”Babu’s dribbling is poetry in movement” is how former New Zealand captain C V Walter as soon as described legendary Indian hockey participant Okay D Singh ‘Babu’, recalled creator and ‘dastango’ Himanshu Bajpai.

Bajpai is all set to inform the life story of Kunwar Digvijay Singh ‘Babu’ on November 21 on the Jaipuria Institute of Management in Lucknow.

”Until we find out about our heroes of the previous, how are we going to make extra like them in future. We additionally have to be grateful for the contributions of our heroes in direction of the nation and tales like these are a medium to do this,” he instructed PTI.

”With ‘Dastan Okay D Singh Babu Ki’, my effort is to current a research-based genuine narrative of the sports activities legend in order that extra individuals, particularly the youth, find out about him and his greatness,” he mentioned, on sidelines of an occasion right here.

Singh was born on February 2, 1922 in Barabanki, adjoining Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. Along with hockey wizard Dhyan Chand, Singh is taken into account among the many biggest gamers of the sport, successful India gold medals within the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.

The nation is observing the centenary beginning anniversary of ‘Babu’, because the extraordinary hockey participant was fondly referred to as.

”I’m particularly interested in the matters associated to Lucknow or Awadh. I need to inform tales throughout topics, however matters linked to Lucknow or Awadh fill me with a way of added accountability,” Bajpai, a local of Lucknow, mentioned.

”I had been mulling of a narrative on Okay D Singh since a very long time. It’s been over a decade since this concept sprouted in my thoughts that folks ought to find out about his and his legacy not solely as an excellent hockey participant however as a coach and a nationwide icon,” he mentioned.

Bajpai mentioned Singh’s greatness transcends his identification as a hockey participant. Even after retirement, he labored as a hockey coach and proved his mettle.

He performed an important function in discovering new expertise, establishing sports activities faculties and even helped former athletes get pension.

“All this makes him a great icon and hence, this dastan has been made,” he added.

However, Bajpai, a Yuva Sahitya Akademi Award-winning creator, rued lack of analysis materials obtainable on the hockey participant.

He mentioned a key analysis materials got here from the e book ‘The Last Whistle’ by his nephew Kunwar Raghvendra Singh.

”It’s a really detailed e book on the lifetime of Okay D Singh Babu. However, I additionally got here to know that there’s hardly any e book on a person of his stature when there ought to have been 1000’s of books on him. It’s unlucky,” he mentioned.

He interacted with some individuals who knew Babu carefully or who learnt about him deeply via numerous sources. He additionally spoke with former hockey gamers like Ashok Dhyan Chand, son of hockey legend Dhyan Chand, Aslam Sher Khan, who lives in Bhopal, Syed Ali in Lucknow.

”They all shared their understanding of Babu with me in nice element,” Bajpai mentioned.

”I went via newspaper archives, magazines and likewise met with individuals in Lucknow and Barabanki who knew Babu earlier than assembly the relations of Okay D Singh Babu.

”His son V V Singh helped me immensely and shared a number of tales and anecdotes which have remained unknown and unpublished until date,” he mentioned.

Recounting challenges on his method, Bajpai mentioned that is the primary time a ‘dastan’ (oral story) on a sportsperson is being instructed and he’s apprehensive of the response.

”A dastan is about historic figures or poets and that is what audiences have been listening for a very long time now. I used to be a little bit uncertain as to who would come to take heed to it since this can be a distinctive dastan, first time on a sportsperson.

Moreover, the recognition of hockey in India has been changed by cricket and the topic of my dastan is a participant who left the sport half a century in the past and left the world 40 years in the past,” he mentioned.

“But then, I was emboldened in this effort by the thought that even if I get one person as audience, this dastan must be told with full earnestness,” he mentioned.

His earlier tales embrace acclaimed dastans on River Ganga, India’s freedom motion, warrior queen Laxmi Bai, Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, and Chandrashekhar Azad.

”My effort as an artist, author and storyteller is to recreate with my dastan an environment which might transport the viewers to the hockey stadium and make them really feel the power of KD Singh Babu’s well-known dribbles,” Bajpai mentioned.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)