<p>When I asked my students how their day had gone, they replied that it being a Sunday, they had played cricket, giving academics the go-by. Endorsing their choice, I told them that becoming a sportsperson and a team member would pay them rich dividends. I should know! All through my student days, I represented the institutions I was enrolled in, both in individual and team events, winning trophies both for myself and for the institutions.</p>.<p>My earliest recollection is from my middle school days, when I won a steel bowl in a skipping rope event. Also of the same vintage is a memory of taking part in an athletic tournament in which the female competitors, irrespective of their educational levels, were clubbed together in every event. Taking up the challenge in the relay race, I overtook the college champion at the finishing line. When the names of the winning teams were announced, the emphasis on MMV Middle School filled our hearts with pride.</p>.<p>Mount Carmel College, my new alma mater, deputed an additional relay team to the meet to encourage the athletes. I, from the B team, was happy to cross the finish line ahead of the College A team. My pre-dawn running on the deserted roads ahead of the track events had paid off.</p>.<p>Badminton was my forte. By hitting the ball against a wall, I could practise solo. Captaining the team, for all inter-school matches I wore the same red skirt and shirt I had worn for the first match we had won!</p>.<p>Joining the Maharaja’s College in Mysore opened new frontiers on the sports front. Playing softball for the first time, I could hit a home run. We got acquainted with warm-up exercises prior to track events. Win or lose, we were happy just to play. On the train journeys to the outstation tournaments, we sang the few songs we knew again and again with gusto. The college was the launching pad for my future tennis successes.</p>.<p>During my student days in Los Angeles, I was sought after for tennis parties. My crowning glory was partnering with a senior faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in a tennis tournament. When his colleagues asked my partner if I was any good, he replied, “She plays like a boy”.</p>.<p>On my return, my indulgence in sports was renewed on the Manasa Gangotri campus in Mysuru. I joined the students on the badminton<br />courts, besides accessing the campus tennis courts.</p>.<p>Perhaps I inherited my predilection for tennis from my father (the late Professor Nikam). I had seen his photo, of Cambridge origin, in his tennis ensemble. His tennis racquet, along with its protective grid, occupied a prominent place at home.</p>.<p>An eyewitness told me that my father played cricket with his students at Fort High School, Bengaluru. There were no women’s cricket teams in my student days. Otherwise, who knows? I might have been on one of them!</p>
<p>When I asked my students how their day had gone, they replied that it being a Sunday, they had played cricket, giving academics the go-by. Endorsing their choice, I told them that becoming a sportsperson and a team member would pay them rich dividends. I should know! All through my student days, I represented the institutions I was enrolled in, both in individual and team events, winning trophies both for myself and for the institutions.</p>.<p>My earliest recollection is from my middle school days, when I won a steel bowl in a skipping rope event. Also of the same vintage is a memory of taking part in an athletic tournament in which the female competitors, irrespective of their educational levels, were clubbed together in every event. Taking up the challenge in the relay race, I overtook the college champion at the finishing line. When the names of the winning teams were announced, the emphasis on MMV Middle School filled our hearts with pride.</p>.<p>Mount Carmel College, my new alma mater, deputed an additional relay team to the meet to encourage the athletes. I, from the B team, was happy to cross the finish line ahead of the College A team. My pre-dawn running on the deserted roads ahead of the track events had paid off.</p>.<p>Badminton was my forte. By hitting the ball against a wall, I could practise solo. Captaining the team, for all inter-school matches I wore the same red skirt and shirt I had worn for the first match we had won!</p>.<p>Joining the Maharaja’s College in Mysore opened new frontiers on the sports front. Playing softball for the first time, I could hit a home run. We got acquainted with warm-up exercises prior to track events. Win or lose, we were happy just to play. On the train journeys to the outstation tournaments, we sang the few songs we knew again and again with gusto. The college was the launching pad for my future tennis successes.</p>.<p>During my student days in Los Angeles, I was sought after for tennis parties. My crowning glory was partnering with a senior faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in a tennis tournament. When his colleagues asked my partner if I was any good, he replied, “She plays like a boy”.</p>.<p>On my return, my indulgence in sports was renewed on the Manasa Gangotri campus in Mysuru. I joined the students on the badminton<br />courts, besides accessing the campus tennis courts.</p>.<p>Perhaps I inherited my predilection for tennis from my father (the late Professor Nikam). I had seen his photo, of Cambridge origin, in his tennis ensemble. His tennis racquet, along with its protective grid, occupied a prominent place at home.</p>.<p>An eyewitness told me that my father played cricket with his students at Fort High School, Bengaluru. There were no women’s cricket teams in my student days. Otherwise, who knows? I might have been on one of them!</p>