THE recent death of Olympian Feroz Khan has brought down the curtain on a great life. In ways more than one, it is not just the death of an individual, but an entire era has come to an end; an era that was over hundred years long, for Feroz Khan was one hundred and one year old when he breathed his last.
Having played alongside the likes of Dhayan Chand, Roop Singh and other legends of hockey in the subcontinent, Feroz Khan was part of the Indian team that won the gold in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. He was one of only three Muslims who had been selected to represent India at the time. About a year ago, while doing a programme on Pakistan Television on the occasion of his centenary celebrations, I asked him if he thought he could have got more exposure than he actually did, had his name been Feroz Chand and not Feroz Khan. A humble man to the core, he laughed it off, but the fact remains that particular circumstances of the time denied him his due.
The recording of that programme lasted some four hours, and I was quite intrigued by the fact that Feroz Khan, with all those hundred years under his proverbial belt, never showed any sign of fatigue or irritation. Except for a wobbly knee, which must have been the gift of playing years of hockey, he remained physically fit to an amazing degree, with his hearing, his eyesight, his speech, all being normal without any reflection of his age. Adding to my surprise, and, indeed, to that of the viewers around the globe, was his sharp memory and mental alertness. It was a truly remarkable experience for me.
The program had covered all aspects of the illustrious life, and Feroz Khan turned out to be a humane soul who had a light-hearted sense of humour which reflected his cultured nature. Most of his responses to the various question put to him were in the lighter vein, He was completely at ease with himself and with the world at large; no grumbling about how the world had treated him, and no lecturing about how the world should behave. All this was in complete contrast to the manner of most people in their old age.
Feroz Khan had joined the Bombay Customs in his youth, and on migration to Pakistan at the time of Partition he joined Pakistan Customs. Here, along with Commander Hameed and Collector Aslam, he started building the Customs team, which in the years ahead was to become the toughest entity on the national scene. I have always taken much pride in being part of that tradition, a tradition which has given birth to a large number of glittering international careers. I and all my colleagues in Customs owe our achievements, at least in part, to the pioneering efforts of those three.
It was somewhat surprising that Feroz Khan was never actively involved with Pakistan Hockey Federation. Of course he was past his playing years when he migrated to Pakistan, but he could have been associated with the game in so many other ways. Even when his son, Air Marshal Farooq Feroz Khan, was at the helm of PHF affairs, things didn’t change. By that time, he was in proper old age, anyway. However, it is fitting that his son was able to do a lot for Pakistan Hockey during his tenure which saw Pakistan among the leading nations in the international arena. I am sure he would have benefited a lot from the sane advice of his great father.
At the burial site on that fateful day, there were several ceremonial bouquets placed at the grave of Feroz Khan. It was rather sad not to find one from Pakistan Hockey Federation. There were many who noted this, and everyone felt bad about it. PHF could have certainly done better to honour a national legend.
THE recent death of Olympian Feroz Khan has brought down the curtain on a great life. In ways more than one, it is not just the death of an individual, but an entire era has come to an end; an era that was over hundred years long, for Feroz Khan was one hundred and one year old when he breathed his last.
