New Delhi, Oct 31 : India women’s football team forward Anju Tamang is happy to help her family slog it out at their farm lands in the foothills of the Himalayas in Bengal, while waiting for professional sports to resume after the pandemic.

Anju’s days are busy with her time being divided between her football training and practice and helping her family out in their paddy fields in the small village of Rangalibazna, south of Darjeeling in West Bengal.

“I used to do this a lot when I was a kid. But that is not so much the case nowadays as I often have to travel to different places for tournaments or matches. This year, I got the opportunity [due to the Covid-19 pandemic] to come back home during this season, and I’m more than happy to help out in the field,” Anju Tamang said.

Despite the family’s vocation being cultivation, Anju carved out a different career for herself as a footballer. It is common for different members of a family in village households to divide the work amongst themselves and Anju still does the same whenever she is at home.

“The women reap the harvest when it’s time to do so. Thus, my mother and sister-in-law are generally the ones who wield the sickle during the harvesting season. I join them in this activity whenever I am home during this season,” she said.

The men of the family are more involved in the work that that takes place after the paddy crop is being harvested.  

“My father and brother get into action once all the crop is harvested, starting the drying process before separating the grains from the plant. Just like football, this is a team effort as well,” quipped Anju.

Anju’s day begins at the crack of dawn with an early morning training session with a few local players, followed by a quick breakfast, after which she joins her mother and sister-in-law in the paddy fields.

The three women come in for a brief lunch before hitting the fields with their sickles again. Once the clock chimes four in the afternoon, Anju quickly wraps up her sickle and heads off for another training session, before finally turning in for the day. “Unlike a lot of players who worry about losing fitness when they return home, I am not worried at all. The heavy-duty farm work that we have to do here keeps me fit,” she said.

Admitting that it’s a lot of hard work, Anju says that she enjoys it thoroughly as well.

“One is left drained at the end of every day, but it’s so much fun. Nowadays I don’t often manage the time to come back and help out my family, but it’s so good to be able to do this,” she said. (IANS)