The Hoopistani Is...

So, welcome... Or welcome again to those who have already read my work before... Thisisme: Karan Madhok, and this is the new blog I'm starting, 'The Hoopistani', in an effort to get some of my passions and experiences together in one page. The blog, as its subtitle states above, will feature "Basketball, India, Philsosophy, everything else in between..."
I'm a die-hard NBA junkie and a die-harder confused Desi. If you like your hoops and Indian flavour presented on a meaninglessly absurd dish, then this blog is for you.
A few of my articles have already been featured on SLAM website, which happens to also be my favourite magazine since I first started reading it nearly 10 years ago. I've added the three articles below on this blog, too, and their original versions can be found on the SLAM website.
Additionally, this blog will also be featured on up and coming Indian basketball website India Basket, and I'll be collaborating to help them in their mission to help basketball evolve in India. Apart from spreading news and awareness about basketball in India, India Basket also manage players and coaches.
I'm currently a Communications Volunteer at the Woodstock School in Mussoorie, and formerly a Correspondent for the Times of India newspaper in Varanasi.

Here are links to the articles I've done for SLAMOnline.com so far:

Temple of Bounce: A look at the state of basketball in India

In India, routine is religion. Every stone is a temple, and everything is God.
The clings of the temple bells, marigold garlands around stone idols, squeaky marble floors dirtied by muddy bare feet. A devout of the Ganga River takes dips in the river everyday, bowing respectfully to his deity. Followers of Lord Ganesha will visit his temple, touching the floor as a mark of respect before they step in and fold their hands together…

Peace, Freedom, and Basketball: A pick-up game in the Tibet-influenced city of Mcleodganj

Dhondup is wrapped inside a thin orange robe, much too thin to provide adequate cover from the chilly November temperatures of his Himalayan abode, but he is well acclimatized to the weather up here. He is short, stout Tibetan, with a shiny bald head and a shinier smile pasted across his face. Around his neck is a prayer mala, a garland of beads, which he tucks inside his robe. The robe barely reaches up to…

Breaking Old Habits: JD Walsh's Basketball Movement in India

Amongst our several unique nuances, we Indians have a particular slogan, which is repeated multiple times daily by tens of millions, like a mantra across the country’s wide, three million square kilometer area:
“Chalta hai.”
Translated literally from Hindi, it means ‘it goes.’ The Dictionary of Indian English emphasizes it further as ‘it will do,’ or ‘anything will do.’ It describes the fatalist philosophy of most of the country’s population, that everything happens because it…