Week 6 Storytelling:The Pandu Pandas

Rama: Welcome back ladies and gents to another rendition of Inside the Locker room. I’m your host, Rama and this week, we jet to India to get an in depth look into the explosive history of the legendary basketball team, The Pandu Pandas!          

Narrator: Once upon a time, there was a band of brothers who had tremendous skill in the sport of basketball. They were under the leadership of Drona, a man known for his many achievements inside and outside the court. When Drona decided to retire his high tops, he decided that he wanted to couch the next generation of extraordinary athletes.

Coach Drona: I was great friends with their father. I came to visit him one day and the boys were just messing around, shooting hoops in the driveway. That was when I saw the brothers playing an unbelievably long game of Horse. I must have stood there in amazement for two hours and not one of them had even gotten an H. Their raw talent was unbelievable and it was in that moment, I knew I wanted to train them for the big leagues.

Rama: Five years later, when all the brothers were of age, they won their first IBA (India Basketball Association) tournament and they dominated for a very long time.

Draupadi: I am their manager and I have been working with the men for a very long time now. We actually have a running joke that they consider me their work wife and that they are my only clients because it isn’t easy having five husbands. They are just as good in character as they are in basketball. They always take the time to hang out with fans and do charity work…unlike others in the sport.

Rama: The Pandu Pandas were quickly becoming the team to beat. This very much angered an old protege of Drona, named Duryodhana. As the Pandas became more and more popular with the fans, Duryodhana gained more and more resentful towards them. Although he was very talented, even he could not compete with the dynamic talent of the five brother team. Wanting to prove to Coach Drona that he was, infact, the best basketball player in all of India, Duryodhana assembled his own team called the Anga Charioteers, and challenged the Pandas to a tournament.

Duryodhana: Before the Pandas, I was the crowd favorite. I guess the novelty of having a team of brothers became more important to Drona and suddenly all of his time and resources went to them. But I knew, I was the more talented basketball player and I fought for my right to be back on top. I was not going to be benched by those men anymore.

Rama: Wanting to ensure their defeat, Duryodhana searched high and low to look for a new rookie for his new team. Hearing so much about a student from the University of India, Duryodhana went to go visit Karna. To his surprise, Karna stood at seven feet two inches, which by far surpassed Duryodhana’s stature. If he didn’t know better, Duryodhana would have mistaken him for the Panda’s best player Arjuna. Feeling quite confident with his new rookie, Duryodhana decided to step up the stakes at the tournament and make a bet: who ever lost, would have to retire from the game for thirteen years.

Karna: Duryodhana and I figured that if the Pandas lost, they would lose their agility brought on by youth and will return to the court as older opponents who lacked practice in their years of retirement.

Rama: It was finally the day of the tournament and all of India was tuning in to either go to the arena, or watch it on TV. Although the men were confident in their game, nothing prepared them for the newbie Karna, who stood eye to eye with Arjuna. The game continued on with very little leads until it became a tie in the fourth quarter. The game actually went into overtime five different times. However, when Yudhishthira went to shoot what was supposed to be the game winning three point shot at the sound of the buzzer, he missed and the Charioteers were declared the victors. They were not gracious winners and taunted the Pandas about losing the bet. Basketball was not the same for thirteen years…

Random Citizen 1: I miss the Pandas a lot. They actually gave back to their community.

Random Citizen 2: My little boy once asked Karna for an autograph and he pushed him out of his way. HE PUSHED MY LITTLE BOY!

Random Citizen 3: The Pandas were fun to watch. When they were on the court, they moved in such fluid motion, you could have sworn they were one person playing five positions.

Random Citizen 4: My son was born the year of their forced retirement. He turns thirteen this year and I hope he can finally have a real hero to look up to.

 Rama: Alright folks, all of India has been waiting for the return of the Pandas. Some are convinced that they will not play the same as before but they don’t call it a comeback for nothing…

After the commercial break we catch up with the brothers. Stay tuned!

Twins Nakula and Sahadeva, Yudhishthira, and Bhima. Not pictured: Arjuna Source

Author’s Note: I thought it would make for an interesting read to make the story have a basketball theme when I read that Pandu had five tall sons. A team of five men plays on the court at a time so I thought it would be fun. I didn’t really stray much from the original story. In Richard Wilson’s story, The Pandu brothers were actually cousins of Duryodhana. Duryodhana’s father was the rightful King to the kingdom but since he was blind, the Pandu brothers’ father became King. This became the reason for Duryodhana’s resentment towards the brothers. I wanted to keep his jealousy and the brother’s exile. Also in the original story, Draupadi was the wife of all of the men. I didn’t think it was appropriate for her to be married to all of them in this story but I did want to regard her as the team’s “work wife”. This story was originally intended to be in story form however, due to some great feedback in the comments, I decided to write the Pandu Pandas in show format similar to “Behind the Music” but sports related.

This story is based on The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson.