Such has been its influence that the inhabitants of India and Pakistan continues to come back throughout moments and occasions that make them recall the tribulation of those that suffered and in addition the heartwarming info from the times of undivided India.
It might be arduous to think about that one such story would floor at a hockey match, however then the wealthy historical past of the game in India and Pakistan by no means fails to mesmerize.
The credit score for this little story goes to Pakistan striker Abdul Rehman, who has put his native place, Kot Radha Kishen, on the world hockey map.
(AFH Picture)
Whereas it isn’t shocking to search out names of Indian origin in some locations in Pakistan and vice versa, it has at all times remained a topic of intrigue.
“I’m not conscious of a lot of the historical past of Kot Radha Kishen, however what I do know is that it was referred to as ‘Kachi Kothi’,” stated Rehman speaking to Timesofindia.com in Chennai, on the sidelines of the continued Asian Champions Trophy.
The Pakistan hockey crew is in Chennai to take part within the Males’s Asian Champions Trophy, and it is a particular match for Rehman, who’s making his senior-team debut.
Rehman can also be the primary worldwide hockey participant from Kot Radha Kishen, a metropolis and tehsil headquarters in district Kasur, to symbolize Pakistan.
Apparently, the phrase ‘Kasur’ additionally has an India derivation in keeping with some theories that imagine it comes from the phrase ‘Kusha’, the title of Lord Rama’s son.
Town of Kot Radha Kishen in the meantime is known as after an influential individual referred to as Lala Radha Kishen. ‘Kot’ means a fort or an enormous home.
In accordance with a YouTube video that includes Shabbir Sindhu, a public determine and speaker in district Kasur, who has researched the historical past of Kot Radha Kishen, Lala Radha Kishen was a ‘lambardar’ (village headman with appreciable land holdings, additionally referred to as ‘zamindar’).
(AFH Picture)
There are different tales that do the rounds, saying Radha Kishen have been two separate individuals. However Shabbir refuted these as fiction, including that Lala Radha Kishen’s property have been later auctioned off by the federal government (domestically often called ‘kurki’) in 1948, after a lawsuit filed towards his household by a financial institution for unpaid loans.
Geographically Kot Radha Kishen is located between the 2 rivers Ravi and Sutlej and the area additionally was often called ‘bari doaba’, the place ‘bari’ means jungle and ‘doaba’ is derived from the phrase ‘doab’, which implies the area between two rivers.
“The land of Kot Radha Kishen was a jungle, the place the fighters through the mutiny of 1857 towards the British rule used to cover. It began getting inhabited from 1907 onwards, largely by the retired officers of the ‘British Raj’, together with those that retired from the military,” Shabbir says on the YouTube video.
These historic bits about his native place apart, Rehman is keen to make a reputation for himself in world hockey that yearns for the revival of the Pakistan crew which was world-beaters.
And he did not waste a lot time in getting seen.
The junior Asia Cup’s high goal-scorer received his title on the goal-sheet by hanging in Pakistan’s first match of the match towards Malaysia, although it got here in a shedding trigger.
“By no means thought I might rating in my first match,” he advised Timesofindia.com in Chennai.
Like Rehman, the touring Pakistan squad is comparatively inexperienced, with captain Umar Bhutta being the one seasoned campaigner. Among the many children are Rehman’s 4 different mates from the well-known Dar Hockey Academy of Lahore.
“I got here to the Dar Academy in the direction of the top of 2014, and it is the place the place I discovered essentially the most of my hockey,” stated Rehman, who picked up the game watching certainly one of his uncles play. He performs for the Water and Energy Growth Authority (WAPDA) crew in Pakistan on stipend.
Moreover Rehman, the 4 different Dar Academy gamers within the present Pakistan crew are Ahmad Aqeel, Murtaza Yaqoob, Sufyan Khan and goalkeeper Akmal Hussain.
For Rehman and the remainder of the Pakistan crew, an enormous sport awaits on Wednesday towards India. And whereas the Pakistan crew would admit that they’ve been left far behind by India in world hockey, the story of Kot Radha Kishen that’s doing the rounds on the match has solely enriched the ancestral and historic connection between the 2 international locations.
