The Indian Dream: NRI tries to change the face of Indian Basketball

Shahid Ahmad Bhat’s silhouette at Dal Lake, Srinagar PHOTO CREDIT: Shahid Bhat

In 2004, the critically acclaimed Hindi movie Swades (‘My Land’) was released, which told the romanticized story of an Indian immigrant in the US, played by superstar Shah Rukh Khan. In the film, Khan has a successful career at NASA but constantly feels the pull of his ancestral land and the desire to do something for his country.

He comes back to India to re-establish relations with his Kaveri Amma— the mother substitute who nurtured him in his initial years through great personal sacrifice and courage. Along the way, Khan goes on to revamp his ancestral village, bringing electricity and running water, where previously the day used to end at the first sign of dusk, when near total darkness covered the houses and trees.

He finds his love interest in the form of a gorgeous primary school teacher, who just happens to be single, eager, and staying with his beloved nanny. Like most Indian movies, this one too has a happy ending. Khan wins over his village, his girl and his nanny and decides to return to India permanently. The country’s faith in him is restored and his conscience is in the clear. Roll credits.

The scene has shifted to Jammu & Kashmir, the northern most state of India. This is real life now, filled with real people and their problems, with no pretty Indian girl waiting for her NRI prince charming. The hero here goes by the name of Shahid Ahmad Bhat.

The storyline is similar to the one in Swades with slight variations. Here, Kashmiri born parents migrate to the US in the 1970s in search of better lives. Their son grows up happy and contented, a tall dashing man of considerable physical prowess. He has an innate interest in basketball, a common sport of choice in the USA but a surprising selection made by the youngster from the land of Chinar trees and houseboats.

Jammu & Kashmir is a region with no known sports pedigree to boast of, barring a steady supply of willows for the rest of the cricketing world, across India and abroad. “J&K is probably the weakest state in India when it comes to basketball,” says Shahid. This piece of statistic is particularly depressing, considering that the Indian Senior men’s basketball team itself, composed of players from almost every other State apart from J&K, currently languishes at 58 in the world rankings.

This is well below the likes of Tunisia (22), Nigeria (17) and Iran (20) — smaller nations beset by internal strife and international sanctions, yet managing to put competitive teams on the floor.

Living the American dream

After representing his high school and college, Shahid joined Central Missouri State University and later, transferred to the University of Kansas, a college that has produced more NBA players than any other American University, outside of Kentucky (20), Duke (18) and North Carolina (17).

While at Kansas, Shahid got the opportunity to play with and against many current NBA greats, notably Paul Pierce and Tyron Lue in various summer leagues. He knew by then that he could play with the best. He had understood enough about the game to feel the desire to teach others and inculcate them into basketball.

He coached for four years at Barstow School of Kansas City, and for two years for an AAU team. His life seemed set. A lifetime spent in coaching the game he loves, along the way, maybe a marriage, a house and a couple of kids. What better way to live out the American dream?

All this while, he kept abreast of the happenings in his beloved homeland. Kashmir stays in the local and international media for all the wrong reasons. Sport is the last thing on the minds of Kashmiris, who for decades have been torn apart by oppression, violence and instability.

In 2009, Shahid made a trip to Kashmir with his family. It seemed but natural for him to wonder about the state of basketball in India: Who were the best Indian players? What facilities did Indian players enjoy? What about basketball infrastructure in his very own Kashmir?

Around the same time, J.D. Walsh, the globetrotting basketball coach and instructor had been touring India. One of his many camps was at Srinagar, the capital city of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. J.D., along with former player Jayasankar Menon — one of the greatest Indian basketball talents from the Southern Indian State of Kerala, and the first Indian to make it to the Asian All Star roster— landed in Srinagar for the camp, and Shahid jumped at the opportunity to volunteer.