My friend Bhaskaran

You meet people who forget you. You forget people you meet. But sometimes you meet those people you can’t forget. Those are your friends.” ~ Mark Twain
In April this year when I heard my friend M Bhaskaran is no more then the above quote of Mark Twain came to my mind.
My close association with Bhaskaran was for just 2 years during my training period in Indian Oil Corporation's Gauhati Refinery from 1965 to 1967.
He was one year senior trainee in Chemical stream. Reading book and playing football was our common ground of friendship. He was a voracious reader of English novels. In my mindscape this typical image of him was of his lying down on his bed in his room in the Malaylee mess with a thick novel in his hands held over his chest. I am also a voracious reader from my childhood and when I started reading English novels then it was limited to reading fast paced thrillers of James Bond type. Yes,I was also fond of reading cowboy books of Louis Armour type but not exceeding 200 pages.I was fond of reading Sherlock Holmes, Hercules Poirot, Jeeves etc.
But then Bhaskaran introduced  me to reading Harold Robbins, Irving Wallace,Leon Uris etc and those writer's books were more than 400 pages and thus I transcended in reading thicker books or rather I got hooked to those type of  books  which covers myriad subjects and thus my horizon increased which helped me enhancing my knowledge about the world. The result of that reading thicker book emboldened me to read any book of any subject,thus I broke out from reading only detective or thriller books. In other words I started my journey of reading books on serious subjects. The credit goes to Bhaskaran for giving a new direction to my reading habit.
Our second area of common interest was football. Both of us was representing Gauhati Refinery in football. He was from IIT,Madras and had played for IIT and also he was pole vault champion of IIT. We have traveled with the football team in bus owned by IOC to Digboi Refinery, ONGC Sibsagar ,Oil India Limited,Duliajan to take part in football tournament among oil companies located in Assam. Those road trips increased our bonding and a special kind a camaraderie developed between us.
After a grueling match in the evening we would spend the evening sharing a nip of Old Tavern whiskey between us. Thus our friendship was sealed.
My last meeting was way back in middle seventies when he was posted at Haldia Refinery and I had gone there to help in commissioning a Desalter plant.
. By the end of 1978 i left Indian Oil for BHEL and Bhaskaran left Indian Oil for Kuwait National Oil. After that I had no touch with him but whenever I pickup a book then his smiling face comes to my mind or when I recall my football playing days of Gauhati then those evenings spent over a nip of OT in Sibsagar followed by a dinner of mutton currey and Joha rice, by the way that dinner of Sibsagar is permanently etched in my mind.
RIP,Bhaskaran !

The World Cup Football and me

Though I have been playing football since my school days but was not aware of World Cup Football till I joined Indian Oil Corporation in Gauhati in 1965. I heard my seniors talking about 1966 World Cup which ultimately England won. Brazil had won the previous world cup of 1962 and so we used to discuss about Brazil in officers club. But unfortunately Brazil was out in their group and couldn'treach knockout round. We were keenly following the scores and highlights in radio. Eusebio of Portugal made his name during that world cup. Bobby Charlton of England  was considered as the greatest footballer of England of all time. He was knighted.Bobby Moore was the captain of England team. Both were playing for the World Cup winning team,they defeated Germany 4-2.Though Pele was in full form and Garincha was there in Brazil team but in 1966 World Cup Eusebio was the player everyone was talking about.

Somehow that World Cup of 1966 got permanently etched in my memory because of intense discussion with my seniors.
As TV was yet to come in India so always kept track of World Cup through other news Channels but there was not much discussion among us. During my Barauni days from 1967 to 1978 , 3 World Cups happened but in the refinery there was hardly any discussion.  I could discuss about World Cup with my late brother in law Badalda as he was avid follower of sports. His younger brother Kajal Mukherjee was representing India then and so he was more in the happenings of football.
My first experience of watching World Cup in TV was in Vizag ,that was in 1990. When cable TV has just come in India.
With the launch of cable TV and watching World Cup live changed my perception of football and it's high standards in International erena.
From my school days I have been watching Durand Cup regularly in Delhi and used to be in awe of players like Chuni,PK,Jarnail Singh,Mewlal,Balaram etc but once I watched World Cup I stopped watching Indian tournaments, realized that we are way behind.

I started regularly following World Cup after my retirement in 2003 before that i was watching the finals. I have watched Brazil's last World cup win of 2002. Though Brazil took the World Cup 5 times 1954,1958,1970,1994,2002 but then it somehow couldn't manage to win ,lost in two finals.  Because of the way Brazil team plays this beautiful game so I always backed them . The other day I was watching in YouTube the dribbling moves of Neymar and how he controls the ball between toe and heel to dribble past an opponent.  I have seen Chuni using feign ,body swerve and dodge for dribbling but never this heel and toe tactice.
This World Cup has Ronaldo,Messi,Mbappe, Neymar but Valencia of Ecuador drew my attention. For me the best moment was when Richardson of Brazil scored a goal by bicycle kick against Serbia,which is now considered as the best goal scored in World Cup. This World Cup has already seen Saudi Arabia defeating Argentina and Japan defeating Germany. The opinion of experts is that it's the result of Globalsation of football when players from Japan play European leagues or players from Saudi Arabia too are hired by European clubs. Waiting for more surprises in this World Cup.
But for me it's Brazil as usual. 

Zila Begusarai

Zila Begusarai

…………………….

He was royally sitting inside , a policeman conversing with him with lot of respect. That was sometimes around 1972 or so when Begusarai became a district by carving out of Munger. If there is any district record of sports then it will be found that I was the captain of the first district football team. We just finished one of our football outing when I was informed that one of our player Gopal Prasad Singh who was also operator in Barauni Refinery had been jailed. I knew that he was on the run when his truck carrying ganja was caught near Nashik.

I am talking about Gopal whom we had gone to meet in the Begusarai jail. That was the time when notorious smuggler Kamdeo Singh was uncrowned king of ganja smugglers , ganja was grown in Nepal so it was cross border smuggling. Gopal was a good footballer and was representing both refinery and district. Officially he was an operator in Barauni Refinery of IOC.

I was surprised to find that he was getting lot of respects from the constables though he was behind the bar.He was not in his jail dress,with his fair skin and sturdy built he was looking like a Zamindar even though he was behind the bar. Seeing us he shouted an obscenity at the constable and said in a rough tone, “ Go bring tea and samosa for my guests!”

Then he smiled at us unruffled by his status of a prisoner , said to me “ Arey Roydada, how are you?”

“ I am fine but what is all this about ganja and all I hear?”

“Who kuch nahi, sab theek ho jayega. What was the score?”

“We won.” Someone informed.

In the meanwhile the constable of the jail brought tea and samosa for us.

We spent sometimes with him and then I rode back to my quarter on my scooter. Those days Begusarai area was a stronghold of CPI , most of the landed property was with Bhumihars. Gopal was a Bhumihar so had that upper hand in the society.

The game of football was the bond between me and Gopal. I was captain of refinery team and would go out to play matches to various places , those outings brought me close to many of the players , somehow Gopal's wayward character attracted me more to him. My flat was near the refinery bus stop from where official buses would start for shift duties. Often Gopal would be late and miss the schedule bus then he would take my scooter to duty. I never had the inkling about his smuggling activities. Once during a football match in Barauni town Gopal had a rough tackle with a Barauni player with whom he had past enmity.  Immediately Gopal was surrounded by the supporters of  the Barauni team who were furious but before they could do any harm to him two characters appeared from nowhere with revolvers and asked the Barauni supporters to back off. I was unnerved by the sight of gun, I looked angrily at Gopal.

He shrugged,” These are my bodyguards; I was ready for something like this.”

After that skirmish the match was abandoned.

After his arrest and conviction, Gopal was terminated from the job.

My last meeting with Gopal was in Quality Dresses , Begusarai which was owned by our friend Harishankar Maskara. I had gone to that shop  just for to chat, I was still a bachelor then. Suddenly Harshankar gave a shout and said,” Look who is here?’

I turned and found Gopal entering the shop. He was neatly dressed, had a look of a businessman. Seeing me he gave a big smile. Harshankar whispered to me,” Now he is a full time smuggler.”

“Hello Roydada.” We shook hand.

“You know Gopal got married again.” Harishankar said.

“Arey yaar, why suddenly?” I said.

“ Now I have to move in higher society so married an educated smart girl.” He smiled mischievously.

“what about your wife in village?” I said.

That rascal said, “ Dada you marry her.” And guffawed .

“Bloody hell, you have not changed even though wearing all gentleman like dress.” I admonished him.

Well that was my  last meeting with Gopal.

Begusarai is very much in news now a days because of Kanhaiya Kumar who is from Bihata village of Begusarai district....Begusarai had been a notorious place then in seventies because of all kinds of illegal activities. it was a strong hold of CPI and from the reports i find Bihata is called mini Moscow...
It is not surprising that  a gangster like Gopal  can not do mundane duty of an operator or like Kanhiya study and fight against the system...third alternative is be law abiding and surrender to the system...