Nostalgia: A 58 years old table tennis table

This table tennis table at Olavipe was made in early 1950. It could be possibly one of the earliest at a private residence in Kerala and one of the oldest still in use. Now the fourth generation is beginning to play on it.

In Death of a Priest Turned Layman. I had described about the TT table at our family’s Private Oratory (exclusive church - see A Kerala Tharavad.). That was where my two directly younger brothers, Mathew and Joe, and I learned the game.

Then we got our own table. After the wedding of our elder sister Mariamma (Mrs. Mathew Alapatt) in November 1949, the many wooden planks used for temporary tables were stashed away in the ‘thadi pura’ (timber shed). One of us thought of using a few of them for a TT table and Appan. agreed.

Enter Paramu, one of our regular carpenters. This short, fair and talkative chap was bored with run of the mill work. He loved a challenge, new ideas that he could transform into near perfect creations in wood. He took the measurements of the table at the church (I don’t remember from where that one was acquired) and went to work.

A couple of months later, after listening for hours to Paramu stories, we had the table. From then on, every available minute was spent playing TT. Mathew and Joe were very good and did well in State level tournaments. Later they became recognized players at Loyola College, Madras (Chennai).


Mathew had an attacking game and could hit effectively on both flanks. That pushed me into a defensive mode. Joe played an all-round game. We were inspired by the Indian tour of Victor Barna (five times World Champion) and Richard Bergmann (four times World Champion).

I think that was prior to the 1952 World Championships which was held for the first time in Asia, at Bombay. Appropriately, Hiroji Satoh of Japan won the men’s singles at that tournament ending the years of European (read Hungarian) domination of the game.

'Pings’ and ‘pongs’ were part of the sounds of our home for years. Incidentally, when the game was invented in the late 19c by the British, it was known as table tennis. Later, for a while, the label Ping Pong was used. It reverted to the original name when the Table Tennis Association was formed in England in 1926.

Now serious games on our table are rare. That is why it is kept in an outside shed with sand floor. But our grandchildren are growing up and whenever they visit Olavipe the pings and pongs would be back again.

Ends.

Photos: Table by me; it may be freely used by anyone provided that the caption ‘Table Tennis (or TT) table at Olavipe’ is given. Image of stamp is from Wikimedia Commons; it is in the Public Domain.

When strong men cried...

Yesterday, the dreams of a nation collapsed unbelievably at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. The eleven men in blue could not score 255 runs against Sri Lanka whom they had beaten at home recently and they are almost out of the latest version of cricket World Cup without even reaching the Super 8 league.

The Indians were chasing a very obtainable total. At 4/112 the position looked reasonably good. Then Yuvraj Singh took off for a suicide run. Will he ever outlive that nightmare? Dhoni would have normally handled the situation in his dashing manner, but what was going through his mind during his 3-ball stint at the crease? Fear of berserk fans again attacking his house under construction if he failed?

India still had a chance when the ‘great Indian (all-rounder) hope’ Agarker walked into the middle. His un-choreographed dance with the bat was not amusing at all. After pegging at it for ten years, Agarker still remains a ‘hope’, a distant one at that! The captain stood bravely on the burning deck. After unleashing an explosive firepower that is not normally seen from him he too left, limping back to the pavilion. The achievement of scoring his 78^th ODI half century made no difference to the outcome of the match. It was not clear from the TV shots whether there were tears in his eyes.

A great many others would have cried too. And we may, by tomorrow, get reports of protest marches, burning of effigies, self-immolation and all the rest of the madness. There might even be political fall-outs!

To say ‘Go easy, it’s only a game’ would not be correct. Cricket is big business. The Economic Times (March 19, 2007) reports that over Rs.2000 crores that include TV ads, sponsorship and so on would be in jeopardy if India were to be knocked out early from the World Cup.

Hope springs eternally in the human heart. Perhaps prayers and offerings are being made for Bermuda to beat Bangladesh tomorrow at the same venue.