In this timely documentation of hockey tales, Sundeep Misra has written an uplifting and worthwhile book, a worthy addition to the rich tapestry of hockey’s literature.
Courtesy Amazon
“From that unforgettable Delhi afternoon that broke a million hearts to a legend who wept simply because he couldn’t carry an Olympic medal back to his mother. To those sublime, windmill wrists as if personally created by God and the legend from Pakistan for whom Indian theatres interrupted a screening of Pakeezah just because his team couldn’t make it on time.” Text from the back page of Sundeep Misra’s, The Mohammed of Benares and Other Stories.
Four decades ago, in the eighties, hockey in India was nearing its hiatus-esque sunset to the pertinent shock of its loyal. Almost every writer and journalist who took up writing ventured into cricket and its growing fame. Kapil Dev and his boys returned to India with the Prudential Cup in 1983, and it coincided with India’s famous loss in field hockey in 1982 – versus its arch-rivals Pakistan, on Indian soil. I will restrain myself in talking about that fatal December evening.
What I wish to tell personally is, when I started writing on hockey in 2008, I have already the book, ‘Forgive me Amma,’ The Life and Times of Dhanraj Pillay by Sundeep Misra. By then, I have already been influenced by one of the greatest books in sports journalism. Am I emotional about the author? Yes! Sundeep Misra is an Odisha native; my roots are from South Odisha’s Ganjam.
But in those turbulent times of hockey’s deafening abstinence from national, continental, and Olympic glory, very few journalists took up writing on the sport like Sundeep Misra. And what motivates me forever is, Misra took up writing on hockey at a time when cricket journalists were treated as celebrities and at a time when the budget for writing on cricket was millionareing itself. It surely does speak volumes about the author and his passion for the game, isn’t it?
In this book, “The Mohammed of Benares and Other Stories”, Misra talks about the life and times of a precocious of field hockey. In his own words, “Mohammed Shahid was a master dribbler who played hockey with a painter’s brush.” This book is an assemblage of articles on Indian hockey from the heartbreak of 1982 to the tears of Sydney’s 2000 and much more.
Emotions flow rich and proud in this book. To name a few will bind you emotionally to the sport:‘The heart of Harendra Singh.” ‘The devotion of Dilip Tirkey.” ‘The tears of Rajiv Misra.” ‘The regret of Dhanraj Pillay.” ‘The talent of Sardar Singh.” As a reader, I advise you to keep tissues beside you as you read our hockey and hockey, which rose like a phoenix two summers ago, will surely make you whet your appetite.
Sundeep Misra (photo, Twitter)
There are fine-tuned sensitive issues in this book, too. The chapter ‘India left its best right half home’ talks about Gurbaj Singh a versatile talent with the hockey stick. The chapter ‘He was India’s most dangerous center-forward talks about the unbeatable unpardonable talent of Rajiv Misra a boy who failed to become a man in field hockey. Politics, biases, ego, arrogance, emotional bludgeoning, etc they say, never left hockey in India, and hockey played by Indians. Few chapters at the end on these lines may interest you, but I will leave it there. Their traits are neither my cup of tea nor coffee.
No matter how many times I remember the protagonist, no matter how much we control our tears at the mentioning of his name. I fail. I am sure a few of you fail in controlling your tears. Mohammed Shahid was an Indian who raised many a burladero and tirocinium; a theanthropist, who defined immortality. He embellished hockey’s left-wing sempiternally.
“Everybody said, I want you to be Mohammed Shahid,” says Sundeep Misra.
Mir Ranjan Negi, the goalkeeper of Indian hockey and the man whose story is the movie Chak De India said the following words when Shahid lost his life. “It’s the tragic end of my room partner at the 1982 World Cup in the Mumbai Taj and at the Asian Games village — Mohd Shahid. He was one of the best dribblers of modern hockey. He used to do dribble past all the defenders and pass the ball to Nayeem or others to just score. A great friend, Shahid will be long be remembered by one and all who came in his fold. We will always miss the legend.”
Mohammed Shahid was a genius of the dribble. He was pure class and character on the hockey field. He had unmatchable control over the ball and played the sport with envious precision. He wore their boots and ran onto the pitch – to allow his hockey stick to talk for himself.
Oh! Please don’t think otherwise I forgot to add more paragraphs and detailed information about Sundeep Misra. The forward of the book by B V Rao, Editor, Firstpost is worthy in itself a glorious tribute to a very fine sports journalist in Sundeep Misra.
