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TEN.

Ed Speak: The lead-up to BOSM 2012 was rife with issues. Problem after problem presented itself, both of the conceiva-

ble and the inconceivable variety. Each issue which came to the fore, ready to hinder or even halt the advent of

BOSM, was forced to back away due to the concerted efforts of the entire BOSM 2012 organizing team. Eve-

ryone (secretaries, the institute, CoSSAcns, departments, clubs, sports teams, volunteers, workers, everyone) has

been committed to ensuring the success of the 27th edition of our sports fest. The evidence is obvious – a stel-

lar inauguration ceremony complete with a peerless chief guest and guests of honour, a juggling act unlike any

other opening event seen in BITS, and the highly encouraging turn-out, which saw the Auditorium packed to

the hilt.

Sadly, despite all this, we are presented with seemingly yet another crisis – the rain. The blitzkrieg that BOSM

was subjected to has forced many to question yet again whether BOSM 2012 can even continue. “Rained-out

courts, flooded fields; can we really expect anything?” What is the average BITSian to do, in a situation like

this?

Keep calm and carry on.

The organizing team started its work on BOSM 2012 keeping in mind the basic tenet of “expect the best while

preparing for the worst.” Contingency plans have been outlined to ensure that as many events happen as possi-

ble. Again, one need only look at the speed at which an outdoor event was turned into an indoor event, with

little delay. Gone are the days of hand-dragged nets to clear the rain – this year‟s fest will feature machine-

based super-mops to dry up the courts as fast as possible (similar to the ones used in professional tennis

matches). The football and cricket fields have been designed to drain as much water as possible. Swimming and

SAC events, wherever possible, will run as scheduled.

The opening day was a blitzkrieg of biblical proportions, but the battle is not over. Four days remain, and a

well-equipped, well prepared organizing team stand sentinel to ensure that the fest goes on. Also, Snickers!

The Team Deepa, Dipto, Iyer, Neetha, Parikshit, Reuben, Rishi, Satyaam, Shreyas, Shruti, Sriram, Shoo, Vishwadeep; IG,

Aloor, Angad, Kaustav, Manickam, Mohit, Neo, Pranita, Spriha, Siddhant, Tanya, Vishala, Shuja; Ajay, Amulya,

Debolina, Neel, Nithya, Passey, Prateek, Ramya, Ritvik, Dumir, Khatkar, Shashank, Shruti, Steffie, Viraaj; Pratik,

Tanay, Vijay, Ananth, Anish, Rahul, Tanmayee, Soumya, Ayush, Rounaq.

Issue 2|Day 1— 14th September 2012

A BOSM English Press Presentation

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Sun, clouds, rain; thus began the 27th BITS Open Sports Meet, with boys and girls from different col-leges of India (and Sri Lanka) pouring into the Audi-torium after an impromptu change of venue. The BOSM 2012 inaugural ceremony started off with an introduction of the members of the CoSSAc body, followed by the lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest, Saba Karim, and the Guests of Honour, Charles Borromeo and Andrea Thumshirn. The speech by the Sports Secretary, Syed Ain Ahmed, reiterated the effort that had been put in to make the seemingly impossible fest a reality, was met with an encouraging round of applause.

Director G. Raghurama, then extended a warm wel-come to all the participants and appreciated their spirit and cooperation. He assured that BOSM this year would be worth every trouble and wished every-one the very best of luck.

Striking a chord immediately with the jam packed crowd, Saba Karim exclaimed that he‟d realized that BITS was the place to be for “almost” everything. He then went on to explain the three tenets he had based his life upon: obsession for whatever one wants to do, preparation for it, and maintaining in-tegrity throughout any venture.

Charles Borromeo, the Guest of Honour, empha-sised on the value of hard work and firm belief. In a very magnanimous gesture, he agreed to offer any

sort of help he could provide for the infrastructure, or improvement of the institute sports facilities. He also focussed on the importance of an ethical conduct in sports and encouraged all participants to play fair.

The other Guest of Honour, Andrea Thumshirn is a former hockey player from Germany. She is currently residing in a village in Rajasthan, where she teaches hockey to kids who had never heard of our national sport before. Explaining how she landed in this corner of the world, far away from Germany, she said that her profession as a travel agent resulted in her falling in love with the country. Despite the linguistic barriers, she managed to build teams who have played national level matches.

The speeches were followed by an oath, which laid a great deal of emphasis on the importance of avoiding doping and drugs.

A brilliant show put up by renowned jugglers The Jo-seph Brothers, showcasing exemplary coordination and skill, earned them numerous standing ovations from the audience. This was followed by an energetic perfor-mance by the Dance Club who adjusted to the dimen-sions of the stage brilliantly after the impromptu venue change.

The inaugural ceremony finally concluded with Charles Borromeo declaring the meet open and a vote of thanks by the Joint Sports Secretary.

Inauguration

Interview with Saba Karim

Leaving behind an auditorium in uproar in the midst of a vivacious, vibrant and sportive (with due re-gards to BOSM) display of BITSian organizational might, the BEP tried to get Mr. Saba Karim to talk as he was leaving the inauguration ceremony. Owing to other commitments, however, he couldn‟t spare much time. But after his address at the ceremony two minutes would have sufficed to gauge his feel-ings; five were more than ample.

We started the quick-fire talk by asking him how it felt to be present at a college sports fest, watching young students pursue their sporting passions along-side studies. Mr Karim said that it lightened up his heart to see such a huge participation for a sporting event in what he considered to be „a hub of knowledge‟.

We then asked him how it felt to walk out on the field on an international stage, donning the Indian colours. “It‟s a different [feeling]; it‟s difficult to de-scribe,” he said, reminiscing. Touching a sensitive note, we asked him about his injury that side-lined

him from the national team, and how he coped with it. Displaying the tranquillity that becomes a thorough-bred sportsman, he hardly flinched as he told us about the support of his family and friends that motivated him and helped him move on. He admitted that he was obsessed with the game, but he came to realize that there was more to life than cricket.

When asked about the most savoured moment of his cricketing career, Mr Karim said that his international test debut was something he treasured as a milestone. Finally on a departing note we asked for any advice he wished to convey to the budding cricketers on campus. His response only made more transparent his passion for the game - “Dedication and passion comes naturally if you are obsessive about cricket, or any sport for that matter. Cricket is not just 6 hours on the field; cricket is a 24x7 process which can only happen if you‟re ob-sessed about it.” With this the BEP bid adieu to the man who managed to infuse his quest for sports obses-sion into the BITSian population in so short a stay at the campus.

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Inauguration Interview with Andrea Thumshirn

One-and-a-half-hours after the inauguration ceremo-ny, BEP caught up with the German field hockey player and Guest of Honour Andrea Thumshirn, hoping she wasn‟t too tired. Fortunately, her wide smile and animated voice assured us otherwise; here are some excerpts from the interview:

BEP: It‟s an honour to have you here. A hockey player from the age of six! What motivated you to take up sports as a hobby and later as a career?

Andrea: I come from a family with a background in sports. My father and grandfather were part of the local sport clubs. So I was in all kinds of sports from the very beginning. Once the hockey coach saw me and remarked to my parents, “Why doesn‟t your daughter play hockey?” That‟s how I started to learn it.

I guess it suited me best. It was much more fun and exciting than, say gymnastics. *does a flourish with her arms* Infact, my grandmother was my gymnas-tics coach and I was so scared to tell her that I was-n‟t going to pursue it. But yes, hockey appealed to me on a more personal level than anything else.

BEP: What differences do you see in the sporting culture and environment of India and a country like Germany?

Andrea: The whole approach towards sports is dif-ferent. In Germany, sports are a major part of our daily lives; parents don‟t mind us spending time on sports. Here, they are often viewed as a distraction from academics, a waste of time. But in fact, it‟s a healthy body that makes up a healthy mind.

Another aspect is the varied public opinion regard-ing different sports. Also, the support and hype is very short-lived. As soon as a team encounters a rough phase, the public forgets them at the drop of a hat. Something similar happened to the hype gener-ated by Chak De India.

It‟s also very individualistic. You‟ll always find head-lines like “So-and-so scores so-many goals”, whereas in Germany it‟s “Team wins by so many goals.”

BEP: You are currently living in a small village, Garh Himmat Singh, teaching school children hock-ey. How did that happen?

Andrea: I love India and my job kept bringing me back here. My business partner in Jaipur first brought me to the village. It‟s an intriguing place, time just stands still there.

During one visit, we gave the kids of the village some hockey sticks, which they started hitting each

other with; they didn‟t know what the sticks were used for! That‟s when I started to think about teaching.

BEP: You must have had problems in starting a ven-ture like that.

Andrea: Yeah, the parents were very sceptical about my dedication to this cause, and even after I perma-nently shifted to India last October, they were under the impression that I had some underlying motive be-hind it. There was also a rumour that I would take the kids on a tournament and then sell their kidneys!

BEP: So how did you manage to convince them? And what kept you going?

Andrea: Once things picked up, there was a newspaper article about how their kids would visit new places, learn different things. So, they started accepting it slow-ly.

As to what kept me going, it was the kids! The smiles on their faces when they play are worth everything. Moreover, in situations like these, you learn to adapt, appreciate and value things you took for granted be-fore.

BEP :When it comes to sports in India, women play-ers are a rare sight. How do you think that can be re-solved?

Andrea: Everyone needs to have an open mind. The stereotypes and the conservatism is what‟s preventing growth in this field. But if you give them an opportuni-ty, girls are very enthusiastic.

BEP: What do you think of fests like BOSM? How much do they help in improving the sports scenario?

Andrea: These fests are building blocks of the sporting culture. I haven‟t been to a university fest before and I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the crowd and the involvement of the students. In fact, I think it would be better if such events started at the school lev-el too.

BEP: Finally, any message to the participants who might be disappointed with the rain?

Andrea: As my mother says, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only a bad wardrobe.” At the worst, you can have water sports! *laughs* Jokes apart, make the best of what you have. The conditions will be the same for everyone, so no one will have any advantage. Keep smiling.

We are sure that Andrea‟s words and actions will in-spire everyone who respects and loves sports, for it is not only on the field that we must train ourselves, it is also our brain that needs some oiling.

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The rain gods have spoken. Like déjà vu, they blessed

us yet again and came crashing down on all and sun-

dry. Such was their might that the ceremony was

moved to higher grounds, a.k.a the Auditorium. Brav-

ing all elements, the 27th edition of the BITS Open

Sports Meet, affectionately known as BOSM, kicked

off in all the gusto that could be mustered.

The guest of honour was Mr. Charles Borromeo, a

celebrated track and field athlete. A Padma Shri and

Arjuna Award recipient, it would not be an exaggera-

tion to count him in the ranks of P.T. Usha and Jeev

Milkha Singh. He won 31 out of the 32 times that he

represented India at a competitive level, and was the

first ever Indian to break the resilient 1:47 barrier at

the 1982 Asian Games – a record that went unbroken

for the next two decades.

Looking back at the days of yore, he tells us about his

own college days; how he was a jack of all trades, hav-

ing dabbled even in horticulture. Spurred on by his

family, he took up athletics after having studied Eco-

nomics and Psychology at St. Xaviers; and as they say,

the rest is history. From representing India at the ten-

der age of nineteen at the World University Games,

Mexico City in 1979 to his epic 1982 win, this man

from Devakottai, Tamil Nadu, has never looked back.

“Though I can easily count my wins, my countless

losses in the beginning were what shaped me, with

each one ending up becoming pillars to my success”,

he states.

“It is not that Indian athletes are nonexistent, it is just

that their proportion is very less. They are up to the

Asian level or at least used to be, but sadly that is no

longer true” he says. Though some of the integral tools

in the making of a successful athlete, namely Yoga and

meditation, are part and parcel of Indian heritage, not

much research has gone into translating the groundwork

into successful reality. Cricket is not the prima donna,

the other sports have simply not been marketed to the

same extent despite having stalwarts for ambassadors.

Concerted efforts have to be made in order to convert

college level athletes into international players.

Sport invariably infuses its energy into things associated

with it, which is why integrating it with academics in a

structured manner is an excellent concept –a feat that all

colleges have achieved in the recent past. Due to this

very reason, BOSM is an excellent concept. Having seen

extreme ups and lows, sportspeople tend to be better at

controlling the finer aspects of life.

In a conversation peppered with anecdotes, he told us

the importance of sports; about running with broken

knees and people who went on to become world cham-

pions because they never gave up. He shared the stage

during his prime with renowned world champions like

Edwin Moses, Lord Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson

etc. Each one, a burning example of this never-say-die-

attitude. As they say, you can take the athlete away from

the field, but not its spirit away from the athlete. Well,

this clearly manifests itself in Charles Borromeo.

Interview with Charles Borromeo

The woah—an unintended irony

TBC!

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BOSM- The BITS Open Sports Meet. The only large scale sports fest in BITS.

There is much to be sardonic about, with respect to this fest; still, why do we look forward to this rather hyped event?

It surfaces as our very first fest on campus, just when we start getting used to the routine college life. It is the first opportunity for enthusiastic new recruits wishing to contribute and “hone their skills”, or so they say. For those not interested in the work, it might just turn out to be another excuse for socializ-ing, meeting new people and making more friends. Apart from that, a few novelties are assured, like fan-cy treats from charitable seniors.

On a serious note, it is the only indigenous platform for BITSians to showcase their sporting talents- it

being an entirely non-engineering and optional as-pect of our education- and not miss out on playing at a competitive level. Many of the games bring out team spirit among the players and they say that there is no better sight than to see BITSians coming out to cheer for their home team. It is certainly a delightful change from hostel politics and inter-departmental, well, er, rivalry.

In a nutshell, here we are, a mere six weeks into our college education and bang in the middle of the fren-zy surrounding a fest in a place like Pilani. The ex-citement is contagious. Even though we still do not fully understand how it works, we cannot help but admire how this big event is organized entirely by fellow students, with hardly any professional creden-tials. Yet it‟s remarkable how it still manages to be a bigger success with every passing year.

BOSM—A first Yearite’s Perspective

Across

2. Wisden cricketer of the year 1978, England’s second highest wicket taker, changed his name after his favourite musician (6)

5. Only tennis player to win the Calendar Year Golden Slam (4)

6. WRC Rally Champion, died from brain tumor in 2005 (5)

8. Most successful Moto GP champion (8) 9. Welsh national football team captain, also very pop-

ular with Guy Ritchie (11) 11. The NBA Most Valuable Player Award is named the

X Trophy, after the first president of the NBA (8) 14. Holds the record for the most career NBA points

with 38,387 points (11) Down 1. Connect: Vienna, Leningrad, Stonewall. Indian, Sicil-

ian, Catalan (5) 3. Only player to win both Moto GP and F1 (7) 4. National sport of Argentina, also name of a famous

Brazilian striker (4) 7. Chelsea president for life, also loves Gandhi (12) 10. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated a rec-ord 49 times (6) 12. Ex-FC Barcelona and Real Madrid player, only player

to have won 5-0 on both sides of the El Clasico (7) 13. Only player to score triple century in second innings

of a test match (5)

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