PROBASHI- A Cultural News Magazine Volume 2 Issue 2 | Page 23

Probashi-Cover Theme
get a bit rough at times for now
there were two children in the
family to support. For the couple
publishing

Chak De ! Lets Win the World

Translating Munshi Premchand was
an important social and literary
cause,
not
caged
in
the
performance of the balance sheet
alone. Signficiant personal funds
went into this venture, but the life
mission for Premchand’s cause
continues unabated till today,
something which we salute.

forefront of organising the
celebration of Premchand Jayanti
in Kolkata, which takes place every
year at Student’s Park. Dr Asit
Kumar Bandyopadhyay, professor
and ex president of Paschimbanga
Bangla
Academy
is closely
associated with this initiative. And
with the glee of a school girl, Smt
Shila Chowdhury informed us
about the Munshi Premchand
Sarani in Khiddirpur, a road named
after the great writer.

The couple has also been in the

We wonder who will take the

mantle from this couple. Shri Rakhal
Chandra Chowdhury in his seventies
is ill and bed ridden, He was unable
to talk to us over phone. Smt Shila
Chowdhury is not getting any
younger.
Premchand’s works end on a
positive note. We hope that the
life’s work of Shri Rakhal Chandra
and Smt Shila Chowdhury will
continue. We wait to applaud the
person who will take up the baton.
Written by Probashi editorial team,
coordinated by Sudipto Sengupta

Chak De! : Let’s Win the World
This story probably many of you do
not know, for this did not make it
to the headlines, which is reserved
for our politicians, cricketers and
bollywood stars. It was tucked
away in the back pages. The story is
of the exploits of an all girl football
team from Hutup village in
Jharkhand who could “Bend it like
Beckham” in two international
soccer tournaments. Much that
Probashi would have liked to meet
them, our resources did not permit,
we bring this story culled from
media reports.
On July 13, the 18 tribal girls
representing Yuwa India under-14,
all-girls team were placed third
among 10 teams playing for the
Gasteiz Cup in Spain. Couple of
weeks back the team had made it
to the quarter final of the 36 team
prestigious
Donosti
cup
tournament losing in the quarter
final to the team which went on to
win the cup.
The run up to this feat was not
easy. Franz Gastler, a 30-year-old
American and a graduate from the
Harvard Law School founded YuwaIndia in this Jharkhand village in

Chak De: The young girls after coming third in the Donosti club, come out to
receive their trophy in traditional Indian wear, cheered by a full stadium

2009 to train girls in football. The
Yuva team (10—14 yr olds) had to
face jibes in the villages for walking
around in football gear, which
included wearing shorts. The
Panchayat Secretary made the girls
sweep the floor, asked for bribes
and even slapped a few when they
went to him for their birth
certificate to apply for passports.
Belonging to very poor familieschild marriage, girl dropout and
even trafficking were a reality for
them.
However the girls put all these
insults behind them on July 13th as
they danced and cheered when
21

they lifted their trophy and shouted
Vande
Mataram,
proudly
proclaiming to the world that they
were Indians, even if they were
marginalised in their own country.
And such is their infectious charm
that the hotel staff where the girls
stayed in Spain came to the stadium
to cheer for them.
The movement at Hutup goes on;
thirteen of the girls from Yuwa team
are in the Jharkhand under 14 state
team. Pushpa Toppo from YUVA has
made it to the Indian National
Team. Today more than 250 girls
practice with YUVA, with dream to
wrest the right to dream which is
rightfully theirs.