Ten years back, a child aged only 7 years old suddenly developed a headache since he had been constantly reading textbooks or staring at his mobile phone which is quite normal. Gurjot Singh. This scenario lasted for 3-4 years. The doctors of this patient’s parents, gave blueprint for prognosis, in that, the consequences of head injuries may also be fatal, but in his case, their son was lucky.
Gurjot is riding his cycle on Kucha Road, and hussainabad — a pinpoint on a rural Nakodar Tehsil map Jalandhar, Punjab, India. Gurjot was knocked over by a woman clad in pink—a grinder. Blood oozing out from his head rendered him temporarily comatose. Gurjot was picked up by a biker and his friend and was taken to the nearest health center.
While the parents were out for work, the news reached the Gurjot family, panic engulfed his two sisters as they had no right course of action. Fortunately, the situation however was not going to go out of hand. Doctors said that they were worried that he lost too much blood. And told the parents that it may take time before he is fully recovered.
But getting rid of headaches is another aspect all together. For a toddler, riding approximately four kilometers on a bicycle to go to a public school in the remote village of Sarin, was a tall order.
Gurjot’s story began in order and up to four years, he was trying to lay his roots on a hockey stamp.
But for the next couple of years, the journey from Hussainabad to China wasn’t an easy one either. Taking up job as a worker in a so called “chappal” factory was one of those parts.
“I was rather mischievous and met with many accidents”, Gurjot said in an interview with timesofindia.com two days after he debuted for the senior national team in the Asian Champions Trophy in China.
“Gurjot is now 19 but he almost got this trailing and hearty injury on that day”,18 Aska Neherysava
He recalled, “It was worrisome. I became terribly ill.” “Then my parents went to see a physician. ‘If he is concentrating on something; a book or the phone for instance, he suffers from pains in the head.’ So that place was a place that I had to tread cautiously.”
It took months and months and its perfectly understandable as parents are still worried.
How hockey started
At that time, it was just a one-room house in Hussainabad where five people lived Gurjot, his mother, Wazir Singh, Two Sisters, One younger and One elder.
As long as he was alive, there was no occupation other than a milkman. He even thought about immigrating and starting a new life there in Italy. Did not work out and he came back dead broke.
“No, we really did not have any cows. Bapu used to deliver milk for the milk vendors,” Gurjot said. “My uncle had to lend him money because the dad came back from Italy about six months after he left.”
It is within these circumstances that Guchot attained a seventh standard. The looming merciless nemeses remaining were kitten shallows resolved. That was his first encounter in hockey.
But the next hurdle was the inability of his parents to bear the drudgery of the horrendous school-home-ground-home school routine of shuttle cycling daily between Hussainabad and Sarin at least twice a day.
One way distance is approximately about 4 kilometers.
“Parents are not allowed to go out and play hockey and then come back after dark or around eight to nine in the evening which is the time in the village is considered dangerous, ” Gurjot said.
“But mainu chaa hi bada siga (I was very enthusiastic with the thought of playing). It took me 6-7 months to get my parents to let me go. One day I said a lot and wept. I said ‘mai roti nahi khaani, mainu jaan do” (I won’t eat, let me go).
“Then they agreed.”
“Nobody holds hands.”
A club in Sarin used to take care of the hockey sticks, care’s clothes and shoes, etc. of harriers from the sending village who are members of that club. These players have always lacked an appropriate coaching system which can help them to fulfill their aspirations in this sport.
“I played in Sarin till class 12th. But I did not get much encouragement, much support or information as to how to take the game forward,” Gurjot said. “No one held hands; everybody I played with when I was a little girl, quit.’’ Everyone including rover came to realization that there was little or no future in such sport and so grasped along the pleas of there parents and also cut clubs.
“Then the virus broke out, everybody knows.”
“During lockdown, I began searching for work because of the situation happening.”
This is what made a talented future hockey player work in a “chappal” factory making derbans of boxing boots. But Guljot’s love for the game is still there.
“We would remove the slippers from the machine and place display them in boxes. No leaves were allowed. Due to the practice timing in the morning, I had to sometimes do night shifts.”
“But to tell the truth… it s rather difficult to achieve that without any sleep,” one concedes.
Hockey gives another chance
Khalsa Academy of Jalandhar has announced that it will conduct trials for selecting hockey players next month.
Gurjot wasn’t sure yet but due to his friend’s urge he felt like giving it a go. Slowly but surely things are beginning to proceed.
“I went to the trails after the factory night shift and got selected. The vithch palace provided a dormitory and complimentary meals. My mother told me that it does not make a difference as you pay nothing and want to play hockey therefore just go. Thereafter I began playing again.”
Gurjot went on with a changing voice in which happiness was slowly returning.
Another advantage of playing for the Khalsa Academy team is that the same set of players is also to represent Punjab and Sindh Bank at the sectional nationals by virtue of the collaboration between the two organizations. So Gurjot is once more saying that it was indeed possible to get a job after taking part in the national competition.
But then this joy lasted for only a couple of days.
“In the year I joined the Khalsa Academy the national competition for that season was not held, sad,” Gurjot said. “I had non thoughts on the matter and all I can say is it was a crossroad yet again.”
Unlucky card
This drew the ire of the referee, who pulled his shorts and showed him a yellow card. “I sat on a chair next to the floor on the technical side to cool down.
‘Whenever the time came for me to get off the bench and run out to the pitch, a man approached me about something,’ Gurjot remembers.
“As it goes… I was small in stature and quite feeble as well then. The person in question asked me, Kinni umar hai teri (What is your age)? I told him and then he said, ‘Tomorrow morning, the Round Glass Academy PAP Police site will be utilized for the next set of test, you go there to test prospects.”
“Gurjot added, that night i returned home from Moga and next morning got a train to the PAP base an Jalandhar,” she reported.
As luck would have it, Gourjot did not miss any of the opportunities in the trials as well and found himself in round glass jersey too.
The Round Glass organization came up in the year 2014 and its co Founder is Sunny Gurpreet Singh an Indian based in America. It manages a hockey academy and manages a football academy. Its teams also participate in national competitions and leagues.
“Then my coach was Balwinder Singh, father of Dilpreet Singh — striker who played for the Indian team,” Gurjot said. “I enrolled for my first national competition with RU Round glass. … They did not care where I came from, nor that I had not participated in a national event previously. They simply looked at my competition and thought it was great and were impressed and’.
The hockey program at Round Glass is presently headed by Rajinder Singh Sr, an ex-hockey player and coach of the country.
Gurjot donned the blue jersey for the first time when he impressed one of the members of the Hockey India High Performance and Development Committee, Syed Ali, during the Hockey India Academy Championship and was asked to attend the India youth camp.
“I netted a couple of goals in that particular match, in the end we ended up in the 4th position. It was from that time that I was called to the Indian youth camp,” Said Gurjot.
On returning back to his home he was treated like one of the warriors in the village. He was the first and the only man to take part in the national championship from the hockey players of the village. The village had never possessed a proper field.
They welcomed him with a garland while the dhol was played and a procession through the village was formed with children and elderly men and women dressed in sports clothes and in the midst of it all was Gurjot.
These things will also be repeated when Gurjot returns from the Asian Champions Trophy and in the middle of such ceremonies. After coming back from the bengaluru training camp he does not get back home very often as he feels that coming back is an interruption.
Even during the break when his friends go home or away, Gurjot will still choose to train.
“Let us see your game Chad!”
The first match of Gurjot with the national team was his debut against host China. The result was won by India, 3-1. Gurjot did not do anything to warrant the headlines, but he brought back a lot of tales.
It was Gurjot who recalled, “Harman bhaji (Captain Harmanpreet) said to me ‘Chakk de, jo vi haiga dikha de. Appa tere naal haan, darna nahi (Come on, show it off, we are standing behind you, don’t be afraid)’. colouring the whole world actually comes.”
But the 19-year-old forward did not disqualify sage-fears, however, he managed them well God sent forwards only to 10 Indian Paris Olympic bronze medalists.
One thing in particular cast a shadow over Gurjot.
“It was anxiety for me to play with all those who have the bigger names. This is for the first time in my life. I was concerned about how people would take my mistakes or what sort of response there would be of that,” Gurjot said.
However, that stress was much preferable than the challenge of causing more headaches. Which was what prevented Gurjot from enjoying most of his childhood.
Currently Gurjot has finished classes, continues his studies on a bachelor degree in physical education and plays hockey for Indian national team. The degree which he always envisaged, will not be too far.
A boy from Hussainabad has lived his fantasy.
