They were bright stars that lit up the hockey firmament but now lead quiet lives. Their exploits and feats still draw the adulation of two generations of fans long after they hung up their sticks. Their path to success and recognition, however, was fraught with challenge, hardship and sacrifice calling for hard work, determination and resilience but it also presents many a heart-warming tale. MY STORY is an effort to capture nuggets in the illustrious careers of these stars of yesteryear as they take a walk down memory lane, something that could well inspire GenNext bracing for challenges of their own – Editor

By ERROL D’CRUZ

MY STORY 1:  As a 19-year-old, M.M. Somaya looked wide-eyed at what being selected for an India squad brought besides pride and excitement — a blazer, the country’s colours and most delightfully an adidas playing kit, especially the shoes!

“It was tough to even think of wearing adidas shoes then,” the former India captain and an ace at the right-half position said while flashing back to the moment.

But ecstasy turned to agony in a trice. Somaya, initially a standby for the Junior India tour of Germany in 1978, had to make way for the player he replaced. Somaya recalls:

“He was Ekka, a player the team management lost contact with when he took leave from the camp to visit home in the hinterland. “Those were the days when only a telephone call or telegram were tools of communication. Ekka returned and the selectors decided to reinstate him. That also meant I had to miss the trip. I spent a silent moment with myself. I wasn’t in tears but in my mind, I was crying. I certainly was disheartened.

Olympic captain MM Somaya

Somaya catapulted back in time. He vividly recalls the scene at the camp in Chennai. “I even remember the address — University Union Ground, Spur Tank Road, Chetpet,” he says wryly.

 “I had sacrificed a lot. Took time off college, thereby enduring a backlog in my study schedule. I went through the grind at the camp in Chennai (then Madras) following the junior national championship in Madurai during which I gave my best. I coped with conditions at the camp – among them being served dal from a bucket!

“I had thrown a little party with my college friends after the Bombay Hockey Association communicated to me about my call-up to the camp. I had to now tell them that I wasn’t going.”

Sink into despondency? Not Somaya. Made of sterner stuff, the Mumbai lad who hails from Kodagu (formerly Coorg) in Karnataka, not just made up for lost time at studies, he galvanized his resolve to stage a comeback.

“I was asked to give Ekka my blazer and adidas kit since there was no time for the Indian Hockey Federation to procure the same for him. In those days an adidas kit had to be imported and that would have taken time and stitching a blazer and colours for him wouldn’t have been possible within two days.”

Young M M Somaya

Somaya recollects coming to terms with what to many would be debilitating disappointment. “I didn’t let the setback weigh down on me,” he said. “What helped was that Mahindras (a premier league side in Mumbai) offered me a place in the team and a job offer with the post of officer which I accepted after I graduated. “I enjoyed playing college hockey but I needed to upgrade my skills and ability from the soft version of the game. Mahindras provided me one such opportunity and I grabbed it,” Somaya reminisced.

“When I look back to the incident in Chennai, I feel the setback helped me. It made me determined to win a place in the India (senior) team.”

Things began to look up. Somaya was at centre of an Indian hockey revival. A  clutch of young players were beginning to make waves and Somaya’s efficient and clinical handling of the right-half position made him an automatic choice for the India team after the camp at Patiala. Chennai was fast becoming a distant memory.

 “I realised early that a keen sense of observation and an analytical mind are critical attributes for a budding international player,” Somaya, says, presenting a treasure trove of advice to young players aspiring for honours.

Somaya’s introspection and forward thinking brooked reward. “In a small dining room at the Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore, I learned of my selection to the team for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. It happened in the presence of legends such as Leslie Claudius and Balkishen Singh. This was my first selection to the India squad and it was for the biggest one of them all – the Olympics!”

Indian camp (l-r) Zafar Iqbal, Hardeep Singh, Vineet Kumar, MM Somaya and coach Balkrishan Singh

It even led to a gold medal as Somaya’s dream of representing the country assumed a whole new dimension. But the world of sports never ceases to throw up challenges.

“We may have won the gold medal at Moscow but continuing to represent India was fraught with challenge and despondency as defeat became a regular happening. “Losing hurts. It’s demoralizing. We endured much of it in 1982 at the World Cup and Asian Games”.

“Also, there was no monetary gain playing for the country at the time. Playing for Mahindras appeared more appealing. For one thing, there were plenty more victories. Besides, you could grow in the job while enhancing your career in the field, something that needed to be compromised by being away to represent the country.

“But I decided to stick with the National team. There was a core group of players like Mervyn Fernandis, Joaquim Carvalho and Zafar Iqbal, to name some, who shared my resolve.

“In a sport like hockey on an artificial surface where competition is intense and pace explosive, losing in international play is inevitable. One needs to reboot quickly and move on,” Somaya says, his words of wisdom proving prophetic in the rough-and-tumble of a fiercely competitive and ever-evolving world of hockey.

“It wasn’t easy playing for India. Training methods, unlike today, were inadequate. There were only two artificial surfaces in the country. It all added up to a huge disadvantage when compared to top opposition of those times.

 “What we didn’t lack, however, was determination and that held me in good stead. We took defeat on the chin and kept picking ourselves up. We had a good team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics where we missed the semi-finals by a whisker.

The mid-1980s were catastrophic for Indian hockey and Somaya, as captain, stood steadfast and resolute as he handled the difficult situation following the Asia Cup final against Pakistan where a pitch invasion by spectators and an assault on an umpire led to six Indian players being suspended.

Then, there were the X-factors. These emanated from run-ins with the establishment which Somaya faced head-on when he fought for players’ rights. He even risked and sacrificed captaincy in 1985 after a tussle with the erstwhile Indian Hockey Federation to have players given their monetary due. But such was Somaya’s calibre that he re-emerged as captain after a couple of years.

Captain MM Somaya was popular star of his times; has a gift of gab, his views were well sought after in media

“We hit rock bottom at the 1986 Willesden World Cup but recovered to finish creditable sixth at the 1988 Seoul Olympics where I captained the team,” he recounts.

Somaya retired from the game after the Seoul Olympics and embarked on a journey into the corporate world.

He quit Mahindras and joined Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) as Deputy Manager and was determined to achieve success in the field based on his own ability and not riding piggyback on his hockey achievements.

Erudite and academically accomplished – he scored 63 per cent marks while securing a B.Sc (Chemistry) degree – Somaya endeavoured to make an impact in an arena outside sport.

There was no stopping him making waves in the corporate world. In good time he was climbing the rungs on the basis of results.

“Sure, I wasn’t as technically qualified as some of my colleagues who came from IIM and IIT backgrounds but I used my Chemistry knowledge, my sense of marketing and, above all, team building to achieve my targets,” he explains.

Somaya soon headed the corporate giant’s Business Unit – a profit centre for the company comprising a team of around 500 people and infra spread all over the country with a turnover of Rs 9,000 crore. Before long, he rose to rank of Executive Director. Stupendous!

Excelling as Executive Director at BPCL

“I felt a sense of fulfilment,” Somaya says. “More so because it was me, without the hockey tag, going out there and doing what I sought.

But, just as introspective as he was when he braved a heart-breaking setback in Chennai decades ago, Somaya, who retired earlier this year, is quick to give credit to the sport close to his heart even as he moved up the echelons in the challenging corporate world.

Somaya reflects on his tenure with BPCL that spanned three decades: “I wished to break the glass ceiling that restricted growth of sportsmen in an organization. In a global Fortune 500 company and amongst hardcore professionals I was able to make a mark by using my learning from the hockey field.”

That’s yet another profound message from a thinking player whose views and experiences portray the sporting arena as a training pitch for life’s challenges

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