Pushpa Singh, at the age of 79, is actively participating in a koat pees, or court piece, tournament in her Ghaziabad apartment complex. On a rainy evening, a table is set up as the focal point for the event, covered with a newspaper, mobile phones, glasses, and keys. Players gather around, engrossed in their cards, while others watch from the sidelines.
Her partner lost a point at the net, and they lost the match by a point. Singh grew up in the early years of independent India, a time often thought of as more restrictive than now for girls. But her story underlines that in some families and small towns, girls could still achieve some freedom through sport. She frequently participated in district tournaments, spending days outside her home without her parents accompanying her. None of her three brothers played sports. Once, she missed a tournament. Her parents were away in their village and her elder sister refused to let her go. When her father returned, he asked her sister why she had stopped her. In another town where her husband was posted, she once saw some men playing badminton. They did, and routinely. Singh would play in a sari. Not used to sports shoes, she played in slippers. Once, she and her playmate entered a badminton tournament at a club in Lucknow. Singh was in her 50s. The other three women were in their 30s.
Born in May 1947, Singh has been playing competitive games for most of her life. By Class 10, Singh had collected three state-government trophies for relay, high jump and rope climbing.
She was a schoolgirl in Nagina, in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district, when her father, a teacher, told her, “Jao, khelo [Go play]. “Let us also play,” she told her women friends. Before the final, Singh told her partner to guard the net while she covered the back court.
Gradually, the games became less about running and jumping. Bridge arrived in her life. Singh learnt the complex card game when her husband was posted in Pilibhit, a town in the Terai. Friends in the PWD Colony took turns hosting the game at their drawing rooms every evening after dinner. Singh’s reputation as a formidable bridge player quickly spread through Pilibhit’s high society. At home, there was carrom with her children after school. Now that the children are busy with their own lives and have their own children, Singh spends every afternoon with her retired husband, playing Paplu, another card game. Singh and her koat pees partner, Priya Sachan, face Geeta Chaudhary and Rajiv Mohan. The girl who once travelled to tournaments in the early years of independent India is, decades later, sitting down for another game. Singh has too, though something of that girl remains.
An elderly bridge enthusiast, the father-in-law of the district magistrate, the “DM Sahib,” often visited from Delhi. He would call Singh’s husband and ask him to come over for a game, along with “Mrs Singh,” the bridge champion.
India has changed dramatically since then.
