There's nothing like victory,' 70 years later, Balbir Singh Senior remembers independent India's first Olympic gold

Shantanu Srivastava


Balbir Singh Senior scores India's first goal in the final of 1948 Olympics against Great Britain in London. Image Courtesy: Balbir Singh Senior

Balbir Singh Senior sits in his languid stupor, allowing his mind to race backwards. Between sporadic recollections, he stares blankly at the glass window in front of him, as if piecing together vignettes from his illustrious career into a cohesive tale of triumphs and tears. The wax in his left ear is troubling him, the memory is somewhat sketchy, but once the grand old man of Indian hockey is nudged, he is hard to stop.