Kazhak memoirs – Part 5

First of all, I apologise to my dear readers, for this 3-month lull. Let me turn the flow on.

Kazhak – rejoice unbounded. One place where u can find the entire kazhak energy peaking is the playground, esp., during the inter-house tournaments. Every sport is played, rather fought as a battle, between the rival houses in all levels. At the heat of the fierce encounters can be felt throughout the entire campus.

Cricket, football, hocket, basket ball, volleyball and boxing (anything more?). Whatever the game, whoever plays, full-strength is always present to cheer for their gladiators. The energy the cheers radiate is more important to us than the outcome of the clashes. The spirit of team, the sense of belonging are what matter. Even if our team doesn’t win a match, the whole house is there to support an ally team at their progressive encounters.

I have to make a special mention of the boxing tournament. It’s something that is not so common at school level. But our boxing bouts are really phenomenal and classic. The rings are prepared for the duels. One open air (beside the auditorium), another indoor (made on the podium of the auditorium). The junior & sub-junior level matches take place in the out-door ring and the main events (seniors) take place in the audi. Different categories of encounters based on weight. The nominations for all categories from each house is sent a week in advance. This is when we see, most guys work out very hard. If there are two heavy-weight guys in the same house. The second-in-class boxer in made to work out heavily, to bring his weight down to fit into a lower weight category. Then, posters are put up at different places in the campus, in support of the contestants. Really interesting posters showcasing the heroics of the boxers and warning signs for the rivals are put up. This is when one can see Rockies, Rambos, Bheems, Arjuns,… moving around in the kazhak campus.

On the D-day, it’s a marvellous sight to watch the clash of titans. The auditorium thundering, the boxers bash and bleed. Every sort of game has been witnessed by the kazhak auditorium. Decent ones, bloody battles, knout-outs (some 1st shot knockouts – match over in a couple of sec), never give-up ones (rock kinda ones) and what not. It’s a great feeling to watch and feel the reverberations of such duels. A salute to our kazhak gladiators.

Another sporting event of importance for the kazhaks is the Atheletics meet. It’s like some sort of Olympics for us. All track and field events take place during the entire week of the meet. The soil of the kazhak ground is salted with the sweat of these champions, all through these years. It’s a fight to outnumber the medals of the opponents.

Almost in the same month, we have the kazhak cross-country race. I don’t remember the exact distance of the race. Must be around 5 km for subjunior level and about 7 & 9 for the junior and senior levels. We begin the practise runs a week before the main race. The whole house runs. There are always a group of boys (I belong here), about 30-40, who run the first 2 km and walk the rest. The last ten ‘meet the leader’ after lunch (Read previous posts). It’s my habit to meet him daily. On the D-day about 50 students from each house run the distance. Every year records keep breaking. I must tell you, it was a great feeling for me, even to complete the race. Pierre de coubertin's words keep inspiring me. I was never a sporting winner, but cherished every moment like i did.