The story of Subrata Paul – From death, to love, to Arjuna Award

I was too young to properly formulate any emotion when Ayrton Senna passed away in 1994. But by the time Raman Lamba perished in Bangladesh, I was old enough to realize that even sport is not sacred enough to protect people from death. As a sports fan, I have experienced varied emotions during the deaths of the likes of Marc-Vivien Foe, Marco Simoncelli, Phil Hughes, and Jules Bianchi, but the most prominent scar, perhaps, was left by the demise of a much less popular figure—Cristiano Junior.

While we mourn the dead in such accidents, it is often the living who carry the burden of guilt for the rest of their lives. 38-year-old Mehrab Hossain is yet to get over his pull shot which hit the skull of Lamba, Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi are still haunted by the crash which killed Simoncelli, while Sean Abbott will think twice before bowling a bouncer for the rest of his career. Similarly, Subrata Paul, whose tackle led to the demise of the Dempo striker 12 years ago, still refuses to speak about that incident.

"This is a very unfortunate incident. Junior's death is a great loss... It was because of unsporting play by Paul that Junior is not with us," former Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia told reporters back then.

“He was the once-brooding, switchblade-wielding teen from a poor Kolkata suburb. Neighbours at the Natagarh Bidhan Pally at Sodepur in those days couldn't wait to see the back of him. But over the years the footballer has become from an outcast to outstanding. Now they are proud of their own ‘Mistu’ (Subrata’s nickname)!” Nilesh Bhattacharya, who comes from the same locality and is one of India’s senior football journalists said while speaking about the change of attitude of local people towards him after the 2009 Nehru Cup triumph.

Yet, his career was almost over even before it had started. In a bid to escape from his troubled childhood, Subrata Paul turned to football and traveled to Jamshedpur to attend a trial organized by the Tata Football Academy. However, he was late and the trials were already over by the time he reached. Subrata, though, was adamant, and he spent two nights in front of the academy's main gate unwilling to leave till he was provided with a chance to prove himself. In truth, he did not have a place to return to. The TFA was his only chance at redemption and, eventually, he was given one by his first coach at the TFA, Ranjan Chowdhury.

However, there were few people who retained their faith in him and helped in restoring his career, and former India goalkeeper Debashish Mukherjee was perhaps the most significant of them. He guided him both on and off the field, and their relation was only strengthened by the fact that Subrata fell in love with Debashish's daughter Debasmita. A coach, a friend, a mentor, and a father-in-law—Debashish has played varied roles at various stages of Subrata's lives.

Accolades came in from every corner as the custodian buried the ghosts of his past. He went on to become the first goalkeeper to captain the Indian side in 25 years, while the Korean media gave him the 'Spiderman' nickname after he saved 16 of the 20 shots on target South Korea had during the 2011 Asian Cup Group C match.

However, time does not stand still. A new hero between the sticks has emerged for India in recent times. Gurpreet Singh has displaced Subrata Paul as the first-choice goalkeeper for the national team now while grabbing the headlines by plying his trade in the Europa League. Subrata Paul's stint at the Danish club FC Vestsjælland, which was the first European stint for an Indian goalkeeper, is a thing of the past now. He was in fact close to signing for the now Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, where he impressed the coaches with his shot-stopping abilities during a trial but was turned down due to his short stature.

His life and career so far can easily make it to a Harper Lee novel. Something of the Bildungsroman genre, where the protagonist comes of age.

At NorthEast United, a club which is hungry for success after two fairly disappointing seasons, he has a chance to resurrect his career, and the new challenge is bringing the best out of him at the moment. With 24 saves and 3 clean sheets, he is currently leading the chart while NorthEast are leading the points table. He might have to do a lot more to snatch back his place from the young and talented Gurpreet in the national team, but he is well on his way of doing so.

“I try to become a better person everyday and that is something which I have tried to do since I was very young.” Subrata said in an interview last month, and that is something even Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Spiderman can be proud about.