Can I make an honest confession ?

I just want to make an confession which I could not do over the last 23 years. Now I think I have got a platform which is this forum where I can express myself.

The incident happened way back in 1981 when I was just a student of class three in a local sub-urban school at a distance about 45 km from Kolkata.And I was an ardent East Bengal fan. Most shocking!! Is not it ? But please spare some moment, you will get the essence of it. My uncle was an active EB life member. My neighbours were EB fan. My classmates were mostly EB fan. I am talking of the era when there was no 24 hr.s round the clock cricket show on t.v., there was no question of cable t.v. The only thing we had was a radio set, daily news paper and few bengali sports magazine like Khelar Asar, Khelar Kagaz and a big big heart to make us enough fanatic for Calcutta Football. So due to the atmosphere around me I was considering myself as in EB camp. My age was just eight that time, truly not matured enough to choose between EB or MB. But situation turned dramatically for me. I used to read the magazine Shuktara regularly. Shibaji Banerjee started writing there how was his feeling during playing the match against Cosmos. Chuni Goswami was writing his autobiography "Khelte Khelte" in Anandamela. So the printmedia around me was truly Mohunbagani. And adding to this that year(1981) EB showed pathetic performance in CFL. They lost to Mhd. Sporting (This was the last year MSporting won CFL). EB lost to MB (by solitary goal from Xavier Pyas). So atmosphere was shocking. Then I started to think(thinking of a 8 years old) should I support EB ? My MB classmates who were fewer in no. started roaring. I thought if I pose myself as a MB fan in the outside world, then only I can stand with glory and pride. I can feel myself accepted into the society (society as perceived by me at that age) if and only if I am MB just because MB was winning and EB was losing all the way. But the conflict inside me was always. I was in some sort of identity crisis. But days went on. I started growing by age. New things were getting added to our lives like television. Then one day suddenly my EB uncle in between his conversation said something against MB and to the full astonishment of others I protested his words. My uncle was shocked to hear that. But on that day I realized that there has been a complete transformation within me. No longer I need to pose anything, no longer I need to suffer from identity crisis. I have got my identity. My identity is Mohunbagan.

Dear MB friends, I shared my hidden feelings in the forum. I think this is the time for me to test myself if I am accepted as a Mohunbagani by you all or not. If you accept me I shall feel myself proud MB fan. And if you do not accept me then ? Well still my pride will always be with me. Still I want to know your comments.

Thanks,

Arunava.

1947 IFA Shield Final

When I joined the Fan Club I promised that I would share my sweet memories of Mohun Bagan Athletics Club (MAC) with you all.

I was initiated into MAC when I was a 9 year old boy. I heard my elder brothers, cousins and my uncles were in a joyful mood talking about MAC winning the IFA Shield. It was 1947. I heard them saying that the Shield was theirs. Then I heard that there would be a feast to celebrate that win. The next day I noticed my uncle was making a UNAN or CHULA out of bricks and mud on our UTHAN or courtyard. The menu was simple. Rice, meat, dal, alurdom and misti. My uncle was the main cook and my sisters were great helps. Fifty odd people of our locality (intersection of HAZRA and LANSDOWNE (now Sarat Bose) ROADS came to our home to celebrate the occasion. I must mention here that those who were not supporters of MAC also joined in good spirits. After all we were all friends. I must mention that everybody used to share the cost.

1948 was also a good year for MAC. We won the IFA Shield again. The other finalist was Bhowanipur Club. If my memory serves me right I think the first meeting was a draw 1-1. The second meeting was a nail biting match. We all were glued to the radio commentary. I think it was Berry Sarbadhikary who was doing the commentary. MAC won by 2-1. It so happened that Kanai or Ranjit Singha the outside right of Bhowanipur Club was uncle of a friend of mine. His name was Dilip. They used to live in a house opposite Basushree cinema. Dilip used to be my class mate in Model High School in Lansdowne Lane very close to our home. Any way, I used to say to him that his uncle should not score against MAC. Please do not laugh. I was only 1 ten year old boy at that time. Montu Mitra (Montuda) brought the Shield from MAC to display at his business premises RIMER & Co which used to be at the junction of Hazra and Sarat Bose Roads.

You all must be wondering whether we had another get-together at our place to celebrate that win. Yes - we did have.

I must stop here to-day. I do not know whether I have started to bore you all. Please write to me whether I should continue to write in this format.

In this context I must mention two dear friends of mine who used to share good and bad times with me. Prasanta Mazumder and his elder brother Prodyut Mazumder (Prodyutda). They will love to share their experience with you all.

 

1952 IFA Shield Final

Rajat Subhra Banerjee from Kolkata, India shares his golden memories of Mohun Bagan vs Cosmos with us !

(The content is the extract from the mail of Rajat Subhra Banerjee, which he posted in our FAN CLUB)
 

Aha! Lots of nostalgic mails doing the circuit! Like Somnath, I was also lucky enough to see the Cosmos match. Beckenbauer did not play, in fact he went home from China and didn't accompany the team to Calcutta. Pele was there, of course, along with 2 other World Cuppers, Carlos Alberto, the 1970 Brazil captain, and Giorgio Chinaglia, who played for Italy in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Alberto scored one of the Cosmos goals, but who scored the other? I forget!

For Mohun Bagan, Habeeb and Shyam Thapa scored the 2 goals. Habeeb missed a sitter, otherwise we might even have won the game. However, a 2-2 draw was perhaps a fair result. Each and every Mohun Bagan player played superbly, with Bidesh Boseand Gautam Sarkar being outstanding. Gautam's performance prompted the next day's "Ananda Bajar" to say that Beckenbauer's absence was overshadowed by Kolkata's own Chotto Beckenbauer! What a player! What a game!

Pele himself was a bit of a disappointment, apart from a splendid free-kick which was saved brilliantly by Shibaji Banerjee. Pele rushed in to shake Shibaji's hands as the ball went for a Cosmos corner. (It was said that Shibaji did not wash his hands for months afterwards!) Otherwise Pele had an ordinary match. In fact, during half-time I remember a wit commenting, "Dada, eta shotyiy Pele to? Naki Shanti Gopal?" (In those days Shanti Gopal was a popular Bengali stage actor who was famous for his life-like roles of Hitler, Lenin and other historical characters!)

This is something that is unique to Mohun Bagan supporters. East Bengal fans can never claim that their team played against Pele's team and drew the match. They have to be satisfied with BEC TERO or some such weird team! Kothay Pele, kothay Kele!


More later, Love, Rajat.


                                                                  Rajat Subhra Banerjee
                                                                             New Alipore
                                                                             Kolkata
                                                                             West Bengal
                                                                             India
                                                                            

Sunit Maity from Leuven, Belgium shares his golden memories with us !

I am Sunit Maity from Leuven, Belgium . Now I am 31 years old. I still remember my first live match of Mohun Bagan.I dont remember the year exactly but I was around ten-eleven years old. It was not in Mohun Bagan ground, but in a small town. Me and my father(he was a big fan too) went to Tamluk( a district town in West bengal) to see a match between Mohun Bagan and Aryans(remember that
team !) What a team Mohun Bagan had that time, i dont remember all the names now but it was like this goalkeeper: Shibajee Banerjee ( the best penalty keeper india ever had in my view) , Subrata and Samar
Bhattacharya in stopper, Gautam Sarkar in midfield, Bidesh Bose and Ulganathan in forward. I still remember Ulga's run like a comet  down the touch line. Sisir Ghosh was then playing for Aryan. We won the game 3-2, those goals are still in my memory. I was so happy that day. I will never forget my first encounter with Mohun Bagan team.


                                                                                                                    SUNIT MAITY
CENTER FOR MOLECULAR AND VASCULAR BIOLOGY
CAMPUS
GASTHUISBERGHERESTRAAT
 493000 LEUVEN BELGIUM
 

Chandrani Sen from Jadavpur, Kolkata, India shares her golden memories with us !