On the eve of India’s historic triumph at the ONGC Nehru Cup 2007, the man who led a nation’s hopes on the soccer field, skipper of the Indian football team, Baichung Bhutia got a first hand experience of the nation’s hauteur couture.
Luminaries of two diverse worlds of soccer and fashion came together on a sunny August afternoon at New Delhi’s Le Meridian for a brief but unforgettable rendezvous. The charismatic footballer agreed to a different ball game when he obligingly sported the creations that have put designer couple Aparna and Norden Wangdi firmly on India’s fashion map.
Behind this curious merger of two starkly unrelated fields are the roots that bind one half of the designer duo and the iconic sportsman. While Baichung hails from a little village in Sikkim, Norden’s ancestral home in Darjeeling, lies on the brink of the state’s border with the neighbouring West Bengal.
The two sons of the mountains have come a long way, both literally and figuratively. And thus the football hero took a brief hiatus from the pressure of breaking the jinx that had kept India from making it to the final of any ONGC Cup since its very inception.
With a relaxed demeanour and boyish grin, Baichung betrayed not the slightest hint of the world of expectations weighing on his shoulders as he struck poses a plenty in some of the highly anticipated threads from Ollatin being readied to preview at the upcoming Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week next month.
In the pristine interiors of Le Meridian, one could almost catch the chanting of Buddhist monks and the crisp mountain air, as the natives of Khangchendzonga foothills struck a harmonious note. It was East meeting East in ways that Kipling didn’t quite foresee.
