Danny, Tinkitam & Baichung

Tinkitam won't sound like some place on Mars if for those who keep track of
Indian football. Set against the backdrop of the majestic Kanchenjanga, it is a place almost ethereal in beauty. But getting there is almost as difficult as solving some cryptic clues. With the early morning cold wind often numbing your senses and the rocky path sometimes making your knees wobble, you might throw in the towel. But then the challenge is worth taking only because of Baichung Bhutia.

Forget about Tinkitam's latitude and longitude, locating it on the atlas would definitely require a magnifying glass. The place is virtually cut off from the satellite world. Telephones, cable networks or even the cacophony of vehicles are yet to make any inroad in this sleepy hamlet firmly placed at the foothills of Kanchenjunga. Silence spreads like a contagion as you weave past the lush green cardamom plantations on either side of the two kilometre stretch which leads to the Indian captain's village.

Yet, the passport to this remotest village happens to be Indian football's only superstar -- Baichung. And even if you are not comfortable with the local Nepali dialect, simply roll out the words, `Baichung, Baichung' and you would be heading towards his home.

After Danny Denzongpa, this tiny Himalayan state got Baichung as their most adorable celebrity. And the Sikkimese are quite elated. Why not? After all, heroes are rarely bred in the mountains where life is extremely hard and steeped in poverty and backwardness.

In the early nineties, a precocious talent emerged from the obscurity of a relatively unknown village called Tinkitam to do wonders with that spherical leather object called football, Short and stocky, Bhutia soon became a rage with the hillmen. His import to the motherland of soccer -- England -- in 1999 has given his modest village a shot in the arm. No wonder, Tinkitam instantly gained international fame.

In fact, the Sikkimese has even emulated his 'Grandpa' Danny in terms of hero worship and popularity; and the hillmen's unbriddled joy and happiness is expressed through football, and Bhutia can claim to be a trendsetter.

In Tinkitam and elsewhere in his state, Bhutia is more than a football star. He is the Little Buddha. Or even a Karmapa whose hero worship is almost legendary. You may not come across any `Baichung shrine' but the Sikkim Government has paid obeisance to the celebrity in the form of a stadium at Namchi, 45 minutes drive from Tinkitam. Baichung Stadium at Namchi stands tall for posterity to reminiscence his impressive track record in a sport which sadly has few takers in India.

True, Bhutia hasn't won an Olympic or a World Cup medal for India. Yet, he stands tall among his contemporaries because of his sheer tenacity to achieve against all odds. And that's may be the reason why every hillman whether Bhutia, Nepali or a Lepcha tries to identify himself with him.

For just as Jesse Owen's was the Blacks answer to German superiority in athletics, Bhutia is the mountain's answer to the plain's mastery over football.

"Earlier, the parents used to push their children into studies. But ever since Bhutia became a star things have changed. They now take pride in pursuing football as a career," said Samteng Dorji, who himself takes part in afternoon practice seesion at the Baichung Stadium.

At Bhutia's school at Tashi Namgyal Academy, Sikkim's most prestigious and premier institutions in Gangtok where he was sent as a nine-year-old, students pin up his pictures in their hostel room. Because Baichung spells pride. "He has earned a lot of fame," exclaims a hotel boy, Nim Tshering, who recalls the young striker practising on the hard and sandy Palzor Stadium.

Bhutia in fact personifies the essence of the Sikkimese character -- honest, modest and simple. At the core of Bhutia becoming a cult figure, an icon, is essentially the mountain people's endless struggle against hostile surroundings. His success story has done wonders for the hillmen to take up the cudgels and weave more success for their state.

Bhutia's success story has even boosted the state's tourism industry. In an effort to attract more tourists, the Ravangla Tourism Centre proudly displays in its brochures 'Come and visit Tinkitam, Baichung Bhutia's birthplace.'

Bhutia's parents -- father Dorji Doma and mother Sonam Topden -- are proud of their son. Though they are not aware much about his exploits, yet they are contended that Bhutia is still the most res;pected and demanding footballer in the country. "Bhutia has done us proud. He is there right at the top," said Topden, Bhutia's mother, with a surge of pride by pointing her finger to the tip of the Mt Kanchenjunga.

(In Tinkitam, Sikkim, 2001)