Mohan Singh Grewal of Upper India Steel, Mr. Apinder Grewal (who later became Mayor of Ludhiana), and Mr. Surjit Singh of Punjab Agricultural University (He used to do the commentary and compering).

After a few years, the venue of the tournament was shifted to Punjab Agricultural University grounds where well maintained lustful green playfields fascinated all players, officials and spectators.

–To be concluded

(Prabhjot Singh is a senior journalist and a well-known Sports commentator. He can be reached at prabhjot416@gmail.com)