In response to my earlier blog -
Khassi Tournament, Mohd, Daniss Khan and Other Stories
My friend Pradipto Chakrabarty has written this, which I thought deserves to be included as a separate post.......his insights and memories of the 'Khassi Tournaments' are even more interesting................this should resurrect the forgotten career of the 'Khassi' winning player of BFC (Bariatu Football Club) , Mohd. Bhaskar Khan !!!............Thanks a lot Pradipto....................
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I must admit that this post by Azfar is quite nostalgic besides being exceptionally well written. After reading through his memoirs of the fascinating adventures of the three zealous, yet unassuming boys of Ranchi, I thought that I should paint some lines on the memory lane.
My tryst with the hallowed BFC (Bariatu Football club) began in 1988. Being an ardent football fan and having played the sport for most part of my school life, I was left with a void after I passed out. None of my colony mates played football and I was deprived of running wild with the ball for hours. Not that I was a great player like Danish, but they were those adolescent years when I day dreamed of playing for Calcutta’s (now Kolkata) Mohun Bagan Football club. In fact, once after a fight with my Mom, I picked nothing but my football boots and started walking out of house and much to my embarrassment, I am still teased for that filmy drama. Anyway, let’s get back to the story. That was the year when the bonding between the three of us did not yet take shape. We had just met and our sojourns were limited to meeting for few hours in college.
While loitering around near our Bariatu Hill one evening ( you can see that on Azfar’s post) and trying to steal a smoke or two from prying eyes of our colony uncles, I chanced upon a ragged group of guys playing football in the ground. As usual, I got attracted and took a few shots on the ball and sheepishly asked if I could be a part of the game. This was the first time after about a year that I got a chance to shed some sweat and ran around with the guys. After the game, they asked me my name and my mind went into an overdrive. In the two seconds that I took to answer, I had put across a distorted logic to answer the simple question. My dilemma was something that you might appreciate if you are the son of a Bengali professor and that too in literature. If I answered Pradipto, I knew they will murder the pronunciation of the poetic name my father kept (I knew it since I experienced this all through my 10 years of schooling). Chakrabarty, I assumed would face similar consequence and I could not stand the idea of my surname being ruthlessly slaughtered.
All of sudden I decided to use my middle name – Bhaskar, which I usually avoided with the intellectual elite. Also, it crossed my mind that Bhaskar Ganguly was an exemplary East Bengal FC goalkeeper of the time, who, on many occasions stood as a wall between victory and Mohammedan Sporting Club, which the entire BFC supported. I was sure of acceptance. And guess what, as expected, one of them replied – “Bhaskar Ganguly?” “No”, I said – “Just Bhaskar”. So, from that day I was initiated as Bhaskar of the Bariatu Football Club. It turned out that in the documented history of BFC, I was the only sample of my community to be a part of the team. Please don’t get me wrong – BFC was not communal, but I would say it was just coincidental or maybe law of averages.
This name continued for some time till I played the first “Khassi tournament” which I think was a couple of years later. That momentous occasion resulted in a major twist to my nomenclature that established my identity across the residents of Bariatu Basti.
While announcing the BFC team, the Master of Ceremonies (quite a fancy designation for a biri smoking, chequered lungi clad person holding an astoundingly creaky mike) started announcing : Mo. (Short form of Mohammed which I am using to elucidate the pronunciation) Sabbir Khan, Mo. Sakil Khan, Mo. Akil Khan, Mo. Arif Khan, ……and …….. Mo. Bhaskar Khan. I am proud to say that although my field presence were limited to the occasional replacement for injured players, Mo. Bhaskar Khan was indeed a member of a Khassi winning team. The victory was followed by a series of celebrations, but that would be a subject of another post……..
Khassi Tournament, Mohd, Daniss Khan and Other Stories
My friend Pradipto Chakrabarty has written this, which I thought deserves to be included as a separate post.......his insights and memories of the 'Khassi Tournaments' are even more interesting................this should resurrect the forgotten career of the 'Khassi' winning player of BFC (Bariatu Football Club) , Mohd. Bhaskar Khan !!!............Thanks a lot Pradipto....................
******************************************************************************
I must admit that this post by Azfar is quite nostalgic besides being exceptionally well written. After reading through his memoirs of the fascinating adventures of the three zealous, yet unassuming boys of Ranchi, I thought that I should paint some lines on the memory lane.
My tryst with the hallowed BFC (Bariatu Football club) began in 1988. Being an ardent football fan and having played the sport for most part of my school life, I was left with a void after I passed out. None of my colony mates played football and I was deprived of running wild with the ball for hours. Not that I was a great player like Danish, but they were those adolescent years when I day dreamed of playing for Calcutta’s (now Kolkata) Mohun Bagan Football club. In fact, once after a fight with my Mom, I picked nothing but my football boots and started walking out of house and much to my embarrassment, I am still teased for that filmy drama. Anyway, let’s get back to the story. That was the year when the bonding between the three of us did not yet take shape. We had just met and our sojourns were limited to meeting for few hours in college.
While loitering around near our Bariatu Hill one evening ( you can see that on Azfar’s post) and trying to steal a smoke or two from prying eyes of our colony uncles, I chanced upon a ragged group of guys playing football in the ground. As usual, I got attracted and took a few shots on the ball and sheepishly asked if I could be a part of the game. This was the first time after about a year that I got a chance to shed some sweat and ran around with the guys. After the game, they asked me my name and my mind went into an overdrive. In the two seconds that I took to answer, I had put across a distorted logic to answer the simple question. My dilemma was something that you might appreciate if you are the son of a Bengali professor and that too in literature. If I answered Pradipto, I knew they will murder the pronunciation of the poetic name my father kept (I knew it since I experienced this all through my 10 years of schooling). Chakrabarty, I assumed would face similar consequence and I could not stand the idea of my surname being ruthlessly slaughtered.
All of sudden I decided to use my middle name – Bhaskar, which I usually avoided with the intellectual elite. Also, it crossed my mind that Bhaskar Ganguly was an exemplary East Bengal FC goalkeeper of the time, who, on many occasions stood as a wall between victory and Mohammedan Sporting Club, which the entire BFC supported. I was sure of acceptance. And guess what, as expected, one of them replied – “Bhaskar Ganguly?” “No”, I said – “Just Bhaskar”. So, from that day I was initiated as Bhaskar of the Bariatu Football Club. It turned out that in the documented history of BFC, I was the only sample of my community to be a part of the team. Please don’t get me wrong – BFC was not communal, but I would say it was just coincidental or maybe law of averages.
This name continued for some time till I played the first “Khassi tournament” which I think was a couple of years later. That momentous occasion resulted in a major twist to my nomenclature that established my identity across the residents of Bariatu Basti.
While announcing the BFC team, the Master of Ceremonies (quite a fancy designation for a biri smoking, chequered lungi clad person holding an astoundingly creaky mike) started announcing : Mo. (Short form of Mohammed which I am using to elucidate the pronunciation) Sabbir Khan, Mo. Sakil Khan, Mo. Akil Khan, Mo. Arif Khan, ……and …….. Mo. Bhaskar Khan. I am proud to say that although my field presence were limited to the occasional replacement for injured players, Mo. Bhaskar Khan was indeed a member of a Khassi winning team. The victory was followed by a series of celebrations, but that would be a subject of another post……..
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