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hurlinghampolo.com
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Leila Chang describes the enriching experience of the Yale polo team’s Indian adventure
At the beginning of the year, several members
of the Yale collegiate team flew to India for 10
days of polo and sightseeing. Our travels took
us fromNew Delhi to Jaipur, and south to
Odisha. We visited the Taj Mahal and the Red
Fort as well as less frequented but equally
delightful palaces and forts in Rajasthan.
Peacock, camel and free-roaming cow
sightings abounded, providing a constant
reminder of the unfamiliar, enigmatic world
we had entered. Our hosts in India were
Venkatesh Jindal – a former men’s team
captain – and his family, to whomwe are so
grateful for their hospitality and generosity.
Perhaps the most unique experience of the
trip was a visit to the Jindal Steel Plant in
Angul. A two-hour flight took us from the
bustle of New Delhi to a large complex where
potted flowers and tree-lined roads belied
the noisy, grimy steel production process.
Wearing hard hats, eye protection and
orange safety jackets, we followed molten
metal from the blast furnace as it slowly
transformed into final products such as
rebar and plates. Something about the heat
and the sheer physicality of the plant was
otherworldly. When a large rectangle of
glowing, red-hot steel passed mere feet
beneath us, I was at once mesmerised and
terrified. Though steel is ubiquitous, so few
of us come face-to-face with the realities of
its production. Our visit to the plant was
a rare look into the industry that gives shape
to the buildings and bridges surrounding us.
Another highlight of the trip was our
match against an Indian high-school team at
the Mundota Fort grounds. Prior to the game,
we had played and practised at the Jindal
Polo Farm in Noida, under the eye of
six-goaler Simran Shergill. However, as
opportunities to play on the grass are few and
far between at Yale, the chances of us being
