Players with headphones is a common sight nowadays. Be it travelling in the team bus or walking to the arena or staying put in dressing rooms, music is one major way to relax for many. For the Indian hockey team in the 1980s, the healer was Mohammad Shahid.
One of the finest players to have ever wielded the stick, Shahid, who passed away on Wednesday in Gurgaon, was also an exceptional singer.
“These days all players are seen busy listening to music from their Walkmans or phones. For us, he was the Walkman!,” recalled V Baskaran under whose captaincy Shahid made his debut. “From the time the bus left the hotel or stadium, he would be constantly entertaining us with one song after another. From Mohd Rafi to Kishore Kumar, he could sing them all.
“He could have actually gone on to become a singer. He was full of life and made sure there was never a dull moment when he was around. He would be constantly up to something. I remained good friends with him even after our playing days. Off the field, he was one of the kindest human beings I’ve seen. He was good natured and loved to have fun.”
