What sucks big time about these days is the lack of a sport I can follow with passion and emotional attachment. There used to be cricket once but it no longer gets the adrenalin going as it did once. Before that there used to be basketball and man..wuz i witness to some of the most spirited battles on a basketball court...in sleepy, little trivandrum! Like Rugby, the famous English public school which was the setting for Thomas Hughes classic novel, Tom Brown's Schooldays in which he memorialized several rugby and cricket matches, Loyola has had a basketball tradition dating back to the 60's when the school started and the men who proudly wore the school jersey were immortalized as heroes in the countless tales juniors of all batches would live to tell, of their exploits on the court. I used to be an average player myself but realizing that my slim physique and unwillingness to exert myself phsically wud stand in the way my dreams of becoming a school team member ended prematurely. The first school match I recollect seeing was in 1987 as a 3rd grader and even today I remember the electrifying atmosphere that pervaded our quadrangle as the whole school looked on in amazement as a tall, lanky player named unnikrishnan single-handedly led an amost impossible fightback against sarvodaya. The next few years were equally thrilling with loyola, st.thomas, st.joseph's and sarvodaya producing teams that kept our hearts beating hard till the last whistle.
And then in 1991 loyola produced the dream-team...one year before the americans decided to make theirs for the olympics. The team of Randeep Hari, Eapen T. Joseph, Jayant Shankar, Bimal John and Tojo Eapen wove magic on the court. Eapen played like the ball was glued to his hands...he was unstoppable, randeep was fast and dangerous, bimal must have shot more 3-pointers than any loyolite...he seldom missed, tall tojo was the center...inside the circle a tojo in possesion of the ball was a sure basket while jayant was an all-rounder and then there was our cheering...opposing teams wud always complain that our lung-power scared their players and upset their rhythm.With slogans like "Whisky Brandy Soda Pop we want loyola on the top" and "V-I-C-T-O-R-Y...that is Loyola's Battle Cry" and many more which i forget now and some borrowed ones like "veer bahadur ladke kaun...loyola loyola" and a 500 young spirits with their achillean lungs, baying for blood with dustbins stolen from the classrooms to be used as drums...we were one fierce band of brothers! I still remember how 50 of us shouted down the whole of St.Thomas at the finals of the St.Thomas Trophy and though we lost that year we still proudly sang our School Anthem and walked away with our sworn enemy giving us a grudging ovation! After Eapen, '93 produced Vipin K. Varkey who though never succeeded in winning the Loyola Cup during his time and even breaking down in tears for not having lived up to his illustrious predecessors, but had the last laugh...he heroically scored a last-second 3 pointer to win the first St.Thomas Cup. Vipin's bad luck continued the next year with another of my school heroes...the late Vivek Rajendran, an all-rounder in everything he did as he failed in winning back the Loyola Cup but beat the same men to the 1st Arya Cup. In '94 we had a team that symbolised what makes basketball such an effective team sport...Akhilesh, Anil, Arun, Bejoy, Vivek and Karthik were a coach's dream with their selfless game and team spirit. They didnt have even a single player who cud turn the tide of the match but as a team of 5 their strength was their coordination...they had a tight defence and superb passing skills and with such strong basics they brought the Cup back to Loyola.
And then came our time...1995-97. We had a great team in Shenoi, Aravind, Mahesh, Mathew and Agil. Sheni was a superb dribbler, KP(mahesh) was a fighter and though short at 5'6" cud leap into the air and stay there for ages, ara was a good shooter and quick on his feet while ichayan(mathew) had the best defense loyola ever saw and ammavan(agil) was a very graceful player. Man to man we cud be termed as next only to the legendary team of 91-92 but we were up against a school whose basketballing prowess was at its peak...St.Josephs with several state players and hours and hours of practise to boast. Despite a spirited effort from our boys and frenzied, desperate cheering from our quadrangle steps we were bested. i still remember the score...57-52. Can never forget the teary-eyed faces as we headed for our excursion where we ironically had hoped to celebrate this victory!We won the St. Thomas trophy that year and the next but were trounced for the loyola cup in 96..the only one that mattered for our boys. and finally we were in the 12th...aravind and agil were no longer in the team, faheem, the 6'2" junior from 10th, came in as the center, harish was the new feeder...we were the seniors...and we still had the loyola cup to bag to be counted among the hallowed batches our great school had produced.
Even 30 years hence I will never forget that day...when we squared off against our same old enemy, St.Joseph's and boy what a match it was. As the seniors we led the cheering... at half-time we were trailing and if i remember rite two of our key players sheni and kp had developed cramps..yet bravely overcome the pain barrier and continued. Then ichayan too fell to cramps and he too shrugged away the agony and fought...we egged on our team lustily with noble leading the wolf-pack(he aptly picked up the nickname powerhouse for his enormous chestpower), prayed from the bottom of our hearts for a miracle and our boys rose up to the challenge. They took the fight right to the enemy,shook of their fatigue and fortune finally favored our braves...and a kid we always disparaged became the unlikely hero...harish haridas, two years our junior cooly dribbled the ball upto the opposition court took aim and realeased the ball to score a 3-pointer. That must have been the longest few seconds in all our short lives...and when the ball sailed smoothly into the basket our boys erupted in joy and happiness. For the first time in the match we had taken a lead and with only less than a minute left then for the whistle, the St.Josephian fightback got nipped in the bud as we scored another basket.If i remember rite the final scorecard read 52-49 but wht i can never forget is our invasion into the court to lift up our players and everyone falling to the floor in the melee and i remember gasping frantically for breath b4 somebody yanked me out of the mess. We all cried that day...it was one of the most memorable victories ever...there remained little else we needed to do to be a much talked about set of guys by future batches of loyolites...when sheni lifted the trophy we thought we had kept alive one of loyola's long-standing sporting traditions...but sadly the school never won the loyola cup since 1997...cricket did its share of damage to our school too as the stamina and skill needed for basketball ensured it found few takers henceforth...hope a day comes when loyolites can cheer for their baskeball team with the same fury and spirt that remains among some of the best memories that school life produced.
Today the guys who played the game in front of us with such splendor must be looking back at their deeds with pride and satisfaction...as for me I have always wondered why my voice goes hoarse if I give one loud shout but why that never happened while being in the midst of a match amongst my schoolmates...it must have something to do with the passion and spirit of the young days. Its been a tough two weeks at work...and it looked as though I wouldnt blog anytime soon as I virtually crashed into bed as soon as i got home. Until I feel fresh enough to write about things that require thought and insight, writing about the best years of our life...the school and college days looks like an attractive proposition. Whatever happens, i know for sure blogging is irrevocably a part of me now.
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39 comments:
Great Work Jiby;
Hope to see more of these from your side....Keep the good work going and ofcourse always keep smiling
Kiran N.P
The description is awesome..it took me back to those days my friend..
You dunno how thankful I'm to you for this exercept..
I have bookmarked this article for life..:-)
~Sheni
Jabba,
I think the present day loyolites should read this blog. Just was terrified to hear that there was no basket ball tournament this year. It would be terrible if thats true.
I just got a feeling that I was sitting on the steps watching it all over again. Your memory is too good.
-jofu
Been reading ur blog after getting the link from Kerala Blog roll. This one really struck a chord.
Coz even i remember lustily cheering the Rajagiri team on against teams like Girideepam, Christ etc.
Also remmbr a Federation cup b'ball tournament at Alwaye(thts where i'm from)where Kerala Police beat IOB Chennai in the last whistle basket. Sunny of the KP team; just 5 8" tall shooting a 3 pointer in the last second bringing down the house. Must have been some 18 yrs ago (sigh!)
Does KP have a team at all these days??
About me; I have been a blogger for 3 months now. Was pleasantly surprised to have got quite some readers
Here's my link
http://o3.indiatimes.com/jonagil
cheers
Flaashgordon
kiran np and vivek...i wuz absolutely stunned seeing u guys' comments here. it has been years and years since i have seen you both. i heard from ichayan ur batch is doing really well...keep it up!
flaash...my cousin wuz a state player from don bosco in the 80's and he wud tell me abt their rivalries with rajagiri and girideepam. i used to go to all the kerala police and kerala state team matches in the late 80's and 90's when they played in tvm thanks to the coz mentioned above. it was a great experience watching c.v.sunny, jaishankar menon and jackson peter all play.infact sunny married my dad's student and once visited our house...but i wuz so shy then i hardly talked a word to him. i think both the kerala police teams... soccer & bball have fallen on bad days. i really liked ur blog... will be a regular visitor henceforth.
Arun, Jofu, Sheni thanks for ur comments guys...i knew this one wud get our boys back inside their old b&w school uniforms!Jofu, maybe one day when sheni retires and is a grey-haired, over-the-hill techie he shud get back to loyola and coach the boys...and then we balding, pot-bellied old boys cud teach the young guns a thing or two abt cheering!
The loyola of today may have changed...we were already moulded by the time cable TV, fashions and internet took such an iron grip over india but for today's kids there's a whole world of influences shaping them of which the school is just one of them! Its hard to blame them for not making the most of such oportunities that a great school has to offer...maybe its time loyola became a boarding school again!
I too miss those days when we screamed ourselves hoarse, blamed the referee and cursed the other team for everything from bad marks to detention:)
Yes we all need a team worth cheering for especially after we leave school and its musty corridors.
jiby,
i was three yrs ur junior at school, and am as big a basketball fan as u r i think YOu have forgot 2 finals in the ninties one was the win against arya central 62-31 and the next was a miracle comeback against st. thomas central....the team had karthik, harish and faheem where we won against st. thomas central in overtime...if it had faheem tht means its 1998 (latest)...st. thomas led tht match at half time...i dont remember the win against st.josephs though ...the 52-49 one...the match against STCS had a similar scoreline after the the teams were tied at 45.in normal time...
its sad tht the interest in BB has vaned....however our school is becoming a feeder center for Kerala age -group cricket teams
V-I-C-T-O-R-Y... That's Loyola's Battle Cry!
And all those cheers come back to me when I see your post jiby chetta. I long for another day when we used to scream hoarse for Loyola and another win at the finals where we always are there. And in the last ditch cheer for the team when everybody sings a Cheer Loyola Son's, it's a moment, it's a changing fortune, that makes Loyola come-back and our Faheem's Shenoi's Ajils Eapens, all those legends!
Great post! That's nostalgia!
hi jiby. this is one of the players you mentioned in the team, the dream team as you said. thank you :) we all stopped our work, our chores..and just sat back to relive those moments. thanks to you again. by the way, i have come across your blog before too, but never realised you were a loyolite. cheer loyola sons!
That was an excellent piece. You captured what the BB cup is all about...
Tojo, Eapen, Jayanth, Vipin, Vivek,shenoy are people I can never forget and then the passion of the day....
It's sad that they no longer love the game at school
really dont know what to say !!!
that was captivatiing..each word taking me back to those years....wow..i feel so young !!!
great to see the spirit of Loyola .
got to go back to that court and sit on those steps...and relive the decibal levels..
cheers guys ..spendid Jibi ...
anonymous is me !!!
randeep
Well written post, dude! Thanks for helping me relive those magical moments. Some of the very same memories are etched into my mind too.
Cheers from Deepak (Loyola 1983-96)
brought out the gooseflesh...well written jibi..i passed out with the '85 ICSE batch, a couple of years before you saw your first school match..and yeah we had our super stars too..mebbe you should get the current batches at loyola, browse thru your blogs to draw inspiration...
an aside, FYI...my batch mate and close pal, Pradeep Suthan is currently a U-17 and U-19 selector, mebbe he is contibuting to the Loyola representation in the Kerala teams.....!!!!
Hi all,
I am pretty sure most of you may not know me, but I passed out of loyola in 1977. Ancient yes, but still cheering onwards and forwards nevertheless. I happened to get a forward of this blog, and at a rather deep distant cockle of my heart, echoed the warcry of ' whisky soda brandy pop...'. Yes, it was our cheerleading refrain as well, way back when we passed out. And the fights were as bitter even then. I remember winning against St. Josephs and St. Thomas too, and occasionally being reduced to tears as well. Yet the intensity of the games, and passion that united us were as fierce during your days. I even remember times much earlier - when I was possibly in the 6th standard - and even then, the glory of our school was always as precious and as cardiac! Anyway, keep the flag flying, high and higher. We have much to be proud about. Thanks for bolt back into into time, and all that nostalgia. Should you like to write in, my email is prathap_suthan@greyindia.com. So long boys!
Man .. you made my day.I was present on those steps of glory as we won the LB cup that year.. Running down with the crowd screaming as i can never do again, still echoes out in to a gastly silence in my memories.
Tatatata tatataaa... Eeya oova LOYOLAAA!!!!!
Most of the people you described, I worshipped. I dont know if it still happens, but as a kid, I used to think that Tojo and Co. were demi-gods. Later I played for Loyola too. Started round about the time when your narrative ends. Its been a tragically uplifting journey actually. We've never won again after '98, but we came very very close in 2000 and 2001 (one and two points respectively, both to St Josephs.) Swear on everything I hold holy, never been so disappointed after losing matches like after losing the Loyola Cup. We might all grow up to be world beaters, love magnificent women, ride fine cars, sire fine sons and all that jazz, but we never did win the Loyola Cup. Its been 7 years or so. Still hurts like yesterday. But I'm also proud that we gave our all. We weren't ashamed of losing, and we made it a point to shake hands with the victors even with tears in our eyes. Thats the Loyola Spirit I remember and still carry in me (i hope;-))
It seems only yesterday when a much younger version of me, then studying in the second standard (of course , that should remind everyone of Mrs Murl murray and Mrs elizabeth), was among one of the witnesses to our last LoyolaCup victory.
Small though i was , i think i had realised that whatever was going on was something important, for the whole school was there around the basketball court and all of the seniormost class was crowded , huddled together in our unforgettable assembly steps-(Which are now newly covered with red tiles- a tribute to the only assembly in trivandrum perhaps where the students sit and not stand)- crying their hearts out, trying to give one bit more of energy to the team which was fighting for the pride of keeping the Loyola Cup at home for once.
AS for the finer details, i remember the students of middle school, 7th , 8th and 9th, thronging onto the balcony, tearing up as much paper bits as they could to shower onto the team as they make their entrance. I remember the spirit with which our beloved CHETTANMAAR's pressed their team to fight. The shout of WHO LET THE DOGS OUT , as the opposition streamed into the ground is still etched in my memory.
Was i to know that 8-10 years from then, i would be in their place , crying out the same phrases -(Sabse aage ladke kaun? <-- this, i shalt die before i shalt forget)- but in a totally different situation, for now we cheer for a losing cause.
I still remember , after we had won that match, the whole crowed ran into the court, causing a mini stampede , rushing in to lift up the players on their shoulders and started a kind of war dance which shall remain in the memories on many of the loyolites present on that day, for ages to come.
The presentation ceremony was also a big affair , with the whole school waiting, even making the buses wait a bit longer after school- and the cheers for every tropy won.
sigh , its been long.
Today, do we have a team? yes we have.
But its not worth comparing to the glory of our past.
Last year, we crashed out in the 2nd match. So did this year.
Most of the matches were not witnessed by our crowd. A lot was during early morning and 2nd trip time.
The dissapointment of the crowd when the games used to get washed away due to the rain, seems to be a thing of the past. Now, none seems to care.
The presentation ceremony had the two teams seated in front of our steps(oh did i say. there was no one on the steps)- with a crowd which could't be called a crowd.
There wasn't even a mike system, for they didnt need one for such a big CROWD. They just handed out the certificates and the trophy and the teams had to clap for themselves i guess, for there was none else.
That is the pitiable condition, now, of the game that once used to boil our bloods in the past.
That is what has become of the game that you people had come to love.
Now when do i see basketball? In the lunch breaks around 6-10 students gather to just dribble it around. yawn.
Is it that we don't have talent? or we don't care ? i'm yet to find out.
My time has come, as had it for all of you once. The time when im leaving school. I have to go there for 6 more days- to write my 12th boards.
When , decades since, ... when i come back here to see whats left here that i remember, will i see the game being played with the same spirit that i used to see what seems like ages ago?
Will there be the same jose uncle near the scoreboard.. telling students off the court...will there even be a scoreboard...
I fail to understand what has happened to the place of late...
Hi Jiby,
This is a great blog..But howvwer i would like to add a player who was equally a legend of loyola basketball...andrew danty..though we lost the BB cup by a few points when danty played, I have heard many claim that danty was as good a player as loyola had ever produced...ur blog however has taken all loyolites through a fantastic trip down through the memory lane.
thanx a lot jiby..its was really g8 to read somethin like this..feels gud to know that u ppl still have it with u..the 96 finals is still fresh in my mind and i am still figurin out how we cud have won it..truely we played out of ours skins..and hope it was all worth it..like to thanx each and everyone in the team and also everyone who supported us..c u..
Jiby, Though you had written this blog two years ago, Its simply the best blog to keep the spirits of Loyola high. It was quite nostalgic as though some one was leading me through the history of Loyola baskey. Even if I read after a few years, I am sure I will be reading it with the same enthusiasm and same curiosity as i had read for the first time. Its high time for your next blog whihc i am anxiously waiting to relive my school days.
It is shocking to see that we havent been able to match the legacy of the late eightees... 1 name i would remember is Aji Basheer...once even Princi mentioned that he heard Aji's insiring words when Unni was fouled out on one occasion..."So what if we loose 1 Unni...there are 10 other..., not sure whether these were the same exact words ,..or may be Princijust exagaratted...but i have seen matches where we scored over a hundred in 40 mins...Did u say the "late" Vivek Rajendran? the last time i heard about him was that he had joined for medicine...what happened? was like my younger bro...
what about hockey
I AM ONE OF THOSE GUYS WHO PASSED OUT IN 86 AS PART OF THE FIRST SSLC BATCH.THE BASKETBALL COURT EVOKES MEMORIES OF THE EARLY MORNING ASSEMBLEY AND THE LECTURES.THE PYTHON IN THE TINY CAGE AND BEARDED FIGURE OF OUR MATHS TEACHER ALL ARE ETCHED IN THE MEMORY EVEN TODAY.EVEN AFTER 18 YEARS IN THE INDIAN ARMY AND NOW A COLONEL I LOOK BACK AN DREAM.
My name is Thomas M.David and was called TMD in Loyola and passed my ICSE in 1976 December.I played basketball all through my stay in the Loyola boarding for six years and played in the school team for 3-4 years.The sight of a basketball court still brings back old memories and I the urge to take a lay up shot comes back even at this age of 46.Thanks for the lovely description of your basketball days.
Excellent work, Jiby
I felt as if i was on the steps again, shouting and cheering until my lungs burst, thanks!!
Sony(2000 batch)
.. and there was one thomas in tojo's batch(1991). WHen the final whistle blew, i remember him throwing the ball as high as he could in jubilation!!
jiby,
you have no idea what this blog means to me. and i guess i speak for a lot of old boys from earlier batches. i would've given my all just to play on the school team, but unfortunately i couldn't play anything due to severe health problems while i was in school. but that didn't stop my from enjoying the very spirit that loyola embodied in each and every one of us. i'm from the '90 batch and i r'ber unni's team all too well. they were simply unstoppable. but i also remember another devastatingly in-form team led by mohan singh gujjar. i wonder where he is, but all i remember is that i was in the ukg when he was one of the high school seniors in the boarding school. you're right about the demi-god status that most of the school basky team members held, especially among the juniors but at that age, we really didn't have much more to look up to.
i remember that many of the final games were washed out due to rain and can still picture the ground being wiped and rolled dry by the volunteers. in one memorable finals we had to shift the venue to the college of engg. which had an indoor court. and we ended up trouncing st. thomas in the finals. in our final year the capt. was george thomas and i think we ended up losing to st. joseph's. randeep and co. were a year junior. that was a heart-wrenching finale but i think it only egged on the juniors to fight harder and come out blazing in the following years. of course, how can we forget the large font banners printed out on an ancient dot matrix printer (which was totally high tech back then), the trumpets we smuggled out of the music room but fr. pulickal made us return without creating too much ruckus, the faux bubbly we sprayed at the end of the celebrations (ok, ok, it was pepsi or thums up, so what?...), the whole week of sore throat after the frenzied cheering, i could go on forever.
since loyola didn't have isc when we passed out, i joined st. thomas and it was a strange experience for most of us to come back to loyola wearing a different uniform, but at the same time, we were ecstatic to be there during the loyola trophy finals. for many of us, the thrill was still in the air and there was nothing about an extra strangulating cord around my neck that could dampen the spirits.
some time during my 10th, i had a surgery to correct my sinus problems and from then on, my health improved drastically. since the entrance exams took top priority there was no time to play around then. after i got into iitm, i started playing basky and was addicted to it from day one. and despite a major lack of talent and my late start, i managed to get into my hostel team. after that it was in iimc that i found myself playing basky every day. anoop c. abraham, who was in loyola too (i think '94 or '95 ISC), happened to be my batchmate and team-mate. but even though it was great to trounce the clueless xlri team, nothing ever compared to the thrill of the loyola bb finals. ever. not even when derek fischer buried the spurs with his double-buzzer beater shot.
i had the best time of my life after graduation when i came back to trivandrum and my cousin took me to the christ nagar basky court. the 2 months there got me in touch with a lot of loyolites, many of them not even in loyola when i passed out. jian, thomas john (thomachen), korah, jithin. it was great fun and i could relive the loyola team spirit then.
i hope that's all that is passed on from batch to batch. sure, it's great to win and remember the buzzer beaters and all the legends of loyola, but what is more important is what it builds among the team, the bond between even non-players, the fighting spirit that lifts us when we are down, the inspiration for people like me who never even touched the ball in school but took away a lot more than just love for a game.
Issac Mathew ('90 ICSE)
That match is still talked about when our batchmates get together.. Shenoi, Faheem Mahesh, Harish and the rest of the team are still our heroes.. Wasnt it raining when the match ended?
John, 2005 batch
Wow!!! wow!! wow!! ....was getting frustrated with some dotnet code when i stumbled upon this from ashoks site :) ...man i almost could hear the war cries and that rainy day when harish scored the winner and unlike u jiby we were fortunate enough to go ahead with our excursion,content and satisfied.To add into this one of our classmates had joined St.Joseph and was on the opposite side playing for them and i thnk for a moment even he missed being a loyolite...
i almost shouted
V.. I...C..T..O..R..Y when i read that part.. :)
Thanks Jiby for this wonderful post
Arun (2000) batch
PS: Shocking to note that we didnt win any Basky cup after that :(
hi
its so nice reliving all those basketball moments where all of us yelled our guts supporting strs and booing all u loyolites .i even got caught by the warden for thowing coins at the loyolite ....thr was so much of spirit then.
keep up the good work
Having seen Eapen & Tojo bring that frustrated yet admiring looks on the 'enemy' faces, reading this article brings to mind the picture of all Loyola (including our teachers) packed on the concrete steps shouting and praying for the team.
Nice work..!
I was in 5th i think when harish,shenoi n all won the BB cup for us.They were like gods foe us junis and it was a matter of pride when one of them spoke to us.I used to think that they are invincible and even used to tell my cousins that these "chettanmars" would beat them up if they messed with me. Great blog chetta :D
Anton,2005 batch
Very well written. This captures the emotions and passion we had during those days. Basketball was more than a game for us then. This was what brought us together. It was a great leadership and team training ground as well. I've been told about this blog by schoolmates in recent times. Amazing (after reading some of the comments) how this has struck a chord and we feel about it so many years later.
Hi this is Jose.I studied in Loyola, from grade 3 to grade 6.Tiju Philip Koshy was my classmate.Those days I loved watching the basketball team play matches in our court.And after a long while I am trying to get into touch with one of old buddy - Eapen T Joseph.He was the only one good friend I had then.If you have the contact details of him,send it to my g-mail ID kuttianikal@gmail.com
I studied in Loyola during the 1980s. Was at school the other day and saw a few guys play and exciting game of basketball on our very same legendary court. With me was my 3.5 yr old son who was so infactuated that I took him out on court after the game, lifted him up and let him feel the basket net...hope he gets to play for Loyola in a Loyola BB Tournament Final and win a cup for Loyola...I remember the demi-god named Mohan Singh Gujar from my junior school days...he is a part of basketball folklore in the school. I actually ended up on this page while trying to google his name...
I couldn't agree with you more!
Fantastic article Jiby! - only found out about it now through the Loyola old boys FB page. Brought back some amazing memories. Thanks bro..means a lot. As some others mentioned you actually did miss out the last Loyola Cup victory to date- was a real nail biter overtime victory! Keep up the great writing!
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