Gurjot was riding his bicycle on the unpaved roads of his village, Hussainabad Gurjot was reduced to a mere dot on the rural map of India in Nakodar tehsil of Jalandhar district – when a bike hit him. He fell, and his head hit the rocky part of a roadside ‘chakki’ (manual flour grinding machine). He lay unconscious and in a pool of blood. The biker and his friend picked Gurjot up and rushed him to the nearest medical facility.
When the news reached Gurjot’s home, his parents were out for some work. His two sisters were worried and did not know what to do. But luckily the situation did not get out of control. The doctors were worried about the excessive blood loss and told his parents that it would take some time for him to recover completely.
The headache made it difficult to recover. Cycling four kilometres to the government school in the neighbouring village of Sarin was a tough task for the little boy.
Gurjot struggled for four years until he became a successful businessman. Hockey stick to.
But over the next few years, he faced many challenges on his journey from Hussainabad to China, including working as a labourer in a ‘chappal’ factory.
“I was naughty, I had many accidents,” Gurjoat told TimesofIndia.com, two days after making his debut for the Indian senior team. Asian Champions Trophy in China.
“Once while playing cricket, I also got hit on the head by the bat,” he said with adolescent innocence.
Gurjot is now 19 years old, but the horrific incident of that day is still fresh in his mind.
“It was serious. I was weak,” he recalled. “The doctors told my parents, ‘Whenever he focuses on something, puts his eyes on a book or a phone screen, he might get a headache.’ So I had to take care of myself.”
This took years to recover from, and left parents worried.
How did hockey begin?
At that time, it was just a one-room house in Hussainabad, in which five members of the family – Gurjot, his mother, father and two sisters – lived.
His father, who was the sole breadwinner of the family, worked as a milkman. He also tried his luck to settle in Italy. But it did not work out and he returned home, but deep in debt.
“We did not have our own cattle. Bapu (father) used to supply milk to a vendor,” Gurjot said. “He returned from Italy in about six months. This put us in debt as he had borrowed money from my uncle.”
Amidst these struggles, Gurjot reached the seventh grade. The problem of headache was almost solved. That was when he first got introduced to hockey.
But the next hurdle was that his parents were not willing to involve him in a rigorous schedule of school-home-ground-home every day, along with commuting by bicycle between Hussainabad and Sarinh.
The distance one way was about 4 km.
“The parents did not allow us to travel again for hockey and come back after dark, around 8-9 pm, which is not safe in the villages,” Gurjot said.
“But I was so excited to play. It took me 6-7 months to convince my parents to let me go. One day I cried a lot. I said ‘main roti nahi khaunga, main jaan do’ (I will not eat, let me go).
“Then they agreed.”
(Photo: Edited by TOI)
‘Nobody was holding hands’
A club in Sarinah used to take care of hockey sticks, uniforms, shoes etc. of the village players. Five-six of Gurjot’s friends from Hussainabad also played hockey. But none of them got proper guidance to pursue their ambition in this sport.
“I played in Sarin till Class 12. But I did not get much support and neither did I get much information or guidance on how to pursue it,” Gurjot said. “Nobody was supporting me; all my friends who started playing with me also quit the sport.”
Having no future in the sport, Gurjot also decided to quit the sport on the insistence of his parents.
Then, Covid hit the world.
“In the lockdown, I started looking for work because of the circumstances at that time.”
This led to a promising hockey player getting a job in a ‘chappal’ factory (a chappal manufacturing unit), and also boxing shoes. But Gurjot’s love for the game did not end.
“We would take out the slippers from the machine and pack them in boxes. There were no leaves allowed. I would work night shifts so that I could get some time to practice in the morning.”
“But honestly, it was tough to do it without sleeping,” he added.
Hockey gave another chance
Khalsa College, Jalandhar announced trials for the selection of hockey players.
Gurjot was not very confident about this, but on the advice of his friends, he decided to appear for the trials. And things started falling into place.
“I went for the trials straight after my night shift at the factory and got selected. I was offered a college hostel and free food. The family said there is no expense and if you want to play hockey, go ahead. And I started playing again.”
Gurjot continued, saying that a sense of happiness had returned to his voice.
An added advantage of playing for the Khalsa College team was that the same group of players also played the departmental national competition representing Punjab and Sind Bank, which is part of a tie-up between the two institutions. Thus Gurjot’s dream of getting a job after playing the national competition was revived.
However, this happiness was short-lived.
“The year I joined Khalsa College, Department Nationals were discontinued,” Gurjot said. “I couldn’t understand anything and felt I was at a crossroads again.”
lucky card
Gurjot wondered what turn his life would take now, so he reached a local tournament in Moga. It was 2021. The team had Sukhjeet Singh and Abhishek, who played for India and are now Gurjot’s teammates in the senior national team.
Gurjot was caught for a foul by the referee and shown a card. He ran off the field and sat on a chair near the technical bench.
“While I was waiting for my suspension minutes to get over, a man came up to me so that I could join the team on the ground,” Gurjot said.
“I was young at that time and still quite weak. The man asked me, ‘How old are you?’ I told him. Then he said, ‘Tomorrow morning the Round Glass Academy is conducting trials for its next batch at the PAP (Punjab Armed Police) ground. You go there and give the trials.’
“I returned home from Moga the same night and caught the train the next morning to reach PAP ground in Jalandhar,” Gurjot said.
Gurjot’s 100 per cent record continued in the selection trials and he donned the round glass jersey.
(Photo: TOI arrangement)
The Round Glass organization was founded in 2014, founded by Sunny Gurpreet Singh, an Indian entrepreneur living in the US. It has hockey and football academies under its aegis, and their teams also take part in national championships and leagues.
“My coach at the time was Balwinder Singh, who is the father of striker Dilpreet Singh, who has played for India,” Gurjot said. “I played my first national match with Round Glass…they never saw where I came from or that I had never played at the national level before; they just saw me play and thought it was good.”
The hockey programme at RoundGlass is currently overseen by former Indian player and coach Rajinder Singh Sr.
Thus began Gurjoat’s journey in the blue jersey as he was called up to join the Junior India camp after catching the eye of Hockey India High Performance and Development Committee member Syed Ali at the Hockey India Academy Championship.
“I scored a few goals in that tournament, we came fourth. From there, I was selected for the Junior India camp,” Gurjoat said.
The people of the village gave him a hero’s welcome on his return home. He is the first and only hockey player to play in the National Championships from his village, which never had a ground.
They garlanded him as the beats of drums reverberated through Hussainabad and a procession of children and elders in sports kits passed through the village celebrating, with Gurjot in the middle.
These scenes are likely to be repeated again once Gurjoat returns from the Asian Champions Trophy. He usually does not go home often from the training camp in Bengaluru, as he believes it might distract him.
Gurjoat likes to train even when his teammates go home during breaks.
‘Chak De, show your game’
Gurjot played his first match for the senior team against hosts China. India won 3-1. Gurjot did nothing that would make headlines, but he took many stories with him.
“Harman Bhaji (captain Harmanpreet) told me, ‘Chak de, jo ve haiga dikha de. Appa tere naal haan, darna nahi (Come on, show your skills, we are with you, don’t be nervous or scared),” Gurjot said.
But the 19-year-old striker didn’t deny having butterflies in the stomach but handled it well while playing alongside India’s 10 Paris Olympics bronze medallists.
Gurjot was particularly worried about one thing.
“I was nervous about playing with all the big players. This was my first opportunity. I was worried about how my mistake would be viewed, what the reaction would be,” he said.
But this nervousness is much better than the fear of headache, which took away a part of Gurjot’s childhood.
Today Gurjot has completed his schooling, is completing his bachelor’s degree (Bachelor of Physical Education) and is playing hockey for India. The government job he always wanted is not far away now.
The boy from Hussainabad has made his dream come true.
