Triumph and Trauma of a Coach
M. K. Kaushik with K. Arumugam
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Drunkard And The Clerk
| "... Gill was sitting
alone on his sprawling lawn, with a Black Dog whisky and some tikkas. We
settled down and began to drink. By the time the second Dog was halved,
we had been reduced to gibbering idiots.
Eventually, we crawled away close to midnight. Even as we wheeled away from his barricaded gate, Gill was still sitting alone in the centre of his large lawn, communing with his scotch." |
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hen
everything was going smoothly, came the bombshell. Ashish Ballal was quoted in
the English-language weekly Outlook as saying, "Everybody is talking about
our prospects - that we will return with the gold. I think it is a big joke
because we do not even have a kit. The Indian Hockey Federation is run by a
drunkard and a clerk."
I felt this remark was in poor taste. Criticism of a system is different from snide remarks on individuals. The IHF has always been press-sensitive, and would not let go of such a transgression.
A furious Gill deputed the Karnataka State Hockey Association (KSHA) secretary, Mr. K. Krishnamurthy, with a clear message, "Send Ballal back." Coaching committee chairman Ganesh called Ballal and enquired about it. Ballal denied the statement to both Krishnamurthy and Ganesh. I also told these two personalities that Ballal's place in the team should not be jeopardised.
Mr. Krishnamurthy faxed the following to Jyothikumaran on November 26, 1998:
"As directed by you, I got in touch with the players concerned at the SAI Centre, Bangalore, and informed them of the IHF's strong dislike of reports in a leading periodical criticising the IHF top brasses.
Shri Ashish Ballal and Shri A. B. Subbaiah have informed me that whatever appeared in the said periodical was totally false, and that they never uttered anything to that effect to the press. They issued this denial in the presence of Shri M. P. Ganesh, chairman, coaching sub-committee of the IHF.
It is my humble view that the matter should end with this offer of explanation and should not be precipitated further. Let the members of the team proceed with a happy frame of mind and get the medal in the Asiad."
Expectedly, Gill was not satisfied with Krishnamurthy's explanation. He flew down to Bangalore and directed the three coaches - myself, Merwyn and Negi - to meet him in his hotel at 3:30 pm.
We went to the hotel half an hour ahead of the scheduled time. We waited for more than one and a half hours, but there was no sign of Gill. Our team was due to play the Centre of Excellence team on the newly laid turf at the KSHA grounds at Atimanahalli, so we decided to leave without waiting for Gill.
Gill's security guard asked us to wait since 'Saheb has gone to another hotel.' Just as we almost lost our patience, Gill finally appeared with Jyothi and D. S. S. Murthy.
Gill thundered, "Ballal is colour blind. We have to play some matches under floodlights. Drop Ballal."
Before I could reply, Merwyn picked up the gauntlet, "If this is the case, why did you give us Ballal in the first place. Why did you not tell us about this in advance. If this is the way you want to proceed, all three of us will quit."
Merwyn's point-blank fusillade had a wonderful effect. Such a rejoinder was totally beyond the expectations of Gill and his coterie. Merwyn's reply was so blunt and precise that it did not allow any elbow room to the master manipulator.
Stunned, Gill changed his tone and started mollifying us, and accompanied us to the stadium. Instead of coming to the hockey field, Gill went straight to the club house. There I overheard Robert Lawrence enquiring of Gill if he had received his 'gift' which he had sent through D. S. S. Murthy.
That gift was nothing else but a bottle of whisky. An umpire who had been assigned the task of bartendering Gill later exclaimed, "This man has taken 18 pegs today!"
On this topic, I wish to reproduce a relevant piece written by Mr. Tarun J. Tejpal, managing editor of the same Outlook magazine. The article was dated August 7, 1996, and was in the column called 'Delhi Diary'
"... My friend David and I went over to Gill's bungalow in Lodhi Estate, Delhi, one evening for a drink. Gill was sitting alone on his sprawling lawn, with a Black Dog whisky and some tikkas. We settled down and began to drink. After a while, David and I were beginning to swim as the Black Dog ran dry.
We begged leave, but were imperiously waved back to our seats. Gill ran the beeper for another Black Dog. By the time the second Dog was halved, we had been reduced to gibbering idiots. Eventually, we crawled away close to midnight. Even as we wheeled away from his barricaded gate, Gill was still sitting alone in the centre of his large lawn, the spotlights averted from him, communing with his scotch."
Why did I find the above article worth mentioning? Because I was overtaken by an inherent irony. He had come all the way from Delhi to Bangalore to remove a player who had criticised him for his drinking habit, but quite contrary to his mission, he indulged in the same. What is the logic and ethics behind such behaviour?
The Drunkard and the Clerk - Part I