Major Dhyanchand comes ‘alive’ at VHA

 

 Beautiful mural to greet hockey lovers at Vidarbha Hockey Association gate

By Paritosh Pramanik

WITH the Indian hockey team making it to the quarter-finals at Tokyo Olympics, thousands of miles away in Nagpur the game has got another identity in the city.
Even though hockey is at its ebb in the region and is fighting for its survival, there is a thin ray of hope that the game would continue to live.
After the square being named after the hockey legend Major Dhyanchand, a mural of one of the greatest hockey players of the world is taking shape in the city.
With the efforts of NMC Corporator Kishor Jichkar, a mural of Major Dhyanchand is coming up beside the gate of Vidarbha Hockey Association (VHA) ground, off Amravati Road. The mural will be completed in a couple of days and will be officially inaugurated by Nagpur Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari.
Tiwari also happens to be a former official of VHA.
The beautiful mural has couple of photographs of Dhyanchand. The legend can be seen standing with a hockey stick in his hand. There is also a close-up photo of the legend.
Players of yesteryears are also seen dribbling, most probably during the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The back portion of mural is decorated with tricolour along with spectators ‘watching’ the beautiful game, which India once dominated.
“The entire mural is made of fibre and measures 6ft x 9ft,” Jichkar informed ‘The Hitavada’.
“The idea came to my mind during one of the functions held at VHA ground last year. What else place would be better that at the home of hockey in the city,” said Jichkar.
“Now-a-days it is very difficult to erect a statute. There are lot of permissions to be taken and other formalities are also very difficult to complete.
“And above all, there is a trend of constructing murals in the city,” said the corporator when asked about his decision to construct the mural.
The mural is a combination of several photographs of Dhyanchand and it took several months to finalise the pictures.
“With the help of former hockey players Raju Reddy, Vivek Siriah and late Yagya Thakur, we collected the photographs. It took several months to select the pictures. Then, the artist made a collage of a few photos and then converted it into the fibre mural,” informed Jichkar.
“The mural will be illuminated in the evening which will add to its beauty,” added Jichkar.
In 2016, the square in front of VHA ground was named as Dhyanchand Square which was inaugurated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.