Arvind Chhabra: Hockey Goalie, Swimmer & ‘Cobbler’ who conquered injuries

K. ARUMUGAM

Former Indian hockey goalkeeper Arvind Chhabra’s career is essentially one of how frequently he got injured — on and off the field in equal measure — and then how he overcame those tenuous and painful days to carve out a fairly successful hockey career.

And for all that, the Delhi lad’s interest in early years was drawing and swimming. He won the Delhi State Swimming Championship of his age group in spring board.  His father had not consented that he be an artist while bleak swimming prospects despite early successes made him switch to hockey.

Be it swimming or hockey, the disciplines call for daring and suitable for brave hearts. Pursuits of either hold the real chance of sustaining an injury that lurks every minute you are in the game.

Chhabra, a bright student at Delhi’s Harcourt Butler school had his fair share of accidents and injuries suffered most in hockey. Hockey players sustain injuries very often during practice, trials, and, of course, matches. Chhabra got more than his fair share but, by the quirk of fate, he was injured off the pitch as well!

The one he suffered in Bangalore (now Bengaluru) merits mention.

It occurred during the “amateur” sporting era. In the late 1970s, hockey players and cricketers used to have training camps in government facilities. The Delhi cricket team led by the legendary Bishan Singh Bedi had just won the Zonal competition against a strong South Zone. The Delhi team organized a party in the night. Chhabra, a friend of the team, was invited. He wished to return early to the Sports Authority of India hostel where both cricket and hockey trainees were housed, early. But Kirti Azad, another India star, and Surinder Khanna asked him to stay a bit longer. “We will drop you, don’t worry,” they assured Chhabra.

At midnight, the trio sat on a scooter with Azad in the driver’s seat and Chhabra in between. As Azad kicked the pedal to start the two-wheeler, it jammed Chhabra’s left foot, ripping off his toenail and causing him acute pain! The poor Moscow Olympic hopeful, on the verge of selection, had to return home.

Another off-field incident was freakier. It happened in Delhi two years before the Bengaluru episode. It was like any other day and Chhabra commuted between Gole Market (where he lived for 24 years) and the National Stadium, where the swimming pool and hockey grounds attracted him.

He was returning home after submitting an entry form to the nearby Talkatora Stadium in a tonga (horse-driven cart) when his bag got stuck in a wheel and his left hand got twisted like a rope would, resulting in multiple injuries.

Chhabra, one can see was prone to freak accidents. But there was one, way back in 1978, which was really painful. It took place at Patiala during the 1978 World Cup trials.

“It was the last day of the selection trial for the World Cup. In the morning session, lanky Gopal Bengra struck the ball that hit me in the cage. I wanted to evade the shot and turned my face, only to see the powerfully struck ball breaking my jaw. The incident itself wasn’t the saddest part. It was a holiday, Guru Nanak Jayanthi, and it was the start of the weekend. It meant I wouldn’t get medical care. So, I decided to return home by the evening bus. Mehboob Khan and Mervyn Fernandis accompanied me and I got admitted to the AIIMS hospital in Delhi, which meant the loss of another three months,” Chhabra recounts.

Even for Chhabra the swimmer not afraid of injuries, losing months while recovering was painful. But the one he had sustained on the first call of national duty would break anybody’s heart.

The trials were held in Delhi. At stake was a place a place in the prestigious Indian Airlines team. On the last day of the trials occurred the first of such episodes that would mark his career later — a torn ligament. It took nine months to heal.

He was mindful that no institution would recruit an injured goalkeeper. He recovered, and continued to play for his employer  DESU (Delhi Electric Supply Unit) along with the late MK Kaushik. Shortly both went Mumbai to attend trials for Tata’s, a far better outfit. He wasn’t picked but Indian Airlines spotted him.

Once the Delhi State team defeated Indian Airlines in the quarterfinals of the Junior National Championship in Pue, the airlines offered him a job. He grabbed it with both hands. It would mean that the youngster had the cream of the country’s players as his colleagues.

“The Airlines used to contribute at least eight or nine players to the India team in those days and there was always a competitive environment in the team,” Chhabra recalls.

One aspect that often spoilt the chances of the up-and-coming Chhabra in his early days was something that haunted Indian hockey for long – recalling retired veterans to the camp four to five years after they quit. Such an approach was always anathema to any raw talent that knocked the door of national selection.

Chhabra broke into the Junior India side for the Asia-Pacific Junior World Cup Qualifier in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. But could not play in the Junior World Cup (1979) a year later as he would cross the age limit by then. Then came a series of injuries and long spells of recovery.

Despite the setbacks and the long recovery periods, Chhabra’s innate nature kept him on the hunt. He was jovial, enjoyed every moment of being in the company of the seniors, and the support from his family. 

“My family did not oppose my sports choices because I was showing results, be it swimming or hockey,” he reveals.

Other than injury, the salient feature of his career was a “standby status” – despite being excellent at the camps he was kept on the sidelines for all import events including the 1981-82 World Cup and 1980 Olympics.

Chhabra adored the seniors at camps. “They were my favourites. I could do anything for them, even cleaning their rooms and whatnot. I could never refuse any of their commands. That’s why even I had even become their cobbler!”

Cobbler?

“Yes. In those days, the pads were made of bamboo sticks and cotton. On getting wet, they softened and bent and would not provide the safety they were supposed to give. And, of course, there was nobody to repair your pads. So, I used to get street cobblers to repair my kit. I observed them carefully and learned their art. I soon purchased most of the tools and materials they used like thread, wax, hook chisels, etc. In time, I repaired my own kit. The toolkit had become part of my baggage. And I slowly began helping other goalkeepers too”.

“So, at camps, I was approached by seniors whose shoes needed repair. ‘Chhabra ko dedo, wo kardega (Give it Chhabra, he will do the needful) – his role model Surjit Singh often used to command. They were my heroes and I was ready to do anything for them.”

Even in Karachi, where he did India duty at the Champions trophy, he called a local friend and went to the market to buy a good quantity of rexine to repair his pads!

Chhabra is by nature suave, respectful and joyful. His approach at camps was to enjoy himself and make others happy. “After all, what could we do with a good five or six hours free time we got after morning practice. It was all fun at every camp,” he reveals with much mirth.

He vividly recalls one incident in which a few friends scared Mervyn at the Patiala camp. “A new block was built and some of us were shunted out there from the main building. It was a dark place which nobody liked. Still, we had our own way of having fun. We used to wear goongrus (bells), and create ghost-like sounds at night, scaring those who were weak-hearted!

“These are fond memories of my playing days,” he says.

Chhabra says he still keeps in touch with his seniors. “At camps, I used to challenge seniors, like the much-feared Surjit and Aslam (Aslam Sher Khan). I made it tough for them to score goals. I would give my best against their hits. They would lose their cool at some stage and commit mistakes. It was a situation I reveled in,” he says.

Chhabra reveals he self-learned goalkeeping. His mantra: “Challenge the best of forwards and penalty-corner hitters at camps.” During his swimming days too, Chhabra was good at observation, experimentation and innovation. “I even played as a forward to study the mind of strikers and how a ‘kamina’ (mean) goalie could tackle them”.

Ashok Kumar even once joked, “Yeh konsa Ashok Kumar aagaya idar? (Who is this Ashok Kumar who has turned up here). This he said after I started imitating his style in some domestic tournaments.

“Copying the style of the best player, your senior, is another way of learning,” Chhabra advises.

Well said! Aspiring goalkeepers could study Chhabra’s roller-coaster career in order to cope with injuries, stay calm and composed and claim places in the national side.

***

www.stick2hockey.com is India’s oldest hockey website. Launched in 1999, the website, edited and owned by hockey historian and author K. ARUMUGAM, has covered all major tournaments and events with precision. www.stick2hockey.com is the first site in the hockey world to bring viewers live text commentary and duly entered the prestigious Limca Book of Records. If vintage stories are what you are looking for, this site is the right one for you. You will also find pictures, some of them among the rarest, images of precious newspaper clippings, match reports, news breaks, interviews, features, statistics and history on a site respected by one and all in the hockey world.