In the past, Hyderabad had produced some legendary footballers but perhaps the greatest among them was Tulsidas Balaram. He was the handpicked student of India’s most successful coach – the iconic S.A.Rahim. After being spotted and trained by Rahim, the young lad went on to become one the best players in India’s football history.
Shocking apathy
But sadly he never got any recognition in his home town. He sensed this indifference and chose to live out his last days in Kolkata where he was admired and remembered. Later when Hyderabad’s Mohammed Habib the mercurial ex-captain of India passed away, neither the government of Telangana nor the state football association cared to hold a condolence meeting.
In sharp contrast, an official of the East Bengal club travelled all the way from Kolkata to Hyderabad to personally express condolences to Habib’s family and present his wife a memento of the club. One fails to understand why the government, and officials as well as fans of Hyderabad are so apathetic towards their own heroes.
However Balaram’s soul may find some consolation from the fact that a biography about his life bagged an award recently. The book titled Tulsidas Balaram -The boy, The hero, The tormented Footballer, won the Biography of the Year award at the Ekamra Sports Literature Festival which is reportedly Asia’s largest, and was held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The book, published by Hawakal Publishers, has been authored by Sudipta Biswas, a journalist who had earlier lived and worked in Hyderabad and had fallen in love with Hyderabad’s football tradition.
He was the spearhead of India’s attack
Balaram spearheaded India’s attack during the golden age of Indian football in the 1960s. He represented India in numerous international tournaments, including the Asian Games, Merdeka Cup, and the Olympic Games and earned many honours for India.
The amount of research that has gone into the writing of the biography of Balaram is obvious when one reads it. The narrative begins with the early life of Balaram and a glimpse of the history of Hyderabad and Secunderabad in the background. Back in the 1940s when Balaram was a boy, he lived in the village of Ammuguda in Secunderabad where he was born.
Old street names in Secunderabad
The book states that in those days Ammuguda had no paved roads and the people walked for miles to reach their workplaces. In Secunderabad, the Sarojini Devi road used to be called Oxford Street and M.G. Road was known as James Street. There were few vehicles so the roads were mostly empty.
Balaram’s family was among the poorest that lived in the area. For the youth of Ammuguda, football was a way of escaping the hardships of daily life. The goalposts were fashioned out of piles of rocks and the playgrounds were strewn with pebbles. Often their bare feet would suffer lacerations and cuts but yet the boys played with unbridled passion.
Balaram’s first football idol was Susai Junior who represented the formidable Hyderabad City Police. In those days, Hyderabad Police was one of the best teams in India. Even in his early days, the skinny Balaram could utterly destroy rival teams with his superb skills. It was obvious to any watcher that here was a boy with exceptional talents as a footballer.
Rahim spotted Balaram
The book describes how Balaram’s talent was spotted by the famous S.A. Rahim and how he was trained and developed by the great coach. At first Balaram thought that Rahim was rude towards him but that soon changed to deep respect and the two of them developed a fine understanding.
The story traces Balaram’s meteoric rise through the ranks of Indian football, playing with some of the most famous names in history and always learning and improving his own game.
The chapters give a detailed account of Balaram’s glorious career. He represented India in two Olympic Games and was a member of the victorious Indian team that won the Asian Games gold medal in 1962 defeating Japan and Korea along the way. Now India cannot even dream of beating Japan and Korea.
When the writer met Balaram’s family members and also Balaram himself, the great player was more than 80 years old but his memory was sharp and clear.
A humble and friendly man
The author had expected to meet a temperamental old man but he found the legendary footballer to be a humble and friendly person who struck up a good rapport with the biographer. It was essential for this camaraderie to be established for the purpose of writing this book. This cordial rapport between the subject and the writer has enhanced the quality of the narrative.
More such books need to be written because Hyderabad has a great tradition of sport which at present lies neglected and largely unknown. Only if the tales are told, will the new generation be inspired to emulate the feats of past greats and Hyderabad’s sports tradition can continue.
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