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Outside the main gate of the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam office in Lucknow’s Hazratganj, an anxious Tasavvur Ali flung aside his toolbox when the phone beeped on Sunday evening. By the time he finished reading the SMS — a smartphone is still an unaffordable luxury for him — the motorcycle mechanic was tearing up. His son Amir, the text message read, had earned his fledgling career’s biggest paycheque — the 20-year-old defender was picked by a yet-to-be-named Visakhapatnam-based team for Rs 34 lakh in the Hockey India League player auctions. Within minutes, the news spread in the neighbourhood. And ‘imambara chacha’ had a beeline of visitors waiting to wish him. “I was over the moon. I knew Amir would make us all proud one day… but this is the first step, he will achieve a lot more,” Tasavvur tells The Indian Express . Less than a decade ago, none of this seemed possible. Hockey back then was a ‘dream’. The reality was harsh — at an age where players learn the basics of the sport, Amir was helping his father at the garage. “To call it a garage is a stretch,” Tassavur interjects. “I just have a small tin briefcase and sit outside the main gate of the Jal Nigam office.” The eldest of five siblings, Amir was seen as someone who’d eventually join his father’s business. So, even before he could distinguish a pass from a hit on the hockey field, Amir was doing the heavy lifting at the garage. ”You know, engines are heavy to lift and it’s not one man’s job. It started with that. And very soon, I began servicing bikes. I was 12 years old at the time,” Amir, the Junior India team captain, tells this paper. “My father told me and my brother Shahrukh, ‘yeh hunar hona chahiye’ (we must possess this skill). So, I helped him,” Amir says, adding that the brothers continue to work there even today when they are home. At the time, Amir was already smitten by the sport — barely surprising given the unique place of pride Lucknow , and Uttar Pradesh in general, enjoys in Indian hockey. The region has produced stars who play with ‘tehzeeb’ and ‘nazakat’, be it the yesteryear wizards like Dhyan Chand or his son Ashok Kumar; KD Singh Babu or Mohammad Shahid; Zafar Iqbal or RP Singh; current heroes like Lalit Upadhyay or future stars like Rajkumar Pal. Amir is built in the same mould — a left-back who can beautifully cut inside to beat the opposition’s press, a hard tackler, quick on the ball and, true to the modern-day Indian player, one who won’t hold the ball for more than a few seconds. He was spotted at the age of 10 by a senior coach at the KD Singh Babu Stadium, Rashid Aziz Khan, who belongs to a generation of talent spotters that relies on instincts rather than just data. “The ground was very close to my house. Kids from my neighbourhood went there to play so one evening, I joined them too,” Amir says. “Rashid sir saw something in me, and urged me to continue playing.” He juggled three things for months — the mornings, Amir adds, were spent at school, afternoons helping his father at the garage and evenings at the hockey ground. There were times Tasavvur had to borrow money to meet some of his son’s sporting needs, and there were times, too, when Amir had to skip training sessions to help his father at the garage. ”In 2014, I got selected at the Major Dhyan Chand Sports College in Saifai,” he adds. The big break eased the financial burden on his family as far as the hockey needs were concerned. Step by step, Amir began his journey towards the national team; he is the captain of the Junior India team that will compete in the Sultan of Johor Cup starting Saturday and features prominently in senior coach Craig Fulton’s post-Paris Olympics team rebuilding plan. It was also during this period when the then 10-year-old Amir would cycle roughly 12 km to watch his ‘hero’, former India captain and twice Olympic bronze medallist Manpreet Singh, play in the Hockey India League. ”I never missed a HIL match back then. Manpreet bhai used to play for Ranchi back then and I went to see him play,” Amir says. “It’s surreal that now I will play in the same team with him.” Not long before Amir was picked, the Visakhapatnam franchise had snapped up Manpreet for Rs 42 lakh. When his turn came, Amir’s heart started pounding. He set off a bidding war of sorts and when the auctioneer banged the gavel, he was sold for Rs 34 lakh. Compared to HIL’s richer cousin, the Indian Premier League, the sum spent on the hockey players might not be eye-watering. But for someone like Amir, it is life-changing. “This is my biggest earning through hockey. I don’t know what I’ll do with it — usually, I give it to my father, so I’ll do that,” Amir says. “But as much as the money, it’s also about pride. I have never seen my mother and father so happy. Family ki izzat honi chahiye, that’s the important thing.” None
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