September 26, 2009

Watch sport at stadiums

The Bertram tournaments hosted by Loyola College are on top of the calendar at this Jesuit institution in Nungambakkam.

Almost all the young stars in tennis, basketball, volleyball, shuttle and table tennis have etched their names on the rolling trophies here.

The matches in the final stages would draw a sizeable audience especially when word went around that someone big was to play.

In my time at Loyola, the volleyball games were tight affairs and were fought to the last point. Besides the host, teams from Tirupattur and Tiruchi provided us with some outstanding matches. And when classmate Dinesh told us that he has entered the top league in the tennis singles, we would head to the court where our cries would be drowned by the roll of the electric trains on the Beach-Tambaram lines.

The Asia Womens Basketball Championship which was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Periamet last fortnight gave us an opportunity to watch some excellent sport. Some of us decided to head to the stadium on the weekend.

Such trips can get interesting if you go off the beaten track.

So instead of rushing to the stadium one evening we turned into the Periamet neighbourhood.

Periamet is a small hub for the leather goods business. You can also shop for caps, uniforms, belts and other such accessories. A 4 x 10 shop has interesting things to offer.

Periamet is also the hub of the Muslim community. And since it was Ramzan time, there was a buzz in the air.

Food was on our mind and we did not have to go far to locate a counter at a hotel which had just received a fresh supply of haleem, kebabs and custard. There were dozens of hands fighting for the parcels and it didn’t cost us much to snack and pack some for people at home.

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