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When mortal remains of Dhyan Chand was taken to Jhansi by helicopter!

Much has been said and documented about the hockey prowess of Dhyan Chand, but one cannot deny that the ‘hockey magician’ led a pretty sedate life, especially before his death.

When mortal remains of Dhyan Chand was taken to Jhansi by helicopter!
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By

Suhrid Barua

Published: 29 Aug 2019 8:35 AM GMT

August 29 is the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand – a day celebrated across the country as the National Sports Day. Over many decades, so much has been said and documented about the hockey prowess of Dhyan Chand, but one cannot deny that the ‘hockey magician’ led a pretty sedate life, especially in the years leading to his demise on December 3, 1979, at the age of 75.

Of course, one is always tempted to talk glowingly about the towering contribution of this Allahabad-born hockey great in the Olympics – it won’t be unfair to suggest that he was the cornerstone of India’s gold medal win at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics as he emerged as the tournament top scorer amassing 14 goals, scoring in every match. At the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, Dhyan Chand was on song again slamming 12 goals, including eight goals in the famous 24-1 romp over the USA. Nothing could come in the way of Dhyan Chand at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he rattled up 11 goals to cap off a hat-trick of Olympic gold medal wins for India. The hockey maestro, who made his international debut on the tour of New Zealand in 1926, called time on his hockey career in 1949, not before scoring more than 400 international goals.

 Nothing could come in the way of Dhyan Chand at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Nothing could come in the way of Dhyan Chand at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

Nearly thirty years have elapsed since this hockey stalwart passed away, but the clamour for bestowing Bharat Ratna – the country’ s highest civilian award – on Dhyan Chand refuses to die down. “What can I say? The media has been writing about it for a long time now, which represents the voice or sentiment of the common people. It is now up to the government to take a call – "babuji deserved it (Bharat Ratna) long back, but it is so unfortunate he hasn’t got it even after nearly thirty years of his demise,” says India’s 1975 World Cup-winning goal-scorer Ashok Kumar, son of Dhyan Chand. 

Interestingly, in mid-2017, the Sports Ministry had written to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) requesting for Bharat Ratna to be conferred on Dhyan Chand. But all these developments soon fizzed out as the matter appeared to be swept under the carpet. Conferring the honour posthumously will be a fitting tribute to his exceptional service to the country.

Rewind to the months leading to his death on December 3, 1979; one could learn that Dhyan Chand was doing reasonably okay health-wise at least until October of 1979. The Dhyan Chand household was a happy bunch and more so, with his son Ashok Kumar captaining the national team to a successful campaign in a Perth International Tourney in Australia in mid-1979 – a tourney where India had reached the final and lost to Australia.

Babuji was hale and hearty during the months of September and October of 1979 – I clearly remember he would go for his evening walk every day – he would walk for one-and-a-half kilometres to two kilometres carrying his stick and on his return, he would make it a point to bring sumptuous rabri for all of us

The clamour for bestowing Dhyan Chand with Bharat Ratna never dies down.
The clamour for bestowing Dhyan Chand with Bharat Ratna never dies down

It was around mid-November that Dhyan Chand’s health deteriorated as he started to suffer from memory loss and was admitted to a Germany hospital in Jhansi - the hockey legend was shifted to New Delhi and admitted in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). “I along with my family members, brought babuji by train in a general compartment and from Nizamabad railway station we took a cab and admitted him at in the general ward of AIIMS. The doctors soon figured out he had lung cancer. We tried to reach out to many people for help so that he can avail better treatment, but nothing came our way,” Kumar recollects those dark days as one wondered how this hockey great deserved better things in life than being bundled in a general compartment train and later admitted in the general ward of AIIMS. Of course, the hockey great was subsequently shifted to a private award of AIIMS after a journalist wrote an eye-catching article on how this hockey legend was kept in the general ward.

Dhyan Chand’s son Ashok Kumar used to be employed with Indian Airlines and was a member of its cabin crew – a job that required him constantly travelling. Fortunately, Ashok was at AIIMS when the death of the hockey wizard was declared by the doctors. “I came to the hospital around 12 am on the night of December 2 after just arrived in Delhi from a travelling job. I rode on my Jawa motorcycle to AIIMS and around 3:30-4:00 am babuji was declared dead,” says Kumar barely able to hide his emotion.

The body of Dhyan Chand had to be shifted to Jhansi and Ashok went out of the hospital to arrange a mortuary van and even paid advanced money for the same. But on his return to the hospital, Ashok was stunned to see a sea of people at the hospital. A lot of influential people arrived and even arranged for a helicopter to shift his body to Jhansi. “What an irony it is – babuji was rushed to Delhi by train in the general compartment when he was alive, but when he died he was taken home on a helicopter,” says Ashok.

Dhyan Chand's son Ashok Kumar (Source: The Hindu)

Thousands of people lined up at the Jhansi army airport where Dhyan Chand’s body arrived by helicopter. “Our house was five kilometres away from the airport, but it took around three hours to reach our house as his body reached home around 3:00 pm after the helicopter trip started at around 12 noon,” recounts Ashok.

The hockey wizard was cremated at Jhansi Heroes club ground – a place where Dhyan Chand made his club hockey. Even his cremation had its share of controversy. “It is seldom that cremation takes place at a playground. The district magistrate was against the move to carry out the cremation at the Jhansi Heroes ground, but many of babuji’s well-wishers protested, and we were subsequently allowed to perform the cremation,” Kumar pointed out.

Kumar was grappling with his family bereavement when he learnt that he was ignored the inaugural Champions Trophy to be held in Lahore.

I was picked for the national camp for the Champions Trophy in November, but I could not attend it as I had to look after my ailing father. Two weeks after babuji’s death I wrote to our hockey coach Jaman Lal Sarma that I was ready to join the national camp now that my babuji’s death rituals are all done, but the federation told me a few days later that my services were no longer required. I felt insulted as I served the country with distinction for so many years. I could have played the 1980 and 1984 Olympics as I was only 29 then and retired from hockey

Dhyan Chand has given us so many great moments on the hockey field, and nobody is in doubt that he hasn’t got the desired recognition for his hockey exploits. A Bharat Ratna for Dhyan Chand will go a long way in obliterating much of the pent-up rancour over the last few decades.

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