Goalkeeper Vishal sometimes panics at the uncertain future. Mother Mishri assures her. When the heart is burning, she makes it cool by reminding her with love. She wants, ”Football should be the only alternative to football for her son.”
He stood on the ground with a chest like a rock. Like a soldier ready to fire in battle, he looked ready to intercept the force coming towards his post. Whenever the ball was kicked, the supporters clapped with joy. Mishri Shrestha, who was praying in the same atmosphere, was heartbroken. He used to say, 'Ladla ki choro!'
When skillful goalkeeper Vishal Shrestha was playing for Machindra Club in the KP Oli Cup football tournament recently, a strange fear was taking hold inside his mother. The game is over. Machindra lifted the trophy. Vishal was adjudged the best goalkeeper. Supporters of that team breathed a sigh of victory. Mishri was proud of her son.
The person who never goes to watch the game said he will go this time. He was happy when his son won,' says Vishal looking at the moment of standing on the field with the frenzy of victory.
This time Mishri felt strange on the field. She is thrilled to see so many people coming to watch her son's game. After the game, they said, "Because of you, we stayed in the place where big people sit to watch the game, the way to the stadium has been opened!" Vishal looked at his mother and said, "She showed the way to the stadium." Before him, this is nothing.'
Concrete houses are now standing in the green fields of Kapan at that time. Vishal wanders to the past from time to time, looking at the places where those houses stood. "Before, I used to go there to play football with my cousin. I asked if I could play with my brothers. "It was my turn to be the goalkeeper," he recalls. Mishri was initially scared to see her son on the football field. Vishal came with injuries all over his body. Mishri used to remind her son, 'Don't go, you will be hurt by the force thrown by the brothers.' He was not afraid. One day, while sleeping with fever, Vishal saw football playing outside the window. He wanted to be a goalkeeper. Mother sees. Mummy chased me with a stick. I barely escaped,” he recalls with a laugh. But this hiding of mother and son did not last long.
Vishal did not take the field after his mother forbade him. Vishal used to get excited seeing his friends playing football in the field outside the house. I was staring at the field with a dark face from the window. Seeing his son's darkened face, Mishri felt sorry. She allowed her son to play. After that, the giant's footsteps never stopped moving towards the field.
Vishal's parents came to Kathmandu from Tauthali in Sindhupalchok in 2041. Four children of father Hiralal and mother Mishri. Vishal was the only brother of three sisters. Parents started hotel business in Kathmandu. Later he turned to the grill business. Mishri still remembers with her son when she started running the hotel, "I didn't even know how to cook." On the contrary, customers used to come and teach. Mishri, who studied up to class 5, later became accustomed to the business.
She used to say, 'If I had studied, I could have done so much more.'
How did a mother raise four children? Vishal thinks remembering the care everyone is taking for his daughter. Four of us were waiting to see Vedansha. How did you bring up four of us alone?,' he asks his mother. Mishri says with a smile, 'It understood my pain.'
Around 2059, Vishal was 11 years old. One day, elder sister Parvati comes to know that ANFA's U-12 selection is going on. When she came home, she said, 'My brother plays a lot of football, is there any choice?' Seeing his son's enthusiasm for the game, his parents decided, 'My son should play football.' Then Vishal's football journey officially began. He participated in the four-day selection process. He is playing football with a brick post and playing football. Shocked to see the
post. Ba said, 'Don't worry! You can do it.' One day the father came home and told, 'Son has been selected.' Then the family was filled with happiness.
As soon as she came to know that Vishal was cheating at home, her mother would say, 'I will put you in a hostel.' A day like this came, he had to sit and study for football training. Vishal did not want to give up football. Even the parents did not want to see their son's dream come true. On the day he went to Hetaunda, the eyes of the mother and son were full for a long time. She waved goodbye to her son with a heavy heart.
Staying in Hetaunda for many days, Vishal kept staring at the house. In the morning, when I woke up, I would hear the sound of 'knock, knock...'. "Every time I heard the sound of the fan, I missed home very much," he says, turning to his childhood memories. Even the sound of bells ringing in the temple reminded him of home. At that time, he felt like crying, but he did not cry in front of his friends. When he was alone, Sirak covered his mouth and cried.
One day, I heard that parents are coming to visit the hostel. There is no limit to Vishal's happiness. His eyes kept seeing the figures coming to his parents again and again. Vishal used to cry after meeting his parents. Mother also cried together. At that time, he used to request his mother, 'Mommy, don't you sit here and work.'
His words made Mishri more emotional. Vishal used to miss his sister and cry when he did not solve maths. He would remember his mother and cry when he had a fever.
The moment when he had to stay away from his parents for two years is still vivid in his eyes. Vishal remembers, 'They could have said no even if they didn't go. He could have stopped it. But, they loved my dream.' Mother Mishri was worried that her son was out of school. But inside her heart was, 'How to stop the son who has gone with his dreams!'
Mishri also wanted to see her son complete his studies. Not only his own, he also wanted to fulfill his parents' dreams. Mishri used to say, "Whatever you do, we support you, but don't stop studying." As her mother said, she didn't stop studying.
Once in Vishal's life two trials came together. As the BBS exams approached, Vishal had already started playing in the 'A' division. There was a test during the game. At that time he requested his manager not to play on the exam day. I used to go to Pokhara to play games. And sometimes I used to travel by plane and bike. I killed both of them at the same time,'' he narrates.
I want to see my son playing football. I want to see him win trophies for the country. Whatever happens before the day of retirement, we will support you: Mishri Shrestha
Seeing her son who passed the classroom and field exams together, Mishri said, 'He did well in the game, as well as the exam. I am happy. Vishal took studies along with football. He has completed his master's degree in 'Business Studies'. "If my parents let me play football, I should also give them a certificate." I completed it," he says.
In his memory it must have been around 2011. While playing the game, Vishal broke his arm. Vishal felt the darkest moment of his life. I was going to the peak of my career. I was dejected that I would never be able to play because of this accident,” he recalls, “but mummy kept shining the light of hope even in my dark times. I am getting better.' In 2011, Vishal was selected for the national team. Before that, he used to get upset when he got out of the last stage many times. But mother did not give up. On the day of the selection, the child said with a sigh, 'The results of my suffering have come!' For the first time, she went to the stadium to watch her son play during the U-19 match. But she could not see. She closed her eyes. A relative said, 'You can't even watch the game.' Mother cannot see directly. Tamas wants to know the result only after the game is over. If you win, you will call me. If he loses, he tells his father. One time Vishal won the league from Manang Marsyangdi and won the bike award for being the best goalkeeper. Mishri hugged her son on the field. That photo was also printed in the newspaper.
...
Games don't always happen. Sometimes Vishal gets irritated when he thinks about the uncertain future. At that time, he thinks about the alternative, 'I also have to work at the grill.' Neither the father nor the mother want the son to do other work. We will see you. You make your own place,' they remind. The mother seems to be taking care of him in pain. When the heart is burning, she makes it cool by reminding her with love. She wants, 'Football is the only alternative to football for her son.'
But one day, due to age and time, the day will come when she has to give up football. What to do then? They think, 'Abroad...?' Even their own mind does not support that idea. "Even if the heart agrees, the parents don't agree," he says.
He does not leave his dreams unfulfilled for his mother who fulfilled all his dreams. Says, 'I will be seen in the same avatar in the last days of quitting football.'
