NEW DELHI: It was perhaps in those days that the term ‘politically volatile
situation’ had been coined. Imagine this: Just a year after Independence &
Partition, India and Pakistan almost get to play for the hockey gold medal
in the 1948 London Olympics.
The heat surely doesn’t get much hotter. And Nandy Singh – now 80, and
perhaps the oldest surviving Olympic gold medallist – still remembers it
like it was yesterday. And why not, after all he was at the centre of it
all. Singh, as well as several of his teammates, from Punjab were separated
during the bloody Partition, and the “sourness made both sides almost play
for revenge.”
But the situation never arose, for Pakistan failed to reach even the
semifinals. But Singh still feels “it could have been really bad if we had
played each other. In those ‘direct action days’ there were mass massacres –
even I have survived and seen these mass, cold-blooded murders myself. (And
had India lost) we would have had to pay the price back home. But the
sportsman in him refuses to back down: “I still regret not playing against
Pakistan then – I wanted that match at any cost.”
The ’48 Olympics has a special place in Singh’s life – so much that he keeps
the gold medal in a bank locker. “Who knows? Somebody might steal it from
here… So no chances, it’s very safe in there,” says Singh.
Medal in bank locker
Taking a trip down memory lane, Singh recalls those days: “I was working in
Calcutta Port Trust, with a monthly salary of Rs 154.50. And that included
Rs 54.50 as Dearness Allowance! When I went to play the Olympics, I was
granted leave without pay. After coming back victoriously, we called on
President Rajendra Prasad – he was a great man. He even discussed our
personal problems.
“He was surprised when I requested him for this one favour – to put my leave
marked ‘with pay.’ He was surprised that those playing for the country
didn’t even get this facility! And it was done in no time.”
No Gift, Just Consolation
That leave correction was all Singh got for winning the first Olympic gold
for independent India. From a time when he bought hockey sticks for Re 1 and
paid another rupee to buy his shoes and ball to start his career, things
have changed a lot. And he believes it’s been a steady decline.
“I remember 1982 Asian Games in Delhi. Pakistan came to India and beat us on
our own turf – that was the worst defeat I have ever seen.” About the
current scenario, he says, “Many players in the present team don’t have
‘that thing’ to win medal. But still I wish the team good luck.”
Fighter all his life
Since calling it a day in 1952, Nandy Singh has served the game in various
capacities, including as chairman of the selection committee when Indian won
the World Cup in 1976. He was also manager of the 1984 Olympic team. At
present it’s golf that keeps him fighting fit. As for hockey, well it’s
confined to the drawing room TV set.
Courtesy: Today newspaper