Kabaddi memories

15 years ago there was a popular Asian sport on British television.

Slotted in next to Transworld Sport on Saturday morning's in the UK, Kabaddi took the nation by storm for a year or so before being unexplainably taken away.

There were teams such as the West Bengal Police Force playing a game similar to 'tag' and it featured a small playing area with teams of five in each half, with the aim that one player would attempt to touch as many opponents as possible, by venturing into their half and returning without being caught. The only catch was to hold your breath for as long as possible while saying 'Kabaddi'. A game of strength, speed, agility, lungpower and tactics - I loved it.

According to the Nagpur District website, Kabaddi and Akhada (Indian wrestling) play a traditional village life with many sport meetings held in the wrestling pits around the city 'sometimes ending in disturbance'.

I couldn't find any sign of these two sports during my stay, while journalists said Kabaddi was rarely played in schools these days and Akhada was now consigned to local gyms.

However, both sports still feature at the Asian games and at National level, so much so that wrestling hit front page news here last month when a woman junior gold medalist took on a 14-year-old wrestler with the frightening name of Babloo Yadav.

It was the main attraction at the All India Wrestling Championships while the organiser allayed any fears of shady activity by stating there would be "no fixing and the match will be played with true spirit".

Watched by thousands, the boy prevailed in a tough 25-minute encounter but the girl was hailed for her efforts; the locals here will be doing the same to Monty Panesar on Thursday whatever his figures.

Teachings and tuk-tuks

It is exam season here in Nagpur and crowds are expected to be low for the first three days of the first Test. Apparently no one thought of delaying the Test match so that local kids could come and watch their heroes, who themselves rarely make it to these parts.

But a heart-rending exam story reaches Nobok of one tribal woman in West Bengal who went into labour the night before she was due to take her final examinations last week.

She duly delivered her first born but was then so eager to pursue her career dreams that she asked medical staff if she could take her seat for her second paper, a mere hour after being unconscious in hospital.

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Auto-rickshaws, the cheap three-wheeled form of transport, are second to motorbikes on the roads in these parts. It's the same in Mumbai, the Bollywood capital of the world, where rickshaws are restricted to the suburbs by the exhilarating chaos of rush-hour in the city.

This diary is also surprised to report a lack of congenial banter with rickshaw drivers. Maybe it's just Nagpur but it made me recall a trip to Colombo and a drive with one of the capital's famed tuk-tuk drivers there. The Sri Lankan's three-wheeler was emblazoned with stickers bearing catchphrases like 'Luv-erly Jub-erly' and, along the way, he asked for details of the latest episode of Blind Date, and if Les and Judie got on during their date in Lanzarote.