What was supposed to be a low-key felicitation followed by an auction of Baichung´s on-field gear and footballs became a full house with residents of Darjeeling turning up in huge numbers to welcome their hero.
They screamed, jived to the music and took hundreds of photographs from the moment Baichung and Sonia alighted from his custom made red Scorpio with the number plate WB06-0015. Baichung has always donned jersey 15 while representing any football team.
One and five seem to be the magic number indeed.
The ace footballer has decided to donate Rs 1.5 lakh for the relief work in Darjeeling and two of the three 15 numbered jerseys fetched Rs 22,100 within half-an-hour of being put to the gavel. The orange-and-blue jerseys had been worn by Baichung in the Asia Football Championship in 2008 when India qualified after 25 years for Asian Cup. The third white-and-blue jersey-worn by Bhutia during the Nehru Cup which India had won after 10 years in 2007 -- went out for Rs 13,000. The auction fetched just over Rs 60,000 in addition to Baichung´s donation.
At the end of the day, when Baichung and Sonia swayed to Yaayla re…Aaila, Rs 2.1 lakh had already been collected. Nine footballs personally autographed by Bhutia were also up for grabs.
The footballs were auctioned through “silent bidding” -- where people had to denote their bids through secret ballots. The jerseys on the other hand were put on “conventional British bidding”: the buyers stood up and quoted the price starting from a reserve bid of Rs 5,001.
People vied with each other taking it on their personal egos to increase the stake by Rs 100 each, but all for a cause.
Both Sonia and Baichung talked about their concern for the people who died during the recent landslides and a minute´s silence was observed in their memory.
But none could take Baichung out of his football. “There is huge talent in Darjeeling. Many are playing in Calcutta too and I promise to extend all kind of support to budding footballers in Darjeeling,” he said before promising another Rs 30,000 more to Baichung Fan Club to hold a soccer tournament here.
“I just cannot dance,” he said while talking about his winning performance aired by a satellite channel.
Earlier in the day, Baichung and Sonia, regaled a packed Town Hall in Kalimpong, where they had stopped over on their way here. They did the same Yaayla re…Aaila duet there and Sonia floored all with a saucy rendition of the raunchy Bidi number from Omkara. “Two factors played a big role in my winning the dance contest: one was Sonia, my choreographer and the second, you the people from this region,” Baichung said while thanking all at Kalimpong.
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