The beautiful game keeps them going

They are not perturbed by bomb blasts anymore; they don't even blink their eyes when shelling begins from across the border, on a daily basis. Majid Dar, Manzoor Dar, Wasim Feroze, all in their early-twenties, have been experiencing all this from their childhood in the Kashmir valley.
There's one more thing that they have grown up with: it's the beautiful game. Football, they claim, has provided them succor and inspiration through all the turmoil.
"Soccer has its own bonding," Abdul Majeed, former India skipper, presently the coach of the Jammu & Kashmir Bank, who is in the Capital for the 116th Durand Cup, maintained. "Right from the eighties, we haven't got too many exposure trips. But it doesn't stop there. We people played the game whenever we were in0 distress, sometimes with our friends, sometimes with members of the armed forces," he uttered.
Coached by Syed Shahid Hakim, J&K Bank, are the first team from Kashmir in twenty years to play in the second oldest tournament of the world. "My team consists of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Various organisations may have their own demands over Kashmir. We just want to play," the son of the legendary Rahjim-saab, said.
Speak to Majid and Manzoor, and you can learn about their horrifying experiences. "What pains me is that we are victimised for being Kashmiris," 21-year-old Manzoor, the skipper of the squad, says adding, "Once Rizwan (Sheikh) was kicked-out of the sub-junior national camp for being born in the valley."
"The other day, we were dancing to celebrate Diwali on our hotel-terrace here," medio Manzoor informed. "The hotel-wallahs were stunned to see Muslims dancing on Diwali, but that's the way we have been brought up," he explains. The oldest member of the team, striker Dupale Srnghal, can only nod in agreement.
"No dad will urge his son to take up the gun. We cannot find a remedy to the civic unrest and the wide-spread un-employment. But certainly, we can stay away from all that for ninety minutes," Majeed, who had played for Mohun Bagan says.
"But only for ninety minutes," he concludes. They have to come back to the grim reality sooner or later.