Soliloquy

My father and I had the great fortune of paying a social call to former India captain Victor Amalraj at his residence earlier this week. Mr Amalraj was extremely warm, cordial and welcoming.

My father was childlike in his joy on getting to see his childhood hero and conversing with him face-to-face. Mr Amalraj was kind enough to narrate a lot of stories from his playing days, harping in specifically about East Bengal on getting to know my father’s persuasions.

Legends such as Krishanu Dey, Bhaskar Ganguly, Monoronjan Bhattacharya, PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami and Amal Dutta featured regularly in our conversation.

My father, a football nut, worships the likes of Mr Amalraj, the late Mohammed Habib and Tulsidas Balaram as well as Syed Nayeemuddin, Mohammed Akbar, Shabbir Ali, Peter Thangaraj and practically any other footballer to have come out of the city; it was a matter of coincidence that all of them played for East Bengal at some stage of their respective careers.

Mr Amalraj is one of those few fortunate individuals who turned up for all three big clubs of Calcutta- East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting. As we all know, he had a distinguished career for India, whom he also had the great honour of leading. And that is a remarkable feat for a Hyderabadi.

He said, on more than one occasion, how he was worshipped as a god (or at least a hero) in Calcutta and how glum he feels now that practically no one knows him in Hyderabad. He narrated more than a few incidents when he got into movie theatres and music concerts for free in Calcutta in his heyday owing to his fame.

He was also the recipient of the largesse of the people there whenever he went out for shopping and the like. Very rarely did he have to part with his money if the shopkeeper in question knew about him. Calcutta, as he said, is truly the ‘Mecca of Indian football’ where footballers are revered and placed on an altar.

Mr Amalraj was modest beyond measure even as we said goodbye and promised to stay in touch.

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