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Havana, Harlem and Haryana – Three places linked with their “lower middle-classness”. Three places where the youth have two career options – crime or boxing.
If Havana and Harlem have produced the likes of Md. Ali, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson and the Kiltschko brothers, Haryana is the proud owner of Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar, Vikas Krishan and of course, the superstar Vijender Singh.
Stories about boxing have always fascinated us whether be it the passionate tale of the Cinderella Man or the inspiring life of an underdog Rocky Balboa. The book “Bhiwani Junction – the untold story of Boxing in India” narrates the unheard stories of passion, politics, conspiracy and ecstasy of Indian Boxing. Though cricket has been the toast of the nation for last few decades, boxing has muscled its way up to the second most followed sport in India. Author Shamya Dasgupta enthralls with us a gripping account about how Bhiwani, a small town in Haryana, became the hub of Indian Boxing.
The book starts with Vijender Singh’s bronze medal performance in Beijing. Inspired by the glamorous Hariyanvi’s success, the author embarks on a journey to find out more about the history of Indian Boxing.
He ignites the oldest debates of “where did Boxing take off in India?” Bombay or Calcutta? The answer is sketchy thanks to the poor sports administration in the country. Though one can find a considerable amount of history penned down about cricket and football, boxing however, has been one of the sports that have been sadly ignored.
The book dates boxing back to the Mahabharata where the princes were trained in the art of mustiyudha. However, the author does give us an account of organized boxing being an inheritance of the British rule. He refers to Clary Miller’s self published book “Indian Boxing: Year- by – Year”, where organized boxing has been traced back to the streets of south-central Calcutta in 1884.
As he follows Indian Boxing’s journey from Calcutta to Bombay to Madras to centres of like Karachi, Jessore, Punjab, Manipur and Mizoram, he delivers a strong left jab on the corrupted system that has misruled the game over decades. We also find out about how the Indian Army had a conflicted history with the game.
“Bhai, Bhiwani mein jis marzi ta pooch lo ki Vijender Singh ka kaunsa gaon hai, kahan ghar hai; to tanne ghar tak chhod ka aaonge…”
Though the story inclines towards being Vijender Singh’s autobiography at the beginning, the author carefully avoid the pitfall by explaining why Vijender Singh is so important for the sport. His research begins with Vijender and his career but very neatly, he meanders into the history of how Bhiwani becomes the focal point of Indian Boxing. He reveals the contributions of Jagdish coach at the SAI centre and role of NIS Patiala behind the success of Bhiwani. He intrigues us with the small yet significant tales of glory of Dingko Singh, Mohammed Ali Qamar, Pu Zoramtnanga and various other unknown boxers of India.
Explaining the Vijender factor, the author describes how one bronze medal changed the face of Boxing in the country. In the words of the author, in the pre – Vijender era, boxers struggled for their existence; forget about world class equipments and amenities.
“Dingko, back in 1998, won gold at the Asian Games in Bangkok. A combination of injuries, indiscipline and sheer bad luck meant that Dingko, despite being India’s best boxer of the period, would never better that Asian Games performance. But he was acknowledged to be the best boxer in Asia in his category. I’ve seen him dressed in a sweaty T-shirt, old trainers on his feet, and carrying a polythene packet for his spare shirt.”
Cut to 2012, post Vijender era, the effect is all around the country.
“The boys here are out of a Hollywood fight club. Hoods, jumpers, boxing jackets, anoraks; swooshes and suchlike noises coming on their feet. As they walk into the hall, they could almost be Mark Wahlberg or Christian Bale going out for training in The Fighter.”
Now Vijender didn’t do it all by himself. The government of Haryana focused on the sports in a very big way. Boxing arrived in Bhiwani a long time back when the first SAI centre was set up under the supervision of Captain Hawa Singh. So the passion was always there. Vijender ignited it and took it to a different level. Since then, they have invested in infrastructure and world class facilities and the results have certainly shown. Vijender Singh has grabbed the billboards, shot commercials with the femme fatales of Bollywood, Akhil Kumar has shaken a leg in celebrity dance shows and India is going to the London with its largest boxing contingent ever.
The author captures all these stories in a lucid and humorous way. The language is simple, hence enjoyable. The various incidents from the past and the present dove tail aptly making it an interesting read. So you don’t need to be a boxing fan to understand the intricacies of the book because the approach of the writer is more of that an explorer, not that of an expert. We travel with him, learn with him and hence identify with him. But again as the author says “No two people ever say the same thing even if they are talking about the same event…” So grab your copy and decide for yourself.
As for me… “Bhiwani Junction” is definitely packing the right punch!
