NUTMEG, CHAPTER 12 : DEFENDERS – A FEBRUARY ROUNDUP

The growling noise of the vehicles was subdued by the chatter of its passengers. Some were resisting their tiredness by blowing it away in douses of laughter, while some were resting with their eyes closed awaiting the end of the final leg of the journey. The 78-vehicle convoy, that started in the wee hours of the morning of the 14^th of February traveling from Jammu to Srinagar, was about to reach its destination prior to sunset. The chill of the receding winter winds was still lingering in the air and the unvarying scene was suddenly disrupted with a loud sound of two vehicles crashing into each other. Before anyone could give a reaction, a loud blast followed, and the scene was blurry henceforth with flashes of humongous flames engulfing a vehicle, thousands of people running and shouting as blood flowed over tarmac and body parts scattered all over. Parth woke up with a start, gasping for breath. As he gulped few sips of water from the bottle near his bed, he reflected on the recurring nightmare haunting him ever since the Pulwama terror attack causing the death of 40 CRPF personnel. He was highly affected by the events of what was being termed as the deadliest attack on Indian security personnel, even more on the day of the incident as he failed to notice the discomfort on Navya’s face as they crossed path with an unknown stranger during their Valentine dinner date. The entire nation was engulfed in a state of mourning and each was showing solidarity in their own way – participating in candle light vigils, burning Pakistan’s flag on streets, updating their social media status or voicing their expert comments like, “Make the f***cking enemy state vanish from the map”, “Let’s declare war right away” or “Time for Surgical Strike 2.0”. Parth was more troubled by the pain and anguish of the families devasted by this attack, knowing very well that any kind of solidarity or avenging wouldn’t return normalcy to their lives, as it happened with his family when his Uncle Bijay, serving in the Army, was martyred few years ago. Moreover, he had unwavering belief that the Indian Armed forces was fully capable of choosing a mode and nature of a fitting response to the perpetrators of the attacks.

Amidst this chaos, football was one thing that bought a sense of normalcy to his mind. Barcelona’s fixture list was highlighted by four major matches in quick succession in late February and early March, which very well had the potential to define their season. First leg of the Champions League Round of 16 knockout stage against Lyon, followed by a crucial league encounter against a dangerous Sevilla team and then the double clash against eternal rivals Real Madrid, one in the cup semifinals and one in the league, both away from home – four matches in twelve days that could possibly make or break the efforts put in since early august. With Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti forming a stellar partnership at the heart of the defence during the 2017-18 season, earning Barcelona the double of Spanish League and Spanish Cup last season, and Umtiti helping France win the World Cup, the season started on a bleak note with Umtiti ailing from a recurrent knee injury. His last appearance was against Atletico in the league in November and he could muster only 8 appearances this season until now. Umtiti arrived at Barcelona from his home club Lyon, Barca’s next opponent in the Champions League, in 2016 and had established himself as a vital member of the squad with fans even seeing flashes of, the now retired inspirational captain and defender, Carles Puyol in his performances. However, rumours of him and club doctors being at loggerheads started to emerge, with Umtiti said to be against the knee surgery recommended by the club doctors and sought to pursue his own treatment. Targeting a return against his former club Lyon, Umtiti was finally available for selection. Though he could only make the bench due to his lack of match sharpness against Lyon, Umtiti made his comeback against Sevilla helping Barcelona clinch a 4-2 thriller, riding on the back of a Lionel Messi hattrick.

Parth started blankly at the screen in his office. At a time when patriotism and nationalism were the emotions running high through everyone’s veins, his major feeling was a sense of helplessness. The feeling had its origin when he had recently viewed the highly acclaimed movie URI. That feeling raised a question every time he looked himself in the eyes of his reflection in the mirror, asking desperately, “When people are sacrificing their lives to keep the nation safe, how are you contributing to the nation?” Not everyone is made to join the forces, not everyone should be made to join the forces – the beauty of the Indian democracy is that everyone is entitled to choose their own career paths. Working as an employee in a private firm, Parth felt his contribution was restricted to just paying his taxes on time but he felt he had the power to do more, perhaps help more people. That is why he didn’t finch on donating half his month’s salary to the CRPF Relief Fund. The gloom and anger surrounding the nation soon paved way for celebrations as it was announced a week later that the Indian Air Force had bombed and destroyed a terror training camp of JeM, the outfit that had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attacks, at Balakot deep into the LoC. He felt a feeling of pride surge through his body on reading the operation’s detailed reports and various reactions to it. He knew that a befitting reply would be given, particularly this close to the general elections and it would be different to the one in 2016 as the enemy would have already anticipating that. Though an eerie feeling of unease persisted that the turn of events was far from over, for now he could celebrate with the rest of the nation in hailing the bravery of its defenders of the skies.

Questions were raised at the start of the season when Barcelona had signed the young French Sevilla defender Clement Lenglet, as hardly anyone had heard of him. He wasn’t among the stand out performers of the league last season and was mostly tipped to be a backup to the first choice pairing of Pique and Umtiti in the defence. Umtiti’s injury and few less than convincing performances by the Barca defence, prompted the naysayers to raise a danger flag regarding the chances of the team to win major titles. However, Clement Lenglet silently worked on improving his partnership with the much-experienced Pique. Being taller and heavier than Umtiti, Lenglet was handy to nullify the aerial threats which plagued the defence during the early course of the campaign. Such was his underrated contribution, that the team has hardly missed Umtiti in his absence and even after Umtiti’s return, it was speculated that Lenglet would keep his place as the first choice. Deservingly so, he started against Lyon in the Champions League and rightfully earned Barcelona a clean sheet in a match in which they were unlucky not to score despite 25 shots. Even in the league encounter against Real, Lenglet possibly produced the best display of his Barcelona career as both teams started out defensive in the approach, exhausted from their prior encounter 3 days earlier. It has been Coach Valverde’s tactics this season to allow opposition to attack for some time, making the defence block their efforts and soak up the pressure and then when the opposition tires and has a momentary lapse, hit them with a killer blow. The match played out to the tactics with Barca winning the game 1-0 and effectively burning any faint hopes Real had of clinching the title away.

As expected by Parth, Pakistan did retaliate by sending in their F-16 jets the following day into the Indian territory but was unable to cause any damage due to timely intervention of the alert Air Forces which bombed down one of the F-16, as reported by the media. The pride of a second victory in two days was short-lived as moments later, reports of the pilot who downed the F-16, Wing Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman, was captured by Pakistani forces due to his MiG-21 crashing in Pakistan’s territory. Aware of this development Parth’s colleague, who sat next to him, asked with a grave concern on his face, “What would happen to him now?” “He may be tortured but since the international visibility on the events of last few days is high enough, he might be returned back”, was his first response, his sadness not betraying the stern look on his face. As diplomatic channels sprung into action demanding effective release of the captured soldier, the entire nation waited in anticipation, reading about any new news notification that sprung up, praying for his safe return. The lesson in unity that Parth had been taught since childhood, was challenged many times as he read about reports about the clashes and differences that had crept up among masses but today, he was seeing a first-hand evidence of how a nation unites. The 60-hour long saga finally ended as Commander Varthaman was returned to India at the Wagah border amidst much fanfare. As he saw the relieved smile across the faces of the people, Parth understood that perhaps his job doesn’t entitle him to protect the country, but it was up to him to be the kind of citizen that deserves to be protected.

The Indian leadership played an applauding role ensuring the safe return of its brave pilot and likewise Barcelona too have been moved from strength to strength under their leader of defence, Gerard Pique. Pique is often embroiled in one controversy or another because of his less than cheeky social media comments or his side businesses or his continuous trolling of Barcelona’s rivals such as Real and Espanyol. However, on the pitch he represents what a Barcelona defender needs to be – good with the ball at his feet, there is no better in carrying the ball out of defence than him. His over enthusiastic behavior is evident when at times he runs even farther than the last striker to clinch a goal for the team. Guided under Puyol and discredited by many, Pique has put in the performances that has epitomized his role as a leader in the team. Starting in every league encounter this season, he has brought the calm needed in the absence of Samuel Umtiti and in the cup encounter against Real, helped keep their new wonderkid Vinicius at bay aided by Vinicius’s wayward shooting too. Barcelona reached the cup final for the 6^th consecutive time thrashing Real 3-0 in the process and successfully treaded the four tough encounters that everyone was so hyped about. The season wasn’t over yet but with three such talented defenders in form, it won’t be long before they get their hands on the silverware. After all someone has rightly said, goals wins you games, defence wins you titles.