Sikkim dribbling ahead with Independence Day Football Tournaments
Sikkim must be one of the few spots in the country where cricket is not the major sport. In every town One passes on the drive up, independence day football matches were in progress, little stadiums crammed with colourful and noisy spectators. The speck on the map called Melli echoed emptily as we rumbled through: pretty much all its residents were at the match. Several exceptions took the long-range view, watching from the highway. Tumbling along far below, grey, silver and foaming white, is what separates the stadium from the highway, the Teesta river. At Melli, the Teesta forms the border between Sikkim and West Bengal. So the fans on the highway were actually watching the match from another state. Thirty two years ago, they would have been watching from another country altogether.
Sikkim must be one of the few spots in the country where cricket is not the major sport. In every town One passes on the drive up, independence day football matches were in progress, little stadiums crammed with colourful and noisy spectators. The speck on the map called Melli echoed emptily as we rumbled through: pretty much all its residents were at the match. Several exceptions took the long-range view, watching from the highway. Tumbling along far below, grey, silver and foaming white, is what separates the stadium from the highway, the Teesta river. At Melli, the Teesta forms the border between Sikkim and West Bengal. So the fans on the highway were actually watching the match from another state. Thirty two years ago, they would have been watching from another country altogether. Those thoughts lingered through an evening I spent sipping Dansberg beer and chatting with a civil servant friend . We turned to football talk and he mentioned the upcoming Independence Day Football tournament and many other football tournaments being played at different venues all over Sikkim such as Pakyong,Namchi,Jorethang,Mangan,Gyalshing and list goes on.Some big Sikkim teams like Boys Club,D'zongri are expected, he told me. Also, the teams from kalimpong,Darjeeling,Nepal,siliguri "You know," he said without irony, "all the big teams from neighbouring hills made his face shine with passion."
Perhaps this is why many visitors like us still calls Sikkim-the state from where Bhaichung Bhutia hails.
