Guwahati: One of the most poignant moments, at least in sports in 2022, was when former India captain Virat Kohli looked at the heavens, thanking divinity, after he had taken India to a near-impossible victory against arch-rivals Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. Earlier in the year, Kohli had talked extensively about his battle with depression and how the struggle was so intense that for the first time in 10 years, he did not touch his bat for a month. The fact that it was Kohli, seen as one of the toughest Indian cricketers, spoke about this in detail, showed us that mental health remains a mostly taboo topic in Indian sports.
Mohammed Raja from Assam agrees. His battle against mental health lasted much longer, and he had little support from anyone, but somehow, he has managed to return, and win again.
Few people in India might have heard of Olmo Bikes. Fewer still would have heard of the brand back in the early 2000s, and in Assam, no one had heard of the brand. Except for Mohammed Raja, probably.
For Raja, his Olmo was his pride and joy, the bike that he had raced on for years as he climbed his way from being a state-level cyclist to a national-level athlete. National glory beckoned, yet, it remained elusive and when Raja finished fourth in the 2007 national games at home in Guwahati, he realised his time was up.
At that time, Raja could have ended up like several Indian athletes: moderately successful, barely known, and comfortable thanks to a government job. But little did Raja know that his life would have more twists and turns than a hill highway.
Lawn what?
If you think the sport of lawn bowls was unknown before 2022, imagine how rare it was in 2008. So, it is safe to say that when Raja walked onto a lawn bowl court for the first time after retiring from cycling, he expected little. He told EastMojo that it was his love for sports that convinced him to switch from cycling to lawn bowls.
Raja also had his share of luck. It was around the same time that the likes of Arjuna awardee and 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nayan Moni Saikia, CWG silver medal winner Mridul Borgohain, multiple National Games medallists Ruptu Gogoi, Putul Sonowal, Anand Narzary, Tania Choudhary took up the sport.
Mind you, despite a successful career as a cyclist, Raja was far from living a comfortable life at least financially. With no stable source of income, it was difficult to meet both ends once he entered into wedlock. Nevertheless, he managed to sustain his family with his meagre income from rented properties he constructed from whatever he saved out of the cash awards from his achievements.
Success and subsequent shock
Raja’s initial foray into the world of Lawn Bowls was promising. In 2010, he left his five-month pregnant wife in Guwahati to join the national camp in New Delhi for the Commonwealth Games and returned home for a couple of days following the birth of his only son Aayan. The next time he returned, Aayan turned a year and a half old, and started walking, but failed to recognise Mohammed Raja.
After the 2010 CWG where the Indian team failed to impress, Raja set himself up for the 2011 National Games and returned with silver medals in two events: individual and triples. The medals made him richer by Rs 4 lakh, besides an additional Rs 1 lakh from the state’s bowling association.
During his association with the national team under the watchful eyes of Australian coach Richard Gale, Raja found himself among one of the favourites of his coach, who invited him Down Under to take part in the club events there as part of preparations for the 2014 edition of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Sensing the golden opportunity to earn a few bucks and hone his skills at world-class facilities in Australia, Raja decided to move to Melbourne after seeking “verbal permission” from the Bowling Federation of India (BFI).
Raja’s life was about to change for the better, or so he thought. Little did he know that this was the beginning of his life’s worst phase.
Instead of encouraging Raja, the Bowling Federation counted his visit as a breach of discipline, which resulted in a six-year ban. Barely a month into his stay in the Australian city, Raja woke up on a nightmarish morning, when he realised he had been barred from participating in any competition by the Australian Bowling Federation thanks to the ban by their Indian counterpart.
Left stunned and heartbroken by the decision, Raja returned to India and made numerous attempts to plead for his case. He requested reconsideration of his ban duration on humanitarian grounds. But all his pleas fell on deaf ears.
The never-ending battle against depression
BFI’s decision left a void in Raja’s life, and it slowly became more of a mental hurdle as he found himself in a hapless situation. With mounting financial debts, a family to support, funding Aayan’s education, and a ban from the game, Raja spent several sleepless nights gazing at the stars, and eventually found himself suffering from depression. He, however, wasn’t aware of his mental health until one day, when he found his symptoms matching while watching a documentary on TV. Raja found it apt to approach a psychologist, and on the doctor’s advice, he was on medication for the next four years.
By the time his ban ended on paper, the Covid-19 pandemic struck, halting all sporting activities across the globe.
In 2021, nearly 13 years after first picking up the sport, Raja restarted practice at the city’s only training court situated at the Sarusajai stadium in Guwahati. As expected, he took a while to find his rhythm. In 2022, Raja proved there’s no alternative to perseverance as he made a golden comeback by winning the triples’ crown at the inter-district championships last month.
Redemption and hope
In a free-flowing conversation with EastMojo, Raja expressed happiness seeing his teammate Nayan Moni make it big on the international stage and eventually becoming the first lawn bowls player in the country to be bestowed with the prestigious Arjuna Award.
Hailing her perseverance and hard work over the years, Raja said, “Whatever Nayan Moni has achieved today is a small reward to her years of hard work, dedication and commitment to the sport. She managed her job and her personal life with equal dedication, which isn’t easy by any standards, and she deserves every bit of the honours she’s been bestowed upon after her Birmingham show.”
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Raja is now sweating it out at the Sarusajai Stadium to earn a comeback to the national team for the upcoming 14th Asia Lawn Bowls Championships, starting February 20 in Kuala Lumpur. The lawn bowlers have a packed season ahead with the World Bowls Indoor Championships, scheduled from May 7 to 12 at the Warilla Bowls Club in Australia, before the World Championships at Gold Coast, Australia from August 29 to September 10.
At the back of his mind, he knows it will be a daunting task, with stiff competition for the five slots up for grabs in the men’s national team. With the month-long national camp scheduled in Guwahati from January 16, Raja is eager to prove his might at the selection trials, and regain his place.
With age catching up, Raja also hopes to make up for the lost opportunities and is eyeing another stint in the Australian clubs this year. He also has one eye on a coaching role, if the federation wants to utilise his experience as a mentor to budding bowlers across the country.
A selfless human being, Raja wants to impart his vast knowledge of the game to the younger breed and hopes to see some of his prodigies earn fame, which somehow eluded him for more than one reason.
And if all goes well, Raja would like to own an Olmo again.
Also read | Dancing no more: Puppetry in Tripura is on its last leg
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