I Met Hockey Girls

I hid from Sports my whole academic life. In school, because I was always thin and athletically built, everyone always assumed I could do sports. I couldn’t. Still can’t. Even in college, when Mamu and I joined NSO as a last resort because it didn’t work out for NSS and NCC for us, I still couldn’t do Sports. We did aerobics instead. We’d wake up early and jump around to Get Down by the Backstreet Boys long after they were no longer popular. And during the Sports meet, we were on ball duty for tennis and we got hit by stray balls and they took pity on us and told us to go stand at the archery section. I don’t remember if we did. I think we didn’t and we just bunked off, because if a ball could hit us and it hurt, it would hurt a lot worse with the archery gang.

I don’t even like Quidditch in Potterverse. I also don’t like Krikkit in Guide-verse, although I don’t think anyone really likes Krikkits in any part of the universe. The feeling is mutual, though, so no love lost.

What I like is stories. I have always loved stories. People assume often that I like reading. This is only partly true. I like reading stories. I also like watching stories. Or listening to stories. Sometimes that last bit is also called gossiping but I like that too, especially when the tea is hot and it is served well with a good side dish. And I am not on the menu, thank you.

Which is a very self-absorbed way of talking about the hockey team I met today. They looked like they’re five but they were state champions! Apparently it was not a full team or something and they played on a smaller field with lesser people on the team. I don’t know how many people are on a hockey team and how the scoring system is and what merits a penalty. I don’t even know for how long a game lasts.

What I knew was that they were troopers! They were already doing things with their lives that they liked and enjoyed doing! At their age, I was studying and/or indulging in tomfoolery. It was not because I liked studying but the fear of the Lord and of the parents had been instilled in me long ago and I had been brainwashed into thinking good grades proved that I was a good girl, much like a Protestant puritan during Max Weber’s time. But these kids were doing something they liked and doing it as a team! I only learned the deep-rooted benefits of teamwork as an adult; they already got it. I think Sports does this easiest and best. No wonder I didn’t learn it until much later.

They had so much discipline and I really liked that. They looked nice and no-nonsense, but chilled. I could tell they were bored with the endless speeches by the end but the fidgeting was truly kept to the very barest of minimums. I wanted to see if they cracked so I kept my phone away as well to see if I could match their non-fidgeting. I cracked before they did. They had this aura of quiet confidence that is lacking even in adults, even in adults who are leaders. So many times, arrogance is used as a mask for confidence when really, they’re not the same at all. These kids had this really cool, calm confidence that only Sports can give, I think; or maybe offer it easiest. I am quite sure it won’t translate to all other areas of life, but to have this nook that you can turn to that gives you endorphin high while boosting your health and your sense of self? Very good for Sports.

For an active person, it is surprising that I don’t like sports very much. Or at all. I admire the discipline, but I am too ill-coordinated. And sports doesn’t have very nice stories. They have very inspiring ones but those tend to make me feel less than, and not beget me to push myself further or those nice things. I am not well.

The girls were very young. And luckily for them, this is a young district. I hope that they will become trailblazers for others in the years ahead. They have that potential. I hope they keep at it and can make a living out of hockey. And I hope that if not, they will always remember this rush and this championship and the memory of it will produce the brightest and strongest Patronus for them.

I really don’t know anything about hockey. My mother used to play when she was a girl. And she said that one of the girls would wear a long skirt when she played goalkeeper and that was not very fair because when she stood with her feet apart, her skirt acted like a giant impenetrable net. I think I agree with her.

Harry Potter And The Manipur Video

There was a scene after the Quidditch World Cup (where Bulgaria caught the Snitch but Ireland won the match, that one? And now that we’re all caught up…) where the Golden Trio was busy celebrating Krum’s victory when all of a sudden, they heard sounds that were less celebratory and much more sinister. And of course, they went out to investigate.

This was when they saw a group of hooded, masked figures, marching in a tight cluster for pack solidarity and mob courage. Above them were four Muggles, floating along atop their pack, being dragged and controlled by invisible strings. The hooded figures jeered. Then one of them flipped the woman and “her nightdress fell down to reveal voluminous drawers, she struggled to cover herself up as the crowd below her screeched and hooted with glee.”

The first time I read this passage, it made me deeply uncomfortable although aside from the indignity and the violence, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was that made me fearful. They acted out that scene in the movie as well and again, it made me frightened. But because it was an act of war, violence and humiliation, I again thought yes, probably this is why I hate this act because it is about war.

When the viral video from Manipur surfaced with two women stripped naked and paraded by a mob of leering men, I immediately realized why that scene had always been so impactful to me even though I couldn’t explain it. I never even watched the video; I just saw a screenshot of it and I would have been happy living my whole life never having even seen that screenshot.

This was the reason: it was what it symbolized. It was about degradation. Humiliation. An act of war designed to bring shame and ignominy to an entire group of people through a symbol. And that symbol was the repository of culture – women. I have always maintained that it is unfortunate and a crack in patriarchy that women’s bodies are always seen as vessels of culture although women have little to no claims to a culture. This time too, men were killed and violent words were proclaimed. But it was women the mob chose to strip naked and force to go through such public shame as no human ever should. The whole incident was designed to humiliate Kukis as a whole; it was not about the two women who actually bore the burden. It would appear that the first Arrest told his mother that he didn’t do it for his own sake, he had done it for his community. It was probably true, and this is what frightens me so much.

Women’s bodies cannot continue to be seen as simple gratification for men and unproblematic display for identity. Even on good days, no one thinks twice about commenting on women’s bodies, even to go so far as making sexually coloured statements and “jokes”. The problem with this line of thinking is that the moment it ceases to be a “good day”, the same line of thinking turns brutal and perverted and the first call of action becomes, in one word, rape.

Many times we have noticed, especially in 2012 Nirbhaya’s case, that rape is much less about sexual attraction than it is a display of power. It is simply to “put someone in their place”. Sometimes, that is a woman. Sometimes, that is women. Sometimes, that is a community.

What agitates me so much about Manipur this time is the news that mothers were instigating their sons to rape women. What does it matter that these other women were from a community they resented? We always make calls to treat women as human hence respect them too, yes, but this time these women didn’t even seem to think about the simpler thought process: Women are women, like I am. Such blatant lack of empathy is utterly terrifying for me to wrap my head around.

Most times, we are conditioned to think in terms of Us vs. Them. We do it in varying degrees. And I know one day soon, we shall forget this lesson again. It is too much to hope that it shall never happen again. But I hope it sticks longer this time and we do not need reminders again anytime soon.

The scene from Goblet of Fire was Wizard Nazis reminding other wizards they were still around, still active and very much still capable of inflicting torture on Muggles and their supporters. They were reminding people that the war was still very much on. JKR is incredible for writing these scenes that come back to mind years after the story has been completed. The layers are so real and they remain impactful. These Calls are always about principles and basic human decency – stand up for others whenever you can whenever they need your support and help. People may not be Our Group but we have to learn to remember our humanity in the face of Societal Differences.

As Kingsley Shacklebolt said in HP & The Order of the Phoenix: (Standing up for only our section of society is just) one short step from ‘Wizards first’ to ‘Purebloods first,’ and then to ‘Death Eaters'. We’re all human, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.