Hoping to find missing father, East Bengal's Gita Das plays on

People play football for different reasons. Some play to be immortalised as heroes, some play to provide for their future, and some - like Gita Das of East Bengal's women's team - play in the hope that their missing father will turn up to watch them play.

The 28-year-old has few memories of her father, Sukumar Das, a fisherman who was lost in the Sunderbans after his boat capsized in a storm two decades ago - but she does remember he used to play football. Sukumar's passion might have been to play, but his bread and butter was to operate trawlers often on perilous waters. It was one such day when a group, including the father of two, had set out to sea - to never return.

"I was very young when the incident happened, around 4-5 years old. I've heard from my mother that he used to play football. Many had come back, many didn't. My mother and I sit in anticipation, hoping that my father will turn up," Gita said.

Even though she is a person of few words, Gita had to be calmed down as she sat down on a chair in front of her ramshackle house in Ghola in the North 24 Paraganas district of West Bengal, a house which seems to be enough for her family.

(Gita in front of her house in Ghola)

With the Indian Women's League 2023-24 season knocking at our doors, East Bengal will be plying their trade in the country's top division for women for the first time in their history, courtesy their Kanyashree Cup win back in January. Midfielder Gita Das was an integral part of the cup-winning Red and Gold squad.

The tournament from the state of West Bengal made headlines on the day East Bengal hit Behala Aikya Sammilani for 35 goals, without letting in a single one. Gita scored five of these goals, and it'll certainly remain a memorable day for the player.

"I really liked the experience. I was able to help the team with my goals. Everyone was really happy. On the day that we scored 35 goals, it was a collective effort. Nothing like this had happened before in the Kanyashree Cup," Gita told The Bridge in a candid one-on-one interview.

"Selection went on for many days. Ultimately, we made up the final 28-member squad," the West Bengal lass explained on how she made the team for the Calcutta Women's League, more recently known as the Kanyashree Cup.

Being a woman in sport in India is never easy. One has to bear numerous taunts and power through the antagonists. Gita did just that. "Since childhood, I had an interest in playing football. There's a field adjacent to my school, but despite my desire to play, many naysayers would try to stop me from doing that, citing how it wasn't a girl's sport."

"People used to say a lot of different things. 'Being a girl, she's playing with boys. She doesn't have any shame,' is what they would say. I didn't mind them, I was just focused on playing. My father used to play as well (I wanted to play for him too)," Das explained.

Hoping against hope for father's return

If you look at Gita's mother Bimala, one would find every sign of a married woman on her; the vermilion colour on her hair's partition, the red and white bangles on her wrist signifying marriage. If it was someone else, they would have announced themselves as a widow long back and moved on. Not Bimala.

(Gita's mother Bimala Das)

"Everyone was hoping that he would come back, and we are still living with that hope. We were told that they had gone out in their boat which was caught in a storm, the vessel overturned. Some people were washed ashore into Sunderban jungles, but some didn't. Some said that those missing might have entered the jungles. That's all we have with us," Bimala told The Bridge.

Elder brother Raju, about six years older than Gita, continues to go with the flow. "What to say, it's our father after all. Till we don't see it with our eyes, we can't believe anything. Whenever I look at my mother, that hope kicks in and I feel that my father is out there alive somewhere," Raju told The Bridge in a telephonic conversation.

"One of our relatives was a man of status, almost like a gram panchayat, my jhetu. He'd gone in with the army and search parties, hoping to find my father. The people who'd returned and given details of the incident had found everything - other than my father," Raju said.

East Bengal- Gita's biggest paycheck to date

Like many families coming from such financially weak backgrounds, after father Sukumar's disappearance, it was mother Bimala who had to take up the onus of earning the bread.

"I used to stitch, cook at people's houses, be their maid and nanny. This is how I brought them up, gave them education, with a lot of struggles," Bimala said. Before she became proud of her daughter's exploits in and around Kolkata's maidaan, Bimala was trying to dissuade Gita, trying to get her to join the stitching practise in order to pay bills.

Gita's financial status has certainly improved substantially since her youth days. From earning a meagre 1000 rupees or so in a season, she's now earning almost more than 30 times, courtesy East Bengal.

"During the early days, I didn't get much in terms of salary. I used to get around Rs. 1000-2000, out of which I used to keep some for running the household, some for my own expenses, and some for travel to and from training. I used to also take money from my mother whenever I needed."

"Now that I get more than those days, I support the household and also look after myself," Gita said.

Despite such huge strides in her financials, the overall income of the Das family is still not enough to run the household effectively.

"Honestly, I wouldn't have been able to run things if it were only me. Whatever I earn I give to my mother for expenditures. In a month, I earn about Rs. 7000. You can understand our situation from this," Raju said, who currently works in a medicine factory.

"While my daughter and son's earnings have helped pay the bills, it's still not enough, they don't get much. I still work and cook in people's houses, I can't stitch anymore since I can't see very well in my eyes nowadays," Gita's mother drew up a struggling picture.

While Gita, unfortunately, missed out on being a part of East Bengal's first-ever IWL squad, the 28-year-old is determined to never leave the sport, no matter what.

"I did take part in the trials (for IWL), and I gave my hundred percent. I don't know why I wasn't selected," said a disheartened Gita.

"No matter how old I get, I'll keep playing football, continue practising it," Gita concluded.