MY DAYS IN SCHOOL - BOXING IN THE CLASSROOM !

MY DAYS IN SCHOOL - BOXING IN THE CLASSROOM !

Boxing, as a sport, is believed to have been popularised in India by the British through the Army. Every cantonment had at least one boxing team. The boxers were young soldiers, or jawans, given time off from regular duties to focus on training and practice. They were trained by veterans and put on special diets aimed at building their muscles and stamina. Each centre had its annual boxing tournament and vied with other centres for top honours.

I remember, during the mid nineteen sixties, as a boy of some ten or eleven years, standing by the road outside my house near Madras Engineering Group & Centre (MEG) on the banks of the Ulsoor Lake and watching with awe the groups of boxers, with their boxing gloves on, jogging around the lake and practicing their jabs and cuts.

We schoolboys were allowed inside the MEG campus to witness the boxing matches. Oh, what a thrill it was to see the top pugilists spar with one another, “floating like butterflies and stinging like bees” (a phrase made famous by the legendary Muhammad Ali)! I still recall the exploits of MEG's champion boxer "Tiger" Subramani during the mid-sixties.

During the nineteen forties and fifties, Bangalore was home to several well known boxers, including some who were in the world rankings during their heydays. The exploits of "Tiger" Nat Terry, Gunboat Jack and Arthur Suares are well documented.

Our school, St. Germain High School, was the cradle of boxing talent in Bangalore. But some time during the late fifties (or early sixties), boxing was stopped in school due to concerns of injuries. My class teacher, Mr. Bruce Suares, who was also a student of St. Germain’s before returning to teach there, was, apart from being a great teacher, no mean boxer himself. He was the scion of the legendary Suares family of Bangalore, known for its sterling contribution to sports and to the teaching profession, and a nephew of Arthur Suares. 

The year 1970 saw the introduction of the ICSE system, replacing the Anglo Indian Secondary School Certificate (AISSC, also known as "Junior Cambridge" and "Senior Cambridge" exams for Standards X and XI respectively) system in India. The new syllabus was announced only in July that year, so, during the first few months, we had nothing to do except wait for the syllabus. One day, during the lunch hour, some of us students got together and rearranged the benches in the classroom to create a boxing ring. Another classmate, a good boxer himself, produced 2 pairs of boxing gloves and we were in business! The class was witness to some great boxing matches during those lunch hours. We took great pains to ensure that the benches were put back in their proper places, just before the lunch hour ended, so that the teachers did not know of the boxing bouts going on inside the classroom.

But we were caught in the act one day by Mr. Bruce – and then he took over. He decided to continue the bouts, albeit under his supervision! He became our coach and referee. He taught us how to protect oneself with the right hand in front of the face whilst jabbing away at the opponent with the left. He taught us how to dance in with a smart left hook or dance out of harm's way. He taught us that it was the small jabs which progressively weakened the opponent and brought him down rather that the one big left hook which not everyone was gifted with.

As we learnt how to box, we began to enjoy the sport. Contests were held daily between boys of similar builds. The contests became more and more thrilling with each passing day and there were many future boxing champs in the making. Until, unfortunately, one of the boxers slipped and fell during a bout and broke his arm; that put an end to the boxing matches.

© Shiva Kumar  2014