itrus

April 22, 2014

It was the dead of the night in Canada.

I was about to hit the bed, when I got a mail from Kolkata from Dr Samarjit Jana, the founder of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee.

The mail said the new Slumdog Millionaire in-the-making, 16-year-old Rajib Roy, is sneaking out of his home in Sonagachi, and arriving at Jana’s residence in two hours to give me a Skype interview!

 

My sleepy eyes shot open!

Rajib Roy is the son of a sex-worker from Kolkata’s biggest red light area, Sonagachi, and he had no clue about his father, according to earlier interviews. He has been talent-spotted by England's Premier League Club, Manchester United U-21, to show off his soccer skills and train with them for two weeks, an honor billions covet for. This is the first time Rajib will be on a flight, when he leaves for London on April 25, 2014.

 

Rajib, a fast-paced striker said to have “dazzling dribbling skills”, has grown up playing football barefoot in the dusty streets of the Sonagachi district —a home to more than 12,000 prostitutes — and shares a tiny room with his mother and younger brother, existing on only about £20/Rs 2000/$33-a-month. His father left them long time back and he has no contact with him. (Although, in the interview, he says something different.)

The 16-year-old’s skills are so impressive he has been dubbed The Indian Wayne Rooney!

His idol is the Brazilian international footballer, Oscar, whom he relates to, as they both have come up from poverty to make their mark.

 

I rub my eyes again. It was 2 am. I will have to wait for two more hours. I switch on the chat window in Facebook and ask my friends to keep me awake for this historic interview from Kolkata.

It was noon in Kolkata, and Rajib was travelling across the city just for the interview. I could not let my sleepy eyes betray me.

It was just not Rajib. Along with him, Arko Dey (16), the son of a snacks-seller, too, were spotted by Manchester U. Both will fly for London. They both were selected by Man U last August at a talent hunt organized in Goa.

Arko lives with his younger brother and mother in a rented house in North Kolkata. He lost his father at a very young age. If successful, their lives could be transformed in the same way as the central character of the 2008 Danny Boyle film, Slumdog Millionaire.

Many of their male friends have fallen into crime and drugs, and the girls of their age are soon likely to follow the profession of their moms.

Rajib has grown up in the infamous area where thousands of women are forced to sell their bodies in order to survive. His mother used to be a sex worker and now toils in a handbag factory.

 

Four am.

I call Dr Jana’s number rapidly. No, Rajib has not yet reached. I know the public transports in Kolkata. He may have been on a bus, which was lolling by on the sultry April roads, the conductor calling out to any and everyone on the roads, “Rajarhat, Rajarhat, edike ashun, edike ashun, khali bus, khali bus!” (The bus is going to Rajarhat, please come and sit. It’s empty, it's empty!) And the "Slumdog Millionaire”-in-the-making may have been patiently sitting by the window, sweating, with dreams in his eyes and butterflies in his stomach. He is possibly unaware that this may be last of his few public bus rides!

 

Five am. I fight to stay awake. He is traveling to London from Kolkata on April 25. Today is April 21. I had to get his interview now.

 

5:20 am. I call again. And this time the boy comes on the line!

They cannot set up the Skype. But I conduct a telephonic interview, albeit in a sleepy voice. Considering that top international and national media are now chasing him, the boy appeared unexpectedly grounded and composed throughout the interview. The conversation is in Bengali, Rajib’s mother-tongue, but sub-titles are there for you to follow.

 

Arko, whom I missed interviewing, helps his mother run a snacks corner in the suburbs of Kolkata. The two prepare potato fries laced with gram-flour paste for hours before selling them on a daily basis. Some days the sales are good while on other days customers fail to turn up, adding to their miseries. “We live in abject poverty. She knows nothing about Manchester United,” says Arko.

Interestingly, none of the boys' mothers know anything about Manchester United. They are simply assured that their boys will one day end their poverty. On hearing the news of the selection, Arko’s mother walked to the iconic Dakshineswar Kali temple, more than 5 km away, barefoot. She also expressed shocked when she learned that it would cost Rs. 2000 to take a tour of the famous Old Trafford, which roughly equals her family’s monthly income.

“I do not want her to sell fried vegetables anymore,” Arko says. “I am confident of my earnings. No one ignores a footballer who has trained with Man United.”

 

The father of this entire initiative is Dr Samarjit Jana, the founder of Durbar Sports Academy, whose aim is to improve the lives of sex workers and their families. Dr Jana set up the football initiative which helped Rajib win a place at the Manchester United training camp.

“Rajib is an initiative of Durbar Sports Academy, a small project of and by the sex workers community,” says Dr Jana. “Durbar represents voices of 60 thousand sex workers. In the recent past, we, on behalf of Durbar, could bring out outstanding footballers from among the sex workers’ community and they have represented the state and national level football in India (7/8 of them since 2009 till date).”

Dr Jana adds, “We are very sure if enough opportunity is created for this stigmatized and marginalized community we would be able to help hundred Rajibs and Arkos come forward what could help the sex workers community as well as would help national and international football.”