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Journalism of Courage
Somewhere out there is an ad waiting to be made. It goes like this: 15 seconds of Indian magic on a sports field, cue the Tricolour waving in the stands, cut back to half a dozen dynamic bodies in blue, striding off the field, arms raised, match won.
Cricketers again? No, hockey. Roll over, Dravid and Laxman, the new sports stars are here.
While the hockey players in the 70s washed their sweaty clothes after a hectic session on field, the current stars talk about how they 8216;chill out8217; in their spare hours. The core of the team are the 8216;boys8217; who won the Junior World Cup last year. They have come a long way since then; they have the skills, they have the swagger, they are getting television airtime, they are entering the national consciousness.
Take Viren Rasquinha, age 22. Education: St. Stanislaus School, Bandra, followed by entry to an MBA course. That is when he shocked his family, telling them he was choosing hockey over HR. 8216;8216;I was the only one in my academic-oriented family to take up sports,8217;8217; he says, mildly pointing out that it was not as rebellious as it now sounds.
It has been a cruise ever since the baby-faced Bandra Boy got his India call-up. 8216;8216;Taking up hockey as a career has turned out to be a lot of fun. Initially, my parents were unsure of what I wanted to do but now everyone is proud I8217;ve won a silver medal for the country in the Asian Games.8217;8217;
The MBA, he says with a twinkle in his eye, can wait till he retires from hockey. Meanwhile, he is learning a lot and not just the finer points of the game. 8216;8216;I get to travel to so many places, meeting different people. When you travel with the Indian hockey team, you get a lot of respect abroad because everyone is aware of India8217;s glorious tradition. A six-figure salary wouldn8217;t have fetched me so much respect,8217;8217; he says.
Hockey may lacks cricket8217;s big bucks but the game is not poorly-paying. The professional leagues in Europe 8212; Germany, France, Holland, England 8212; and in Malaysia see India and Pakistan as their catchment areas for talent and offer free board and lodging, a car and Rs 6-7 lakh for a two-month contract.
There is media interest too. Peter Hutton, vice president of TEN Sports, which brought the classic Champions Trophy encounter between India and Pakistan to a million homes, says: 8216;8216;It8217;s amazing to see the amount of interest in the game in India. We8217;re certainly watching the progress of the Indian hockey team very closely.8217;8217;
But there8217;s still some way to go before Deepak Thakur becomes a Sachin Tendulkar. Sanjay Lal, of sports management agency Percept, says hockey has immense scope to be developed into a national obsession once again. 8216;8216;We feel that in the next five years there is a need to develop a parallel sports to cricket8230;hockey qualifies as one of these.8217;8217;
Money is not a motivating factor for them though cynics will point out there isn8217;t much money involved anyway!. 8216;8216;Hockey has given me recognition, a good job as DSP, Punjab Police, the same as cricketer Harbhajan Singh which ensures that I can live comfortably,8217;8217; says Gagan Ajit Singh, captain of the Junior World Cup-winning team, whose father and uncle were Olympians. 8216;8216;I8217;m happy, what do I do with extra money?8217;8217;
He could also indulge in his passion for travel. 8216;8216;I wanted to see the Darling Harbour, which I got to during the Sydney Olympics. This is something only hockey could give me.8217;8217; It is all a long way from Ferozepur, which drives home his point: 8216;8216;I had various other career options but none could ensure so much experience and fun at this age.8217;8217;
For fun, look at Deepak Thakur 8212; especially when he is stripped to his shorts. Thakur was praised by elite NSG commandos 8212; where the hockey team has trained 8212; for having the 8216;8216;ideal physique.8217;8217; He is the one getting all the female fan mail. But hands off, girls, he is booked; to a girlfriend in Patiala, whom he calls everyday even on tours abroad.
A bright, bubbly 21, he is naturally the team extrovert, with 8216;8216;a lot of friends in the Australian and German team.8217;8217; Then adds, 8216;8216;What8217;s the use of playing hockey if I can8217;t enjoy it?8217;8217; But, before you think this is another funloving hunk, get this: he also frames sports policy. 8216;8216;I8217;m on the panel of the Himachal Pradesh Sports Association, and my aim is to raise the standard of hockey and other sports in the state.8217;8217;
If Deepak has a sexy body, Jugraj Singh must be a close second. The youngest in the team at 19, he is a gym-freak and it shows. The most flamboyant on the field, he is also the flashiest off it, making sure to add to his wardrobe every time he goes abroad. It is usually something tight and short, preferably with the sleeves cut away, the better to show off the muscles.
Younger brother of legendary Indian captain Rajbir Kaur 8212; skipper of the only Indian women8217;s team to win an Asian Games gold, in 1982 8212; he made a decision early in life to emulate his famous sister while some of his friends preferred to become businessmen abroad.
It is a decision he has not regretted. Instead, he plays the part of star to the hilt, oozing sexuality and determined to have as much fun as possible. He is the epitome of cool; while his teammates will go up to reporters and/or fans and talk to them, Jugraj will wait for people to come to him. And, they do.
If Bimal Lakra makes it to the professional league in Germany, as he is tipped to, it will be a long journey indeed, from Gumla in Jharkhand. Lakra, one of four tribals in the Indian team, is acclaimed to be among the best, a very bright tip for the future.
But even that has not lured him away from his books. Influenced by his teachers at St Ignatius to take up hockey, Lakra had to make a decision similar to Rasquinha8217;s: sport or study. He chose to compromise, so he now carries his books with him, preparing for his Class XII exams.
Santhals are traditionally more attached to their roots than most Indians, but Lakra says that staying away long from his family does not worry him. 8216;8216;Since the team is my family away from home, I mix with them in my free time.8217;8217;
And that is the USP of this team: they bond as easily off the field as they do on it. Probably something picked up from an MBA course8230;
