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!!!
13 comments:
hahaha!!! mr majumdar must be turning squirmish in his bed about right now!
hmmmm.....i like the self awarenes..."my then unadulterated mind" hehehe....hope you have by now figured out the rules of perception!:-)
hehe.. :) reptile for a teacher.. come on.. hehe and basketball fascination .. yeah your height speaks for you. Those who know you know the rest.
@revati: not to miss, twas a "troubled young unadulterated mind".. in many ways it still appears to be :)
did u finally learn how to play basketball or u just left it at that?
haha...I wonder whether it was his strategy to keep you focussed on only two things....cause in an effort to try what he suggested you guys...you will end up looking at the ball and then the basket!!
@ Nidhi: Mr Majumdar could play football quite well. Well, this should stop him from turning squirmish in his bed.
@Revati: Yes, I have figured out the rules of perception.
http://anandtakingstock.blogspot.com/2008/01/perhaps-you-know-me-perhaps-you-dont.html
This should clear the air about being aware about oneself.
@Riddhi: I have never liked playing basketball. This disinterest stems from the bad coaching that I got in my early years.
@Sujhata: I am glad that you think so. Coming from someone with you wisdom is certainly something to cheer about.
@Somya: I tried many times to learn to play the game but I was never good at it. I manage.
@Shishir: Haha, I am not sure what he was trying. It clearly did not work!!!
Anand :D Thank you so much for this post. I am really glad you wrote about this :D The funniest part about this post is the UNADULTERATED MIND :d When we spoke about this, you never mentioned the unadulterated mind!!!! a really good surprise humourous twist :-)
and on a more serious note - thanks again, for honouring my reader request :-) love you.
...on a totally unrelated note, oof ya, you've got awezumm six packs. can i touch them this sunday? :P
nidhi - NO YOU CANNOT. it is too close to the stomach :P
my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the end there, not leave it with ‘we leave it to you to decide’.
@ Anonymous: A name/identity would be great. In my understanding the piece ended with the insight that Mr Majumdar had been bluffing. :)
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