It’s not often that you go to a different city with your college
folk, play sports, sledge, and cheer, make noise and have fun,
especially if you are in a B-school, and a top one at that! But that’s
exactly what happened for 30-odd adventurous folks of NMIMS, over the
last weekend of July 2014.
Our contingent for Valhalla, the flagship cultural event of XLRI Jamshedpur, reached the XLRI campus on Friday evening, the 25th of July, for what would turn out to be one of our most memorable events. On reaching the Tatanagar railway station, we were received by a liaison officer, a first year Sardar student, good man. He had come to pick us up in a van. The journey to the XLRI campus was smooth as silk. A little bit of rain made the atmosphere pleasant, it was a 30-minute travel to the sprawling campus. Accommodation was provided in XLRI’s newly constructed hostel – we were possibly the first ones to occupy it, for, XL’s own students had not yet ‘experienced’ it.
As soon as the rooms were allotted, the mobile phones found their charging. Then one laptop charger found the same three holes, the footballers had FIFA ’13 to while away the time until fixtures were put. Girls were accommodated in 2nd floor and boys were put in the 3rd. Hostel WiFi made us happy. While some played Table Tennis in the beautiful building opposite the hostel, one man was busy with his selfies in the same place.
There were eight premier B-schools participating in the festival – IIM Calcutta, XIM – Bhubaneswar, FMS Delhi, IIM Ranchi, IIT Kharagpur, SIBM Pune, NMIMS and the hosts themselves, XLRI. In pretty much all sports – Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Chess, Throwball, Table Tennis and Badminton, these times competed against each other. All events followed a similar pattern – First round was a round of 8, Second round was the semis, followed by the final; each losing team knocked out every round.
The action began with our football team taking on IIM Ranchi.
Not for nothing they call football, the glorious sun-setting game. The half time was for 25 minutes. Our boys had possession of over 80% in the first and second halves. We had the ball all the time, all the time, but couldn’t convert the possession. It was all fair and square at 0-0 after the 50-minute full time. In between, one of our boys was injured and had to be taken off. It was brutal; the pitch was heavily damaged due to the rains. Rain is normal in football, but waterlogged pitch with lot of wet soil is not. Though the XL organizers tried their best to mitigate the damage, nature was more powerful, it took a toll on the players.
The extra times of 15 minutes each proved to be disastrous for us. IIM Ranchi sneaked in one goal and eliminated our team. How IIM Ranchi lost 0-4 to SIBM Pune in the Semis is another story, more about it later. Still it feels good to mention it ‘as a passing observation’ here! It was a ruthless game of football considering the tumultuous weather conditions and the soggy field.
Post lunch, many events began in tandem – Badminton for men and women, Chess… the festival was heating up. Of course, Valhalla was not just about sports; there were street-plays, fashion shows, fusion music, and what not.
“If you get a chance,
Be a player, rather than a spectator”
Few things are better than playing football in rain. If you don’t believe us, ask these guys!
“Saying forever young,
Singing song underneath the sun,
Let’s rejoice in the beautiful game,
And together at the end of the day!”
We had a contingent of just 36 – by what we observed in XL, it was a relatively small size. This meant that some of them had to play more than one sport – it was a physically daunting task; especially for those who played more outdoor sports. The case was not isolated just to our contingent though. Our chess team’s opponents for Round one, IIM Ranchi, ran straight from the football field and asked for 30 minutes’ time to refresh. Sad sight, we had to consider. The same players moved pieces against us. Factors like these made some sports like Table Tennis, Badminton go on till 3 AM. Too much idle time…
“Sports can be cruel, sometimes!”
Apart from football, we had Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Table Tennis and Chess on day one for men. For women, we had Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton and Table Tennis. Our dedicated Anisha did a wonderful job of co-ordinating all sports for our contingent, she was the SPOC. A hard task that! We also had a Whatsapp group for the contingent, yeah, can’t do without, and our very own Sports Secretary Chandra Shekar was more than willingly asking for updates time and again. Good man he. But for his attendance issues, he would have added more ammunition for our Table Tennis team. All said and done, the fest was followed with interest from Mumbai.
Cheer till the end! Doesn’t matter what time of day it is! Go NM!
Day one was sweet and sour, with a lot of sweat. Some of our teams were knocked-out; some lived to fight on the final day.
It will be incomplete if I forget to mention the rivalry between XLRI and IIM-Calcutta – the two teams which added a lot of action, revenge and street-fighting into the festival. A rivalry of over forty years… Well, it just ‘shows’! The sledging is absolutely brutal, no holds barred. The sledging occurs in many languages – Tamil, Hindi, English, mostly Hindi. And yes, the ‘words’ are used. No one knows why they fight, but they fight hard all the same, on the field, off the field, and everywhere in between. In one of the events, IIM-C walked out of a match in the middle. Chaos is the word. The fact that these students get holidays to prepare the slogans, dance and shouting adds more Bollywood-type masala to this already nasty rivalry. I will state no further! All I can say is, we enjoyed these too!
That brings us to the end of day one action at XLRI Valhalla. We did miss watching the other ‘academic’, ‘cultural’ and ‘variety’ events held there, but hey, nothing equals wearing your team jersey and giving your best on the field. Or for that matter, watching our teams take on others, and cheering them. Why sit inside closed rooms and sulk in air-conditioned spaces?
Until next time, whistle podu! Go NM!
Our contingent for Valhalla, the flagship cultural event of XLRI Jamshedpur, reached the XLRI campus on Friday evening, the 25th of July, for what would turn out to be one of our most memorable events. On reaching the Tatanagar railway station, we were received by a liaison officer, a first year Sardar student, good man. He had come to pick us up in a van. The journey to the XLRI campus was smooth as silk. A little bit of rain made the atmosphere pleasant, it was a 30-minute travel to the sprawling campus. Accommodation was provided in XLRI’s newly constructed hostel – we were possibly the first ones to occupy it, for, XL’s own students had not yet ‘experienced’ it.
As soon as the rooms were allotted, the mobile phones found their charging. Then one laptop charger found the same three holes, the footballers had FIFA ’13 to while away the time until fixtures were put. Girls were accommodated in 2nd floor and boys were put in the 3rd. Hostel WiFi made us happy. While some played Table Tennis in the beautiful building opposite the hostel, one man was busy with his selfies in the same place.
(L-R) Arun, The selfie boy Vijayendra, Priyanka, Kirti
Fresh air with silence, which is a rarity in Mumbai, was abundant in
Jamshedpur. For souls used to the fast-paced life of Mumbai, this was a
much needed retreat. Life is but a dream! No one was in the mood to
sleep till the fixtures came. The fixtures arrived late in the night,
much to the relief of all.There were eight premier B-schools participating in the festival – IIM Calcutta, XIM – Bhubaneswar, FMS Delhi, IIM Ranchi, IIT Kharagpur, SIBM Pune, NMIMS and the hosts themselves, XLRI. In pretty much all sports – Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Chess, Throwball, Table Tennis and Badminton, these times competed against each other. All events followed a similar pattern – First round was a round of 8, Second round was the semis, followed by the final; each losing team knocked out every round.
The action began with our football team taking on IIM Ranchi.
Not for nothing they call football, the glorious sun-setting game. The half time was for 25 minutes. Our boys had possession of over 80% in the first and second halves. We had the ball all the time, all the time, but couldn’t convert the possession. It was all fair and square at 0-0 after the 50-minute full time. In between, one of our boys was injured and had to be taken off. It was brutal; the pitch was heavily damaged due to the rains. Rain is normal in football, but waterlogged pitch with lot of wet soil is not. Though the XL organizers tried their best to mitigate the damage, nature was more powerful, it took a toll on the players.
The extra times of 15 minutes each proved to be disastrous for us. IIM Ranchi sneaked in one goal and eliminated our team. How IIM Ranchi lost 0-4 to SIBM Pune in the Semis is another story, more about it later. Still it feels good to mention it ‘as a passing observation’ here! It was a ruthless game of football considering the tumultuous weather conditions and the soggy field.
Post lunch, many events began in tandem – Badminton for men and women, Chess… the festival was heating up. Of course, Valhalla was not just about sports; there were street-plays, fashion shows, fusion music, and what not.
“If you get a chance,
Be a player, rather than a spectator”
Few things are better than playing football in rain. If you don’t believe us, ask these guys!
“Saying forever young,
Singing song underneath the sun,
Let’s rejoice in the beautiful game,
And together at the end of the day!”
We had a contingent of just 36 – by what we observed in XL, it was a relatively small size. This meant that some of them had to play more than one sport – it was a physically daunting task; especially for those who played more outdoor sports. The case was not isolated just to our contingent though. Our chess team’s opponents for Round one, IIM Ranchi, ran straight from the football field and asked for 30 minutes’ time to refresh. Sad sight, we had to consider. The same players moved pieces against us. Factors like these made some sports like Table Tennis, Badminton go on till 3 AM. Too much idle time…
“Sports can be cruel, sometimes!”
Apart from football, we had Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Table Tennis and Chess on day one for men. For women, we had Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton and Table Tennis. Our dedicated Anisha did a wonderful job of co-ordinating all sports for our contingent, she was the SPOC. A hard task that! We also had a Whatsapp group for the contingent, yeah, can’t do without, and our very own Sports Secretary Chandra Shekar was more than willingly asking for updates time and again. Good man he. But for his attendance issues, he would have added more ammunition for our Table Tennis team. All said and done, the fest was followed with interest from Mumbai.
Cheer till the end! Doesn’t matter what time of day it is! Go NM!
Day one was sweet and sour, with a lot of sweat. Some of our teams were knocked-out; some lived to fight on the final day.
It will be incomplete if I forget to mention the rivalry between XLRI and IIM-Calcutta – the two teams which added a lot of action, revenge and street-fighting into the festival. A rivalry of over forty years… Well, it just ‘shows’! The sledging is absolutely brutal, no holds barred. The sledging occurs in many languages – Tamil, Hindi, English, mostly Hindi. And yes, the ‘words’ are used. No one knows why they fight, but they fight hard all the same, on the field, off the field, and everywhere in between. In one of the events, IIM-C walked out of a match in the middle. Chaos is the word. The fact that these students get holidays to prepare the slogans, dance and shouting adds more Bollywood-type masala to this already nasty rivalry. I will state no further! All I can say is, we enjoyed these too!
That brings us to the end of day one action at XLRI Valhalla. We did miss watching the other ‘academic’, ‘cultural’ and ‘variety’ events held there, but hey, nothing equals wearing your team jersey and giving your best on the field. Or for that matter, watching our teams take on others, and cheering them. Why sit inside closed rooms and sulk in air-conditioned spaces?
Until next time, whistle podu! Go NM!
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