In the evening, when the temperature has dropped, it is the girls who take over Nagpada basketball court. A dozen or so, dressed in leggings or long shorts and T-shirts, train hard under the lights. Their efforts will intensify in the coming weeks. In January, they will face a crucial test: A tournament which for the first time the Nagpada girls’ basketball team believe they have a chance of winning.
The girls of Nagpada are making a name for themselves in Mumbai — and in their own tight-knit, Muslim-dominated community. Though boys there have played basketball for decades, few girls ventured on to the court.
“A lot of people here in the neighborhood felt that girls shouldn’t play,” said Afreen Sheikh Rasheed, 18, one of the team’s star players. “But attitudes are changing now. Some people are proud of us instead of criticizing.”
Photo: AFP/ASIAN TOUR/KHALID REDZA
The basketball court — one of few such public facilities in the city — is surrounded by makeshift huts where recent migrants live, a rubbish tip and overcrowded tenements. One of the new luxury apartment tower blocks being built all over Mumbai, which has some of the highest real-estate prices in the world, overlooks streets where goats scavenge. A handful of battered balls lie in a rusty bin in a corner of the court. A seating area has no seats.
However, the girls are fiercely protective of their court.
“These are some of the best facilities in the city. And anyway, it’s all we need,” Afreen said.
For many years Nagpada has had a reputation as both deeply conservative and crime-ridden. So beyond their neighborhood too, the girls’ team have changed attitudes.
Traveling all over the city, they often play teams from private schools — and win. Indian news magazine Tehelka reported one recent game in which they vanquished a team from the wealthy Colaba district “with coloured hair, Nike sneakers and short shorts [who] were no match for the ... Nagpada girls” wearing cheap, locally made trainers.
“At our ground we believe in hard work and discipline. When the training is over, the girls go straight home,” businessman and head coach of the team Noor Khan said.
Afreen and her sister Sumaiya were both encouraged to play by their father, a taxi driver who had been a keen player when he was young. Most of the girls have some family connection to the sport.
“My dad dreamed of being a player so he is very happy,” Afreen said.
Nida Feroz Khan, whose father is a real-estate agent, followed her older sister’s example. Her grandfather played in Nagpada in the 1950s, she said.
It is unlikely that their chosen sport will bring riches soon. Basketball has been played in India since 1930, but it has always been overshadowed by cricket and hockey. Prize money in tournaments remains negligible, even for men’s teams. Yet, as with many sports here, success can mean a secure state job with the police, army, railways or other agencies, which have quotas allowing them to take promising athletes on to their payroll. For girls such as Afreen, Sumaiya and Nida, this means basketball could bring an escape from a life of grinding poverty. Not only does this bring a salary, but lodgings too, a huge advantage in overcrowded Mumbai.
“We can get good jobs through [the sport] and that could change everything,” Afreen said.
Despite the slow change, there is still significant resistance to the girls’ basketball within Nagpada. Clerics regularly criticize the players in sermons.
In Zulfiqar restaurant, only a few meters from the training ground, the owner, Abdul Haq, said it was wrong that girls played basketball.
“They should be indoors or at school at that age. It’s not the right activity for them,” he said.
Ali Hassan, a 34-year-old medical technician, said there was nothing wrong with girls playing basketball, but they should be “properly dressed.” He suggested a full head-to-toe veil.
Zulfiqar Haidar, a cobbler, thought that given the demands of the sport, some kind of adapted dress that would allow the girls to see would be preferable — though “definitely no shorts and no exposed hair.”
However, for Noor Khan and the club’s other organizers, the immediate problem is not social, but financial. The tournament planned for January will only occur if funds can be found, but sponsors are far from forthcoming. Khan blames the migrant laborers who are living in shacks around the court, saying their presence puts off the big brands he hopes might be interested in some kind of involvement with the club.
Saeed Bijapuri, a former national-level player from Nagpada, said it was the reputation of the neighborhood itself.
“No one wants to have their name associated with Mumbai number 8 [the local postcode],” he said. “Even if this is the best court around, with the most enthusiastic players and the most knowledgeable crowd. That doesn’t seem to matter to the businessmen.”
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