MUSBA HASHMI travels to Shahabad to bring you the amazing comeback story of hockey star SANDEEP SINGH with a detailed account of the darkest days in his life and one accidental bullet that changed his life forever
On August 26, 2006 was an usually busy morning for everyone but for Flicker Man. That ill-fated morning turned his life upside down. Hockey’s rising star Sandeep Singh was travelling by the Kalka Shatabdi from Chandigarh to Delhi after a two-day leave less than two weeks before the World Cup. At 8:15 am, the passengers heard a deafening sound. All went numb for a moment — except for Sandeep Singh.
“I suddenly heard a loud noise, much like a bomb blast. My body went numb and then I felt a sharp pain in my back, as if someone had inserted an iron rod into it. While I was trying to figure out what had happened, a man walked up to me with a 9 mm pistol in hand and said: “I am so sorry. I shot you by mistake. My lower body was paralyzed on the spot, I took out my phone and called my brother Bikram and my coach and they advised me to head to the hospital immediately,” Singh tells you.
He was taken to PGI, Chandigarh after six crucial hours wasted due to non-availability of ambulance. After a surgery, it took him four weeks to gain consciousness. On a ventilator in the ICU, the world’s fastest Drag Flicker had lost 40 per cent of body weight. “While I was on the ventilator, I saw a team of doctors who said I was extremely lucky to have survived this accident. The bullet had pierced through three organs, touched the l2 of my spinal cord, then changed direction and went all the way down touching all other parts,” Singh tells Sunday Pioneer on a train journey back from launching a biopic on him.
The tragic accident was the blackest day of his life. Though he was able to survive, the doctors were not sure if he would be able to sit even on a wheelchair. “I used to sleep only one hour a day that too with the help of medications to relax my mind. I would obsess about playing hockey for India anyhow, somehow. I was in so much physical and mental agony. Bhagwaan kisi dushman ko bhi aisey din na dikhaye. I would lie in bed with no lower body movement. Doctors would pierce needles into my legs but I didn’t feel a thing. I was breaking up emotionally too. I told my brother that I wanted to get back to the hockey field. He was my pillar of support. I used to try walking with my hockey stick with my brother holding me and then one day I was able to sit on a wheelchair,” Singh recalls. The Indian Hockey Federation then sanctioned funds for his treatment at a Holland rehabilitation centre.
“The Government and the Hockey Federation supported me a lot. My family had no money, not even for the operation. If the federation and the Government hadn’t come forward to help me, I would have been a vegetable, a dead man,” Singh says.
It was tough and lonely, often defeatist seven months in rehab for the player. “But at the end of it, I returned to India on my feet. I was able to walk then, and even run for a bit. I started practising for hockey but no one really thought I was fit to play hockey ever. I kept practising, and seven months later, contributed in a zonal team winning a tournament. I went back to the Federation with a plea to Team India inclusion. I finally got a chance in 2008 for the Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament. I emerged as the top scorer with eight goals in my kitty. After returning from there, I was made captain of the Indian team,” he says with pride.
It was firm family support that fired Singh’s will to fight an impossible medical situation. “When my family, with so many financial troubles, did everything they could for my treatment, how could I give upIJ” he asks. “We used to live in a rented house and when I was shot, our landlord told us to vacate. We went through a very tough time but the support that I got from everyone made me emerge stronger,” he says.
Indeed, it was sheer determination that a man ticked off as a lost case and was wheelchair-bound for over a year, returned to the Indian hockey team with a trail of laurels to his name and, of course, the title of being the world’s fastest and best Drag-Flicker.
Not that Singh was born with a passion for hockey. He started playing only because his elder brother Bikramjeet Singh was into the sport aspiring for a Team India position. “I was a lazy child, mama’s boy who would run away from hard work. But as I grew up, I developed an interest in the game, No one can ever imagine ki yeh ladka bhi athlete ban sakta hai, vo bhi a pro-athlete,” Singh says with a laugh.
Taking us back to his school days, Singh says: “If I got too much school homework I would go crying to my mother who often helped me do it the next morning. I was my granny’s favourite and totally pampered. But things changed a lot after that bullet pierced through me. I neither cry nor feel extremely happy easily now. I seldom celebrate vigorously even after scoring a goal,” he says.
Hailing from the small township of Shahabad in the Kurukshetra region of Haryana, Singh is the first teenager to represent India in Olympics — at Athens in 2004. Next he reached the milestone of being the highest goal scorer in Junior World Cup, 2005. He rose to be the captain of the Indian hockey team but never compromised on his routine of six-seven-hour-a-day practice sessions, usually at night.
“The reason I train at night was my coach Inderjit Singh Gill. He would teach me how to score maximum goals in a match. I cherish those moments with him. I have not seen anyone playing hockey my way. It is not as if I am complementing myself, but I have never heard of such a story of someone working so hard and coming back from paralysis. My coach would tell my juniors and seniors, ‘agar training karni hai toh Sandeep jaisi karo’. There should be more coaches like him in India,” Singh says.
Gill died in an accident in 2014. Singh was then in Delhi to sign a contract for the Hockey India league. “I was so shocked when I heard the news and very upset because I was not able to attend his funeral. I had to play a tournament and could not leave for Punjab as hockey mera dharm hai. But my family went for his funeral. He was very close to us,” he tells you.
Dhanraj Pillay and Dilip Tirkey are Sandeep’s idols. “Dhanraj Pillay once told me ‘hockey khelni hai toh kisi bhi coach ke paon par hath laga kar nahi khelna hai, apney dum par khelni hai apni qualityse’. Critics, he told me, will always say bad things but that I should answer them with my performance,” Singh says.
Now 32, Singh still is mama’s boy and very much a family man. “Without bonding there’s no life. I keep in touch with my family even if I am playing abroad. They are the ones who brought me back to the turf so the least I can do is take out time to spend with them,” he tells you. Sandeep is married to Harjinder Kaur, also a hockey player and the couple has a son Sehajdeep. The trio’s weekends are never complete without a trip to Ambala for a dosa at Sagar Ratna followed by a jal-jeera at Jain’s.
Flicker Singh, though, never met the man who shot him. “My family didn’t ever try to know the man or find out the motive behind his act. Their focus was my recovery and how to get me back on the field. We didn’t want to waste time on him. Their dedication is the reason that I didn’t give up. The result is in front of you,” Singh says.
Ask him what made him won big titles, he says: “This is the gift of my fans and lovers who appreciate my work. What I am today is all because of them and I am humbled that they have given me the title of Flicker Singh. I am the same person. My parents always keep me grounded. Agar hawa me udey to gir jaogey,” he tells you.
At present, Singh is not a part of the Indian team but is working hard to make a comeback. “There is still a long way to go, there is struggle, hard work and dedication and very soon, it is going to pay me well,” he asserts as the train touches Delhi and he hops off with a promise for the nation and a smile on his face.
On the train 12 years later
To salute the dedication, hard work and willpower of a sporting braveheart, Shaad Ali made the film Soorma, a biopic on hockey player Sandeep Singh's life and journey. Diljit Dosanjh plays the role of Singh. The promotions of the film aptly started in Sandeep's hometown Shahabad. The township has seal of Singh's presence, what with all the banners with his face on them crowding every space with congratulations.
While on the trip, Singh visited the Hockey Mahila Academy where he practised in his initial days. As he stepped on to the field, even the trees seemed to rejoice by swaying their branches. Singh travelled in the train for the first time 12 years after the accident — to promote the movie. Singh says Diljit Dosanjh has done justice to his character and no one would be have replicated his life better. Sharing his experience of playing Sandeep, Dosanjh says: “I have never played any sport. I went out of my comfort zone and practised a lot of hockey for this role. Sandeep helped me a lot, he trained me and because of which it became easy for me and I didn't have to face many challenges. I am glad I got to play his role. I have never heard of such a great comeback story,” Dosanjh says.
‘Playing Gurcharan a subdued challenge'
For 62-year-old Satish Kaushik, stepping into the shoes of Sandeep Singh's father Gurcharan Singh was a great learning experience.
“When Shaad Ali offered me the role, I found the character and the story so inspiring that I immediately said yes. It was the first time I had read about Sandeep's life in detail and it was both heartbreaking and motivating to know his story. Though my role was small, it was very interesting and impactful,” Kaushik says.
Though Kaushik didn't get a chance to meet Gurcharan Singh, his sons Sandeep and Bikram shared the insights into his character.
“Sandeep and Bikram shared their experiences with their father and explained the kind of bond they shared with each other so it really helped me connect to him and bring out that bond on the screen,” Kaushik says.
It was a simple and yet complex role. “My character had to come from the heart. It needed more of an internal connection and deep approach. It was quite a challenge because Shaad wanted it to be very subdued and yet highly emotional. For one scene, I had to drive a Vespa scooter in the market. It was a tough shot for me as Vespa scooters are difficult to balance. But my overall experience was good. I bonded well with Diljeet and Angad Bedi,” Kaushik tells you.