Nirmal and Sanju

After Bhaichung Bhutia, Sikkim was struggling to find new players who had the caliber to go all the way and and perform at the highest level of Indian football. The Government of Sikkim realized this and in the year  1998 a scheme aptly named “Search for more Bhaichungs” was launched under  the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs. Coaches were sent to all the four districts of Sikkim and trails were held for the boys under 14 years of age. Even I can recall attending the selection trails at the West Point School grounds at Gangtok.After attending the camp for 15 days I was not found good enough but I enjoyed every moment of the sessions we had there.

All the selected boys from this scheme was put up at the Namchi Sports Hostel (Namchi  is the South District headquarter) where they were imparted quality training and education. Slowing it started showing results. Many boys who passed out from this Hostel started getting offers  and some of them went on to represent India at the various age group tournaments.

Nirmal Chettri and Sanju Pradhan were also part of this band of boys who were on course to change the footballing fortunes of Sikkim. I recall hearing a lot about Sanju Pradhan and his antics on the field but had never seen him play. I don’t exactly remember the year but it was during the Chief Minister’s Gold Cup which is held annually at Namchi that I got to see him play. The local cable channel was showing the recording and I sat back and started watching the match and there I saw the Boy who I had heard so much about and got blown away by the way he played. Now at East Bengal he is mostly employed as a  right winger but back then he used to play as a Central Midfielder. He was I guess around 16 year old that time and the game he displayed was far ahead of his tender age. After that I came down to Kolkata and lost touch with Sikkimese football. But these two boys were improving day by day.

In 2006 during my Part II Graduation final exams preparation break, I had gone back to Gangtok and a tournament called the Mini SAARC  was being held. Forgive me I don’t remember the official name. The tournament had Academy teams from across the country and one each from Nepal and Bhutan. It was there again I saw these two boys in action. I don’t remember the group matches but during the finals against Nepal, I remember vividly how well Nirmal and Sanju played. I will have to mention about Nirmal here. He played a brilliant game as a stopper and I was amazed by his technical understanding of the game at such a young age, another thing I noticed about him was his commanding presence on the field. He was always communicating with his teammates and sometimes even shouting at them. He had that leadership quality. Later he proved me right on this by captaining the India under-19 team on their tour of Germany. Years later in Kolkata I found out through Nirmal himself here in Kolkata that he had played as a stopper for the first time during that match. One of their regular stopper was down with fever and the coach had asked Nirmal to take his place. This proves how gutsy he is.

Then in the All India Governor’s Gold Cup, these guys were on fire. The Sports Academy of Sikkim team brushed aside many good sides and reached the quarter-finals. They even got the better of Army XI in the quarterfinals league but eventually lost to Air India. I remember in that game Sanju scored a wonderful goal from the right side of the 18 yard box. He ran into the Army XI side back, got the better of him with an overstep and fired a thundering shot which went in like a rocket into the Army XI goal post. I was so much impressed that I even wrote an article about Nirmal and Sanju for a local newspaper called the Sikkim Express.

The performance at the Gold Cup was enough to impress the Air India coach Mr Bimal Ghosh and the boys packed their bags and left the hills of Sikkim for the unknown shores of Mumbai to join the Air India Club. The Sports Academy of Sikkim had prepared them well and they did not disappoint even at the highest level of Indian Football.

I used to watch there matches on television and one particular match I remember in the I-league.Nirmal and Sanju were playing for Air India in their home match at Mumbai.Sanju had a brilliant game showing his array of Skills and I remember the commentators saying “this boy has a bright future in Indian Football” and Sanju has proved him right. I must admit here that after Ronaldinho,Sanju is the only other player when he gets the ball I expect him to do something unexpected with the ball. He is such a complete Mid-Fielder. It’s always a joy to watch him in action.

Although I was there fan since the first time I saw them, I had never got the opportunity to get myself introduced with them. The moment came when Air India had come down to Kolkata for an I-League game. I was working as an intern then with Zee Sports had we had to go to their hotel and interview Nirmal about the game. That was for the first time I met him and it was a pleasure. Later on I got introduced to Sanju through Nirmal.

After a couple of seasons with Air India both of them joined East Bengal and continued with there good performance. I remember a press conference after a match with the Bayern Munich Under-19 team, where Gerd Muller said that he was impressed by East Bengal number 3 which was Nirmal.He might have felt really proud about those comments.I also felt very nice.

Next I was involved with a project for Zee Sports. It was a package on North-East Football so I had to interview Sanju and Nirmal with regards to a segment on Sikkim. I called them up and fixed up a date. They wanted to do it at their flat. So I went there. We had  good fun doing the interview and also joked about the fact that three people who were fluent in Nepali trying their best to sound good with their Hindi. I am not sure whether they saw the package but they sounded and looked good.

Now these two boys have become a Star. But I must add here they have no starry airs about themselves. The area where I live in Kolkata has large number of East Bengal supporters. Even my land lord is a big fan. These people had organized a puja last year and asked me to invite Nirmal,Sanju and Alvito for the opening ceremony. I  was bit hesitant and I told them that the season is on and they are really busy but they would not listen. So I asked them to get the invitation cards and hand it over to them. They did that and I called all three of them and informed them about the invitation and to my surprise they obliged. I was really impressed by their kind gesture and more than me the people of my locality went berserk when they finally arrived at my place. People whom I never knew came into my room to shake hands with the stars and a few of them got confused and thought I was also a player and shook my hands too.

Both Nirmal and Sanju have come a long way from the dustly fields of Sikkim to the Maidans of Kolkata. But still they have a long way to go and I am sure that they will taste more success in the near future. They are never over-confident about their skills though they have achieved so much in such a short span of time. Some months back I had met them and had a chat regarding  trying their luck in the European Leagues. Both of them were quick to respond that they are still learning and they will take another two to three years, to think about that possibility. This proves how well they are aware of their abilities and how much they want to improve further.

Now after Bhaichung Bhutia,though we want him to continue playing the game for eternity.Nirmal and Sanju are the new torch bearers of Sikkimese football and have a huge responsibility on their shoulders. Like Bhaichung who inspired a generation of footballers now the onus of doing that is falling upon them. But I am sure Nirmal and Sanju knows this and I was happy to note that they are already planning an Academy in Sikkim. So come on boys keep on playing the game, keep on working hard and keep on climbing the stairs of success.