Employment

Nagpada Neighbourhood House (NNH) has since 1949 has enabled hundreds of Muslim youth find suitable employment on the basis of their proficiency in Basketball

Jobs and sports, is there a connection? In Nagpada, where poverty is so abject that families dwell on pushcarts, basketball has provided the gateway to livelihood for hundred of Muslim youth from the area.

In Muslim dominated areas of Nagpada and Madanpura, Basketball has become an integral part of everybody’s life thanks to the extraordinary contribution of the Nagpada Neighbourhood House (NNH). It was started by one Bachoo Khan, a basketball player himself in 1949.

Why focus on Basketball, why not cricket? The philosophy of late Bachoo Khan was that being a low-investment sport, the training does not require huge investment and infrastructure. Also the proficiency in the game of Basket ball could be acquired in less time.

Nagpada is a pocket of Muslim lower middle and deprived class. The success of the NNHs can be guaged from the fact that at least 22 international players have emerged from the quaint, little basketball court maintained by the NNH in the midst of the grimy slums. These include the only Arjuna Award winner from Maharashtra, Abbas Multasir. The number of players from here who have represented the state runs into a few scores. Also hundreds of Muslim youth have acquired employment on the basis of their proficiency in the game of Basket ball.

Abdul Majeed Sheikh, known locally as Majeed Mamu, says Nagpada was a trendsetter of sorts in the 1960s. Basketball became a way of life; every household would have a ball and every second home would have a hoop, he recalls. At one time, as many as 17 members from NNH were playing in the state men’s junior and senior teams.

The popularity was driven as much by sporting concerns as by economics. For a lower-middle-class locality, a cheap sport that could produce jobs for its boys was always going to be popular. Over three or four decades, hundreds of young boys were picked up to play for teams like Central Railway, Western Railway, Naval Dockyard, Income Tax and others, says the 63-year-old Sheikh, whose current retired life includes spending two hours every evening watching the youngsters practice.

Due to the efforts of a few of the NNH alumni, the National Basketball Association (NBA) of the United States has already undertaken the refurbishment of the Nagpada Neighbourhood House (NNH) basketball court in Mumbai. It is being carried out in conjunction with BFI, Hewlett Packard (HP) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

This is the first of many courts the NBA will develop throughout India as part of its long-term commitment to increase basketball participation and promote healthy, active lifestyles through NBA Cares, the Leagues social responsibility programme.

The tie-up with NBA will help NNH to regain its past glory and assist Muslim youth from the area to gain employment in the corporate sector under basketball quota. To achieve the task NBA has set up the acrylic court, the material for which has been shipped from the US. The surface is the same as the one used in US Open tennis championship, says Noor Khan, secretary of the NNH. Apart from the court, they have sent pressure rings and brand new boards, some movable ones so as to encourage the youngsters to learn shooting, informs Noor. They will also be visiting us once every two years and introducing new methods in coaching, he added.

NNH became popular because it was able to generate employment for most of its players. The last international the club produced was Shahid Qureshi, in 1994-95. The falling standards are thanks to the shoddy job the state basketball association did, says Hanif Patel (47), a product of the NNH and now coach of NNH. Hopefully things will revert to Nagpada’s former glory.

Abbas Multasir has the stock harsh criticism for new boys who have struggled to measure up to the 22 internationals who emerged from the same court in the last five decades. He threw his hands up recently when he found a young player worrying more about his Salman Khan hair-cut, than his rebounds.

But, having observed the downfall over the years - frustration paving way for shock, turning into helplessness, Abbas Moontasir believes that both NBA and NNH will have to invest time and commitment into its boys, enforce strict regimens, if they are to restart the assembly-line of basketball internationals.

Abbas Moontasir, says NNH needs to resurrect Bachoo Khan if it has to regain its glory. “It was the Bachoo Khan who made all the difference. He did not allow anything but basketball on the court. Now you see boys play cricket all through the day. I don’t criticise cricket. But has anyone from Nagpada got a job for playing cricket with a tennis ball? Bachoo Khan would never have allowed this,” said Moontasir.

“NHH should see basketball action twice a day and seven days a week. Seniors must take the initiative. They need to only sit around and watch, like Bachoo Khan used to. If we work hard, the results will come. Employment avenues are there.” Said Moontasir.