Badminton

  

I am talking about Badminton - Shuttle Badminton. Having played ball badminton in my school days and watched tennis during my college and later, I never thought Shuttle Badminton as any game for men, what with a small sized court and a feathered shuttle for play. 

I was first exposed to that game in Guntur in early 70's. Medical Representatives based in Guntur were playing the game in the evenings after completing the day's hard work. They were playing in a godown converted into an indoor badminton court. The godown itself belonged to Panchayathi Raj Department. While all was ok, the height of the roof was lower than required by the game rules. The horizontal bars of the roof trusses were obstructing the shuttle when hit high. But the players deftly avoided those bars even while hitting the shuttle high. My own senior colleague in CIBA, K.B.Sarma was a regular player and used to take me there along with him. About 10-15 colleagues in Pharma Sales profession were playing shuttle. I used to sit by the side of the court and watch them play. Medical Representatives profession is unique in that during the field work we are hard fighters defending our brands and attacking competitors to the hilt. But away from the work, we are all great friends. The bonhomie at the shuttle court was thoroughly enjoyable. Gamely talent, the proverbial eloquence in talk (వాక్ చాతుర్యం) and leg pulling were in full display. Slowly I started to like the game when I realised that the game is an energy sapping exercise. I started playing the game soon.

Med Reps were also playing shuttle badminton in many other cities of Andhra Pradesh. 2 state level Tournaments for Sales Reps of AP were conducted annually - one in Guntur and another by turns in different towns like Rajahmundry, Hyderabad and Eluru. I progressed fast with my game and soon was a winner in those tournaments both in singles and doubles. M.D.Murali (Pfizer Medical Representative) and myself were part taking in game administration by acting as President and Secretary of Guntur District Badminton Association. My playing days soon ended when I got transferred to Eluru in December,1983 . My interest in the game prompted me to take up to Umpiring. This took me to Guwahati in 1983 where I appeared in the Badminton Association of India conducted Umpires exam. Though I scored 2nd top marks in Practical and Written exam, I failed in viva voce for some extraneous reason. The top scorer in written exam was a highly placed IPS Officer from a North East state.

It was for the second time that I failed in an exam in my life. The first time I failed was in Madhyama exam in 1962 (it was a consequence of my accepting a challenge from my father on another subject) I just couldn't take the failure. So I appeared for the exam again in 1984, this time at Kota, Rajasthan. I was working in Eluru those days. I went to Kota and appeared for the Umpires Test which was spread over a period of 3 day of concomitantly held Junior national badminton championship. I was staying in a Railway Retiring room. As my tests were scheduled only during the afternoons and evenings, I was loitering around the reservation counter area of the railway station during the morning. Suddenly I saw my national sales manager standing in the queue line. It was most unlikely place to see him and that too alone standing to buy a railway reservation ticket. Luckily, he did not notice me or else I would have had to answer needless questions regarding my presence in Kota. Those days we were introducing many new products in the market. Thus, questions regarding my priority in appearing for a Badminton Umpires' test at such a time would have arisen ( I learnt later that he was on a personal visit to Kota to be with his daughter) Fortunately there was no further brush with him during my stay in Kota. My return journey was also eventful due to its coincidence with Indira Gandhi's death. However, I just escaped getting stuck on the way somewhere at some intermediate station due to train stoppage. The silver lining was, I successfully qualified as a National Badminton Umpire.That was some proof of my love for the game!