Top Seeds

Nahid Khan (c) tries her hand during today's practice session

Shekhawat met his match today. Every morning he makes his entry in the Garden, walking backwards and clapping to himself. People joke that he does not know whether he’s coming or going – Shekh-awat awat hai, ya jawat hai? But he insists that walking backwards tightens his thigh muscles.
We had therefore assumed that the Reverse Walk event on Sports Day (ref yesterday’s post) would be a cakewalk for Shekhawat. But today, when Siba Prasad Maitra demonstrated that he is capable of literally sprinting backwards, many jaws dropped.

Kiran Prakash balancing
a ball in his spoon

“He will easily defeat me,” conceded Shekhawat.
The other ‘top seeds’ in various events on Sports Day this week-end are as follows:
* Bursting the Balloon: Going by sheer lung power, Rukhsana Khan should win hands down. But at today’s practice session, Nahid Khan emerged a strong contender. She could not burst her balloon though as it was made of resilient material. It was decided

Siba Prasad Maitra (r) shows us how to thread a needle

that within 60 seconds, whoever inflates the balloon to the maximum (or bursts it first) would be declared winner.
* Threading the Needle: Here, Banoo Apa is tipped a hot favorite. She is however, likely to face stiff competition from the likes of Fahmida Khan, Urmila Sinha, Bhaswati Bose, even Maitra. The general feeling is that women will have an edge over men, for obvious reasons.
* Spoon Race: Going by today’s practice session, the toss up is between Kiran Prakash and Dilip Babani. Yusuf Rassiwala also stands a fair chance just that he needs to be a good finisher. But then, who knows there could be a dark horse lurking in the wings.
* Pitthu: Here again, the field is wide open. Nobody today could display any degree of accuracy in their strike rate. We might therefore have to change the rules of the game – either by going for a softer, less bouncy ball or by replacing the stones by plastic bottles arranged side-by-side – in order to make things doable.
* Musical Chairs: The odds favour Yusuf Rassiwala as he is the Club’s defending champion. On two occasions in the past (once, during a picnic) he emerged a clear winner. Call it special skill or plain luck, he is the man to watch for in this event. If you are a betting person, put all your money behind Yusuf R this Sunday.