My gratitude to Shri T K Phukan Sir,

My gratitude to Shri T K Phukan Sir,  ( former Secretary of Assam Volleyball Association)

On that December night, we the ball boys, all between 10 to 15 years old, were shivering from the cold. The last match of the day continued till mid-night.  It was the senior national volleyball championship organized by Assam Volleyball Association (AVA) at Guwahati in 1989. Exhausted after continuously performing ball boy duty for the entire day we were feeling hungry and sleepy. There were hardly any spectators on the stand, only the officials watching from the nearby stand. Just when I was waiting to hand over  the ball to the server, an elderly person came from behind , took the ball from me and said "etiya juwa vat khuwa goi, bahut rati hol" (now go and have your dinner, its already too late) . That elderly person was none other than Shri T. K Phukan Sir, a senior member of AVA. On the other corner I saw another senior official taking charge of the ballboy  responsibility from one of my friend. They were the senior most people of Assam Volleyball but still had the empathy to think even for the ball boys. In today's scenario it would be hard to find such noble souls in the senior official role who probable will think and act like Phukan Sir. 

    Shri T K Pukan Sir 

Later on when I started liking and playing volleyball seriously I remember Phukan Sir as the permanent General Secretary of Assam Volleyball Association. In those days, Volleyball in Assam seems to be a family affairs. The members of Assam Volleyball Association bonded  so well that there was  mutual respect among themselves for each other. I remember, every time we used to come for Sub-Junior and Junior inter district representing Tezpur team, Phukan Sir would asked "Tezpuria team aibar jikiba nay" ( Hey the boy from Tezpur, will your team win this time ). But we always used to lose in the pool matches. At the end  of the championship he would come to us and say  “don’t worry, your  time will also come”. Finally, after losing in the pool stages continuously for three years, we finally became the Assam Junior Champion in the Barpeta Inter district defeating the defending champion  Bajali. Howraghat team won in the girls section and Tezpur became the winner in Boys section. Ms Purbai (Phukan sir’s daughter ) was awarded the best player in girls category and I got the best player in boys category. Probable for my father  and Phukan Sir, that day would have been one of the best day of their life. Two best friend working for development of volleyball in Assam for decades and their children awarded best player in the same championship together...it must be a fulfilling experience for both of them. 

In those days, there were scarcity of funds but still AVA under the leadership of Phukan Sir , made sure that both the boys and girls teams were sent for national participation. Had they not sent the team for Junior Nationals I would have never got an opportunity to represent the Indian team. When I first got the call for the national junior camp at Aurangabad, the letter from Volleyball Federation of India was sent  to  Phukan Sir. He in turned informed my father about my selection probable through phone and when Dauta disclosed the news to all of us, it was one of the happiest day in our family. It took more than 8 years of practice to get the first call for the Indian camp. The year was 1996. 

Later, in the same year, I got selected to represent the Indian School Volleyball team, in  Asian School championship held at Macau in  1996 where as per ranking my blocking average was best . On my return, Assam Volleyball Association felicitated me at the Dibrugrah Senior Inter District, when Phukan sir was the secretary. He was pleased to announce that not only it is for the first time that a boy from  Assam but entire Northeast has represented the Indian team in volleyball . I could still remember the joy and happiness in his eyes, on that day in Dibrugarh.  

    Standing from left to right : Bani Dutta, Ganga Bhatta (my father) , Phukan Sir and my all time              favorite Durlav Shrama Sir

In the same season,  Assam Volleyball Association  decided to send the Assam team for the Youth National Championship at Palai, Kerala. The camp was at Nagaon Nurul Amin Stadium. As both boys and girls team were to be sent, it was decided that only 10 players will be in each team. Jiban Surana sir was in-charge of the team. We all requested him to include 12 players as there were more than 20 boys in the camp. So he probable convinced Phukan Sir and came up with an option/ solution. Just before leaving for Kerala, there was the famous Silghat All Assam Invitation Volleyball tournament. He informed us that the Youth team will be participating and if we win the tournament, twelve players from Assam will be sent to Kerala. 

The best senior teams from across Assam were participating in the tournament including the mighty Assam Police. I remember we somehow managed to win the semi- final but in the finals Assam Police team was waiting for us. Everyone including the spectators and officials was expecting a humiliating defeat for the youth team. But we were in no mood to surrender, the entire playing and non-playing members were united so that 12 players can go for the national. We somehow hold on to the brilliant attack of Assam Police. We had nothing to lose , so we played to our heart content. With every passing point the spectators started believing that we can make the match exciting and slowly they started supporting us. I cannot  forget that match in my entire life. We finally defeated the unbeatable Assam Police team  in the final. The atmosphere was totally enchanting with entire crowd going mad including the officials of Assam Volleyball Association. Later we all went to Phukan Sir and he kept his promise. 12 players were ultimately sent to Kerala and I still don’t know how he managed the funds. Later from Kerala , we too gave him a gift . Assam team reached the quarter-final for the first time. 

Those days would never come back again  in our life. All  the players, both boys and girls  had mutual respect for each other, the officials treated us like their own children and it was a kind of  one big family. Probable it was all because of the leadership, empathy, concern, love and respect of people like Phukan Sir . Today hundreds of players like me succeeded in earning  their livelihood only by playing volleyball and people like Phukan Sir has played a big role in giving us the much needed platform. Now it is our responsibility to create a strong platform for the upcoming generation.

Thank you Sir,  people like you are rare in this world. I on behalf of all my friends and fellow volleyball players of those time will always be grateful to you for whatever you have done for us. And my special gratitude to you for being one of the closest friend of my departed father Late Ganga Bhatta. 

We pray for  your good health and long life.

Abhijit Bhattacharya ongc.abhijit@gmail.com