New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) “Babu’s dribbling is poetry in motion” is how former New Zealand captain C V Walter once described legendary Indian hockey player K D Singh ‘Babu’, recalled author and ‘dastango’ Himanshu Bajpai.
Bajpai is all set to tell the life story of Kunwar Digvijay Singh ‘Babu’ on November 21 at the Jaipuria Institute of Management in Lucknow.
“Until we know about our heroes of the past, how are we going to make more like them in future. We also need to be thankful for the contributions of our heroes towards the country and stories like these are a medium to do that,” he told PTI.
“With ‘Dastan K D Singh Babu Ki’, my effort is to present a research-based authentic narrative of the sports legend so that more people, especially the youth, know about him and his greatness,” he said, on sidelines of an event here.
Singh was born on February 2, 1922 in Barabanki, adjoining Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. Along with hockey wizard Dhyan Chand, Singh is considered among the greatest players of the game, winning India gold medals in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.
The country is observing the centenary birth anniversary of ‘Babu’, as the extraordinary hockey player was fondly called.
“I am especially attracted to the topics related to Lucknow or Awadh. I want to tell stories across subjects, but topics linked to Lucknow or Awadh fill me with a sense of added responsibility,” Bajpai, a native of Lucknow, said.
“I had been mulling of a story on K D Singh since a long time. It’s been over a decade since this idea sprouted in my mind that people should know about his and his legacy not only as a great hockey player but as a coach and a national icon,” he said.
Bajpai said Singh’s greatness transcends his identity as a hockey player. Even after retirement, he worked as a hockey coach and proved his mettle.
He played a vital role in discovering new talent, establishing sports colleges and even helped former athletes get pension.
“All this makes him a great icon and hence, this dastan has been made,” he added.
However, Bajpai, a Yuva Sahitya Akademi Award-winning author, rued lack of research material available on the hockey player.
He said a key research material came from the book ‘The Last Whistle’ by his nephew Kunwar Raghvendra Singh.
“It’s a very detailed book on the life of K D Singh Babu. However, I also came to know that there is hardly any book on a man of his stature when there should have been thousands of books on him. It’s unfortunate,” he said.
He interacted with some people who knew Babu closely or who learnt about him deeply through various sources. He also spoke with former hockey players like Ashok Dhyan Chand, son of hockey legend Dhyan Chand, Aslam Sher Khan, who lives in Bhopal, Syed Ali in Lucknow.
“They all shared their understanding of Babu with me in great detail,” Bajpai said.
“I went through newspaper archives, magazines and also met with people in Lucknow and Barabanki who knew Babu before meeting the family members of K D Singh Babu.
“His son V V Singh helped me immensely and shared several stories and anecdotes which have remained unknown and unpublished till date,” he said.
Recounting challenges on his way, Bajpai said this is the first time a ‘dastan’ (oral story) on a sportsperson is being told and he is apprehensive of the response.
“A dastan is about historical figures or poets and this is what audiences have been listening for a long time now. I was a little doubtful as to who would come to listen to it since this is a unique dastan, first time on a sportsperson.
Moreover, the popularity of hockey in India has been replaced by cricket and the subject of my dastan is a player who left the game half a century ago and left the world 40 years ago,” he said.
“But then, I was emboldened in this effort by the thought that even if I get one person as audience, this dastan must be told with full earnestness,” he said.
His previous stories include acclaimed dastans on River Ganga, India’s freedom movement, warrior queen Laxmi Bai, Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, and Chandrashekhar Azad.
“My effort as an artist, writer and storyteller is to recreate with my dastan an atmosphere which would transport the audience to the hockey stadium and make them feel the energy of KD Singh Babu’s famous dribbles,” Bajpai said. PTI KIS RHL
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