Sporting Clube de Shanti Kunj

It's hard to beat acres and acres of cool mixed oak and deodar forest for sheer beauty.  The paper tells us that parts of India are as hot as 48 C - which is hard to imagine in the cool air Landour at 2000+ meters above sea level.   And so we drink deeply of the forest air and wander off on little expeditions in the forests each day.

But then again - how many day-hikes can you take?  Especially when you have four very active young people at hand - including Enoch for whom sport ranks somewhere near godliness.

 And so the front courtyard of Shanti Kunj has had its share of sporting encounters over the last few days.

Mindful of my bad back - which I managed to 'throw' the last two years we came up to Mussoorie - I have not launched myself fully into the the melee - but when you have a winsome lad urging all and sundry to hit the court - what can you do?

Last year badminton was all the rage - but the sorry state of the racquets seems to have cooled this season's desire.   Instead - having John and Nalini and the kids here has opened up the door for some basketball. 

 Its wonderful to have a net at a level that you can dunk in without having to leave the ground too much...

But the game of this season is 'baseball' - Shanti Kunj style.   We play on a miniscule diamond, with young and old drafted in and a large softball helping most of us to actually connect.

Teams are drawn up and whole games gone through - with arcane rules like stealing of bases - being carefully learned and practiced.

When we were small, Mum and Dad would take us to Kodaikanal for our summer hols.  One of the high-lights for me was watching the annual baseball game between the graduating class of Kodai International School and the alumni.  It was part of their graduation weekend - and was billed as the 'embryos' vs. the 'fossils.'

History repeats itself.  Here in Shanti Kunj we have two clearly demarcated teams.  The first is made up of the young 'uns -  Asha, Nikita, Enoch and Jasper who called themselves the 'Fresh Ferns'.  The other team is made up of the others!  All us older folks are clubbed into the 'Oldie Oaks' and so our last epic game took place yesterday.

The scoreboard before the game.  No inkling of what was to take place.

When the dust had settled, we were comprehensively beaten - by a score which could never have taken place in a real baseball game - but was all too possible in the Sporting Clube de Shanti Kunj:  Fresh Ferns beat Oldie Oaks by 50 runs to 30!

 And so we add golden memories to the golden evening sun that washes through the oaks around us.  The joy of games on summer evenings.  Vive la sport!