Kot Radha Kishen: The Pakistan city’s hockey connection at the Asian Champions Trophy | Hockey News – Times of India
Such has been its impact that the population of India and Pakistan continues to come across moments and events that make them recall the tribulation of those who suffered and also the heartwarming facts from the days of undivided India.
It would be hard to imagine that one such story would surface at a hockey tournament, but then the rich history of the sport in India and Pakistan never fails to mesmerize.
The credit for this little story goes to Pakistan striker Abdul Rehman, who has put his native place, Kot Radha Kishen, on the world hockey map.
(AFH Photo)
While it’s not surprising to find names of Indian origin in some places in Pakistan and vice versa, it has always remained a subject of intrigue.
“I am not aware of much of the history of Kot Radha Kishen, but what I know is that it used to be called ‘Kachi Kothi’,” said Rehman talking to Timesofindia.com in Chennai, on the sidelines of the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy.
The Pakistan hockey team is in Chennai to participate in the Men’s Asian Champions Trophy, and it’s a special tournament for Rehman, who is making his senior-team debut.
Rehman is also the first international hockey player from Kot Radha Kishen, a city and tehsil headquarters in district Kasur, to represent Pakistan.
Interestingly, the word ‘Kasur’ also has an India derivation according to some theories that believe it comes from the word ‘Kusha’, the name of Lord Rama’s son.
The city of Kot Radha Kishen meanwhile is named after an influential person called Lala Radha Kishen. ‘Kot’ means a fort or a big house.
According to a YouTube video featuring Shabbir Sindhu, a public figure and speaker in district Kasur, who has researched the history of Kot Radha Kishen, Lala Radha Kishen was a ‘lambardar’ (village headman with considerable land holdings, also called ‘zamindar’).
(AFH Photo)
There are other stories that do the rounds, saying Radha Kishen were two separate people. But Shabbir refuted those as fiction, adding that Lala Radha Kishen’s assets were later auctioned off by the government (locally known as ‘kurki’) in 1948, after a lawsuit filed against his family by a bank for unpaid loans.
Geographically Kot Radha Kishen is situated between the two rivers Ravi and Sutlej and the region also used to be known as ‘bari doaba’, where ‘bari’ means jungle and ‘doaba’ is derived from the word ‘doab’, which means the region between two rivers.
“The land of Kot Radha Kishen used to be a jungle, where the fighters during the mutiny of 1857 against the British rule used to hide. It started getting inhabited from 1907 onwards, largely by the retired officials of the ‘British Raj’, including those who retired from the army,” Shabbir says on the YouTube video.
These historic bits about his native place aside, Rehman is eager to make a name for himself in world hockey that yearns for the revival of the Pakistan team which used to be world-beaters.
And he didn’t waste much time in getting noticed.
The junior Asia Cup’s top goal-scorer got his name on the goal-sheet by striking in Pakistan’s first match of the tournament against Malaysia, though it came in a losing cause.
“Never thought I would score in my first match,” he told Timesofindia.com in Chennai.
Like Rehman, the traveling Pakistan squad is relatively inexperienced, with captain Umar Bhutta being the only seasoned campaigner. Among the youngsters are Rehman’s four other mates from the famous Dar Hockey Academy of Lahore.
“I came to the Dar Academy towards the end of 2014, and it’s the place where I learned the most of my hockey,” said Rehman, who picked up the sport watching one of his uncles play. He plays for the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) team in Pakistan on stipend.
Besides Rehman, the four other Dar Academy players in the current Pakistan team are Ahmad Aqeel, Murtaza Yaqoob, Sufyan Khan and goalkeeper Akmal Hussain.
For Rehman and the rest of the Pakistan team, a big game awaits on Wednesday against India. And while the Pakistan team would admit that they have been left far behind by India in world hockey, the story of Kot Radha Kishen that is doing the rounds at the tournament has only enriched the ancestral and historic connection between the two countries.
