There is not much distance from Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium on Lodhi Road, New Delhi to Karon Hotel in Lajpat Nagar Part-III. The two places are in the same part of the town. However, the peak evening traffic ensured that a distance that usually takes only 15 minutes took more than one-and-half hour. Traffic, pollution, Diwali rush, noise—Delhi is at its busiest this festival season.
Away from the madding crowd, midfielder Jeakson Singh Thounaujam’s family and skipper Amarjit Singh’s mother are seated in a room, watching the India-Australia Twenty20 international. Their boy Jeakson (pronounced 'jeekson and not jackson) made his way into the record books on Monday night to become India's first footballer to score a goal in a FIFA event. His elder brother Umakanta, also a footballer, and the only one who can speak Hindi in the room, says, “There is no football happening tonight. And hence, we are watching cricket.”
The ladies in the hotel room are decked in their best Manipuri attire. The family went to the team hotel to meet Jeakson on Tuesday morning. All, except Umakanta, are visiting Delhi for the first time. There is little reason to step out—they go to the stadium to watch India's matches and return. The weather is too hot and air too polluted in comparison to Manipur. Nevertheless, they are all smiles, especially Jeakson’s mother Bilashini Debi.
She is receiving a lot of phone calls from home congratulating her. All that she could ask her son when she met him briefly the next day after the India-Colombia match was if he had eaten food and about he ate. Jeakson's father Diben Singh Thounaojam is a man of few words. A keen footballer himself, he initiated both his sons into the game. He suffered a brain stroke some time back and is in recovery mode currently.
When asked what the family felt as they watched their son score India’s lone goal right in front of them at the international stadium, his brother Umakant said, “We just went mad. We were so happy and excited.” On the general atmosphere and crowd in the large stadium, Umakant said, “If this would have been in Manipur, all seats would have been taken.”
Jeakson Thounaojam (centre) celebrates after scoring India's first goal during the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 | PTI
Jeakson and Amarjit left home at a very young age to pursue their dreams of becoming professional footballers. Interestingly, both display the same sense of calmness and maturity. The families thank the former Indian player Renedy Singh who helped the boys through to the world cup. Notably, Jeakson had almost missed the bus to the world cup. As is well-chronicled by now, Jeakson, along with a few other boys, were dropped by former India coach Nikolai Adams and brought back into the squad by current coach Luis Norton De Matos after he watched India probables being thrashed in a match against Punjab’s well-known footballing coach and academy—Minnerva Punjab.
“I changed my game quite a bit post that incident,” revealed Jeakson. “Earlier, I wasn’t aware what my role exactly was in my position. Later I understood, what to do, when,” he said. “When I scored the goal, I got really excited but then immediately they scored the second goal. All my happiness vanished in a moment,” said Jeakson. But he added, “I'm very happy to be the first Indian to score a goal in a FIFA World cup. Want to thank my teammates and coaches, too. I was dissapointed we couldn’t eke out a result.”
The boys will face Ghana on October 12, India's last Pool A match. Jeakson said the game against Ghana would be quite tough and physical, but also added that the team would fight hard for a result, “no matter what.” His family, too, isn't going away any time soon. They will watch all the India matches and hope the journey wouldn’t end on Thursday.
