Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Reptilian Coach

The year was 1995, I think. It was the time when I was being introduced to basketball in my boarding school. Like most others of my age I was quite excited about the whole business of basketball. The game fascinated me beyond measure. At the same time it perplexed me as well. I could not figure out how could anyone basket the ball with such precision. This troubled my young unadulterated mind.

This seemingly imposible situation was solved by the basketball coach Mr Majumdar. Mr Majumdar (I think he was called Mr Majumdar) was our computer teacher and was filling in one day for our real basketball coach. Mr Majumdar's solution to the problem was very "reptilian". He said "Keep one eye on the ball; keep the other eye on the basket and shoot." We tried, and we tried again and again and again never actually managing to keep one eye on the ball and the other eye on the basket and shoot. We did shoot but never managed the former part of the advice i.e. to keep one eye on the ball and keep the other on the ring. We just couldn't. It was only in one biology class some years later that we got to know that it is physically impossible for humans/mammals to keep one eye on the ball and simultaneously one eye on the basket. Till then we had thought that Mr Majumdar has special basketball powers that allowed him to do what reptiles do with ease - look in different directions with different eyes. Mr Majumdar you had us for many years but now we have you for the rest of your life. Howwwzzzaaattt!!!