WWC: TALL MAN'S TALL LOVE
 |
| 10th Women?s World Cup |
January 8, 2003 
Stick2Hockey.com
> Page Views 4027
K. Arumugam
A tall man with a broad grin was standing at the main entrance. Can I go this way, I asked one of the volunteers. In Curtin stadium, it's norm not to take anything for granted even for normal things. Everyone is habituated to ask such silly questions to - and get tips too - the volunteers even for known things. Because, the organisers, in their anxiety to organise such a mega event as World Cup, made even the simple things complex.
Even before anyone shook their head, came this 6-footer. "Yes, you can, he said. After a small pause, he continued, are you the one who runs a hockey website from India. I was pleasantly surprised. Yes I nodded. Within next couple of minutes, I have found to my pleasure, our wavelength met. This man could recollect almost all the past and recent top stories of my site.
He is Adolphous Abraham, a recent migrant to Australia, from Hyderabad.
He is, to put it in his mother-in-law Stella's words'is, a handsome youngman with a noble nose, amber eyes, and good height as well, but, could have been a shade brighter.
Now I should tell how I got this description which is, to be honest, apt.
Abraham's wife Rosiena, who had taught English for more than three decades at the Minar City's most famous of schools, St.Ann's High School, Secunderabad, is a litterateur.
She could maintain her link with literature though the well-conceived and appropriately named Writer's L-Ink, a hub for such buffs in Gosnells. She has portrayed her mother in a recent book 'Forging Links' in one of her essays and the above was what her mother said about Abraham when she introduced him.
Abraham's first love it seems is sports (Sorry to say so Ms Rosiena). A good footballer and hockey player in his young days, Abraham has had the opportunity of watching some of the greatest hockey players that India has produced.
Deshmuthu is a great stylist. You have to see him to belive the way he would tackle and clear the balls. Not too many pads or armaments, just anticipation and style. He says about the great goal-keeper of yore. Probably he shares the view with Trever Vanderputt, author of Hockey's Odessey from Dhyan Chand to Charlesworth in this respect. Vanderput placed Deshmuth in his all time great Indian hockey players' list.
It's just coincedence, or providence, that both Abraham and Vanderput live nearby in the same locality.
Abraham cherishes the memory of his school, St.Joseph School, Bangalore. It's practically not possible to stop -- and why -- his artesian flow of reminiscences.
Abraham is a busy man in Perth as far as hockey is concerned. He loves to coach siblings. And he means it.
His long stint in teaching -- he is retired principal of a high profile Industrial Training Institute in Hyderabad -- has bestowed him gift of gab. He motivates the youngsters, trying all the time to bring the best in them.
Just an example. I asked be-spectacled Gani, Abraham's up-and-coming boy goalkeeper, who happened to travel with me from Perth to Delhi, as to how he enjoys the game of hockey. The 15-year old replied' Sir (Abraham) told me `You are the king inside the circle. I am trying to be so'.
This man strikes a responsive chord, and sensibly too. Sikh siblings are safe at his hands.
A personal note:
Ms Rosena wrote under `Charming Grace' in the above quoted book,
...And just being in their company made my heart sing;
I felt a pervading sweetness in the air,
The radiance they exhumed was beyond compare.
This is exactly what I felt at his home in Gosnells.
And this is what I wish for the future (Again I beg to borrow Ms Rosiena's poem)
`..They waved good-bye as they left,
And my heart felt so empty and bereft.
I realised just then and there,
Happiness is a choice beyond compare;
It cannot be acquired with money or gold,
It cannot be bought, it cannot be sold.'
Do I need to say anyting more?
Your opinion counts.
Rate this article or enter your comments below.
|
