Hockey thrives in remote corner of Rajasthan
Saibal Bose, TNN
JAIPUR: Garh Himmat Singh is a strange name for a village. Tucked away in a remote corner of eastern Rajasthan, it is a stranger place to have a hockey academy.
The simple folks here don’t know much about that game. However, they do know that an “English lady” is in the village, teaching a game to the kids.
Andrea is German, but the folks here couldn’t care less. An outsider draws enough curious looks to last a lifetime, and Andrea, a first division hockey player in Germany, is a rare foreigner to have ever visited this place.
“When I first came here (with her business partner, who has his roots in this village), I was struck by the ambiance. It seems completely cut-off from rest of the world. Time has come to a standstill here,” Andrea says.
As you enter the village, you are directed towards the fort – most of it in ruins now – which has given the place its name. You pass through a dilapidated gateway and suddenly an open area hits you. A motley group of boys are playing hockey, along with two adults, a lady in a pink jersey and a man in a blue shirt.
The fort is a contrasting backdrop. The lady, Andrea, is in control of things here and the man seems to be enjoying himself immensely. Former national coach Harendra Singh is on a brief stopover at the village.
“It is always a nice feeling to see the game you love being promoted in villages,” Harendra says. “In India, hockey is played in villages and this is where the talent comes from.”
He is amazed that while a German lady has decided to promote hockey in a place like Garh Himmat Singh, Indian stalwarts of the game prefer to remain within the confines of big cities. “In big cities, children play cricket, tennis and badminton. To promote hockey, you must come to the villages.”
This academy, aptly called Hockey village India, started about two years ago. “The family which owns the fort has a lot of land and they readily allowed us to use some of it for hockey,” Andrea says.
The playing area is about two-third of a normal hockey ground and the surface quite rough. In the era of astro-turf, surely hard soil is not quite the surface you want to play on.
“We chose hard soil as this is close to what you would expect on an astro-turf,”Andrea explains. Andrea is trying to get a second-hand astro-turf.
“When we started the academy, about 60 kids came on the first day” Andrea recalls. That’s a lot considering that the village has a population of a little over 4000.
“These kids had nothing to do in the afternoon, no sport, no recreation. So, when we started the academy, there was a lot of interest.”