"If I'm not honest with myself, I can't be anywhere" - Kerala Blasters star Harmanjot Khabra puts his career under the microscope
Harmanjot Singh Khabra has become a stalwart at Kerala Blasters since joining them last year. The veteran recently sat down for an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, reflecting on his career so far and the player that he is today.
In his first pre-match press conference of the season, ahead of his team's 2022-23 Indian Super League (ISL) opener against East Bengal, Kerala Blasters head coach Ivan Vukomanovic was quizzed, among other things, about Indian footballers and their tendency to fade into oblivion after a brief spell in the spotlight. One may deem it too lazy to make such a claim without the backing of numbers, but players in the country do seem susceptible to that phenomenon.
It is commonplace for players in India to burst onto the scene as the next Bhaichung Bhutia or the next Sunil Chhetri and then have their careers take a nosedive. The Next Big Thing tag changes hands like a game of passing the parcel.
There are exceptions, however.
Harmanjot Singh Khabra, for one, has stood the test of time. Times have changed, the ISL has knocked the I-League off its perch, clubs have come, clubs have gone, but Khabra has remained, seeing through the turbulence of Indian football like a skilled surfer.
Since making his senior debut for Sporting Goa as a teenager, Khabra has gone on to ply his trade for some of the most celebrated clubs in the country. Etching his name in the history books of East Bengal, winning titles with Bengaluru FC and Chennaiyin FC, becoming a vital cog in Kerala Blasters' revival under Vukomanovic, he has done it all, that too in different positions.
Khabra, though, is the first to admit that he is not among the most talented players around. "I'm not an extraordinary player," he says. How does he do it then?
Staying in the upper echelons of Indian football for as long as he has done is no mean feat, but the Kerala Blasters workhorse's initial words make it seem easy.
"I only do whatever my coach asks me to do. Yahi hai, bas. (That's just it.) Just keep things simple. There is no need for any complications," Khabra tells Sportskeeda.
That is easier said than done, however, and there is more to yahi hai, bas than what meets the eye. Alas, if only there was a handbook on How To Be Harmanjot Khabra!
He, though, patiently dissects his own career to offer us an understanding of the traits that have laid the foundation for his success. Taking care of his body and his way of living certainly ranks high on the list.
"You have to be fit, you have to take care of your way of living, you have to take care of your actions beyond the ground. That matters a lot," he says as he begins to sift the qualities that have made him the player he is today.
It is evident that Khabra places a lot of weight on discipline and consciousness as he goes on to stress the need for him to stay truthful to himself.
"It's not about somebody is watching you and you do something. It's about, if I'm in the room, I have to take care of myself. They [Kerala Blasters] are paying me and I have to be a professional. And this is what faith is," he adds.
"If you get cast in a movie and you get a role, you're going to perform your best. So I must be faithful to the management, I must be faithful to myself. If I'm not honest with myself, I can't be anywhere," he points out.
That is still just the tip of the iceberg. In a sport as demanding as football, mental well-being is as important as physical fitness, if not more, and Khabra has invested and continues to invest a significant amount of time to become a tough nut.
The Kerala Blasters man admits that the reasons for a player to get distracted in football are aplenty. Money, playing time, performances... he names them himself. That is why staying strong mentally is important for Khabra.
"You can't control all things, so the best thing you can do is inside yourself. Mental health is very important. If you are fit mentally, you can do things," Khabra declares.
Khabra, though, is not reluctant to admit that thoughts do get the better of him once in a while, like any other human being. Keeping one's mind from wandering is often an uphill battle and it is no different for the 34-year-old.
In a bid to keep his head at bay, he turns to God for help. A devoted Sikh, Khabra regularly performs Ardas, a set prayer offered by the followers of Sikhism, including immediately after matches.
Upon being asked what faith, prayer and God means to him, Khabra tells us:
"If Ivan [Vukomanovic] coach has given me a plan, I know next game, I'm going to be able to apply this plan and my body language is going to be so practical."
"In that same way, I have the belief that if I pray, I have got a kind of protection. My way of taking things is going to be different."
He adds:
"This is my [way of expressing] gratitude. I can't express it in words because this is not something I've been doing for the last two, three or four years. I think it makes you think better."
Thus, years of training (to be in his best physical and mental shape) and, as he believes it, the grace of God have made Khabra the player that he is today. Over the years, he has made it a habit to take on the challenges that life throws at him like any other winger that he faces today.
In fact, the biggest challenges that Khabra has faced in his career have perhaps not been posed by the opponents he faced, but by himself. For a long time, he was widely known for his hotheadedness and it would not be wrong to say that he has the same image in the minds of at least some fans even today.
While his aggressiveness has long been named as one of his cons, Khabra has never considered subduing it. He has rather tactfully tamed it to work in his favor.
The Kerala Blasters right-back explains:
"The aggressiveness that you talk about is not about being aggressive, it is about, 'you give respect, you have to get respect'. Respect is not about calling you Paaji or calling you Sir. Respect is all about if you give me some responsibilities to do, I have to do that."
He goes on to say:
"Maybe, I'd fail, but after all, there has to be effort. I have to be at my best to do that and that aggressiveness helps me. It's not about being rash on someone or kicking someone."
"It's a challenge after all, between you and the other person. Whoever it is on the field, he's trying his best and people are there just to judge you, millions."
Khabra insists that the truculent nature is hereditary and claims that he is displaying just 10% of the aggressiveness that his father possesses. That, though, is not the only trait he has inherited from his lineage.
Some may know of Khabra as a hotheaded player, but many, including those in the Kerala Blasters dressing room, recognize the leader that he is. Need to motivate sulking players? He issues a rallying cry. Need to relax things a bit? Paaji blasts some Bhangra on the speakers.
"As a leader, there is nothing, I think it is genetic. My father used to be a player, my grandfather is a Second World War fighter," Khabra says when probed about his role in the dressing room.
Khabra's father took to the field as a footballer for over a decade and a half. He notably helped Punjab beat a formidable Kerala side, consisting of the likes of IM Vijayan, VP Sathyan and CV Pappachan, to win the Santosh Trophy in Kollam in 1988.
The Kerala Blasters star puffs with pride as he opens up about his father, whose words he carries with him like a kirpan.
"He is my role model. I follow him. Whenever I faced anybody when I used to be a youngster, and people talked about the names I was going to face, I only thought about my father, he is a tough guy," the proud son tells us.
"People, they feel proud to play against big names, I feel proud to be the son of my father. That's it."
Khabra adds:
"I don't know who is playing against me. I give respect to him, you're very good, but I'm good too kyunki mera baap kisi se darta nahi tha (because my father feared no one)!"
Over the last decade and a half, Khabra has inevitably found himself going down the rabbit hole of self-doubt once in a while. And, his father would come get him out of that rut as if he was teaching his son to walk all over again.
"If I have a doubt on myself and my abilities, I ask my father first what I have to do, and he'd say, 'You must have belief in yourself'. This character, he has given me," Khabra goes on.
"He is not alcoholic at all. What culture he has given me, to my sister - she's a doctor, to my brother - he's in Canada, he's also a player, I think that carries on. If I had a difficult culture in my home, I'd not be here. I must be thankful to him."
That culture is there to be seen as Khabra continues to be an infectious presence in the Kerala Blasters squad. His brand of leadership is not about barking orders at his teammates. No, no, no! He is quick to dismiss that idea. He is all about walking the talk and letting others follow.
"It is not that you sit on a chair and order everyone to go and fight. You need to be there [at the front]. To make them listen, first, you have to put your head somewhere, so they will respect you," the former East Bengal man elucidates.
Khabra has thus developed a knack for putting people at ease, whether it be a youngster adapting to life at the top, a foreign player finding his feet on Indian soil or even a new writer interviewing him. While hailing from a family of leaders has certainly helped him, a lot of it also stems from his own experiences in his early days in football.
The India international, who, in his own words, is merely filling the void that he felt during his days as a young lad, takes a walk down memory lane:
"Nobody has helped me, man. Nobody has helped me. There was no Khabra, there was no one who came to me and patted me... Big names were there [in the dressing room]."
"I'm still grateful towards them. If they came, I wouldn't have been here man, I would have finished many years ago because I know there is somebody to help me."
Khabra goes on to take us back to his lonely nights on the beaches of Goa.
"When I used to play bad, I had nightmares because I feel like I played very bad, I played sh*t. When it kept happening, I felt scared, those moments after the match made me so scared of facing that again."
"At Sporting Goa, I used to go to the beach and just sit there the whole night and think I'm a really bad player. Nobody was helping me. It's not that I'm blaming someone, but this is how the dressing rooms are."
The Kerala Blasters veteran adds:
"Then I realized how important it is if you help someone even if they don't need it. Youngsters, they are not going to ask you certain things because they are a different generation, maybe they don't know how it can help them."
"So just to tell them that 'I'm with you, I'm next to you, no one will even touch you or if someone's dribbles past you, I'm there to cover'... Yahi help kiya hai! (This is what I have helped!) After all, they have to play with their legs and talent."
Khabra on Adrian Luna, Ivan Vukomanovic and Kerala Blasters future
The same empathy is the cornerstone of Khabra's relationship with the foreign players in the dressing room as well. With Indian clubs constantly importing new players from abroad, the former Bengaluru FC star makes it a point to put himself in their shoes.
Regular viewers of Kerala Blasters' YouTube videos will know that Khabra was pivotal to forging a camaraderie within Vukomanovic's squad, especially at the start of the season. He does not let language barriers get in his way as he makes the Ivan Kalyuzhnyis and Victor Mongils feel at home.
Adrian Luna is one particular overseas player he shares a passionate connection with. While they have displayed their chemistry on the pitch, having combined to score three goals, their bond, though, is underpinned by something else, something beyond football. Daughters.
The father of a 11-year-old girl, Khabra was left heartbroken when he learned that six-year-old Julieta was tragically and rather unfairly taken away from Luna. No word or metaphor can do justice to the pain, grief and misery brought upon the Uruguayan.
That is when football weaves its magic. 72 minutes into Kerala Blasters' opener against East Bengal, Khabra picked out Luna in the penalty box with a looping ball, which the attacker put in the back of the net with a volley. The assist was impeccable, the finish was spectacular, but what followed was beautiful.
Luna was swarmed by his teammates after he scored and was eventually joined by Khabra. And then, it was just the two of them, speaking a language that perhaps no one else in the packed Kochi stadium could comprehend. As someone wrote on Twitter, it was not just one teammate consoling another, it was a moment between two fathers.
"I feel somewhere in this story of Luna and his daughter, I have played a part, a little bit because I have a daughter too," Khabra says as he looks back at that moment.
"When this happened, I didn't know it. And after that, I thought when the season starts, when he comes, I will go to him directly to his room and tell I can feel it's a very hard moment for him."
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Khabra goes on to say:
"But I think that day [against East Bengal], whatever was happening, it was happening naturally. I was the person [to provide the assist]. It is a really hard time for him and he is the first scorer in the Indian Super League this season. Somewhere his daughter [is watching]."
"We are blessed with daughters, so that blessing came to us. I have been in that story. Thanks to God."
He adds:
"He's a great guy, man. You can't bring her back, but we can stand next to him. That's very important. And I know how important daughters are. All children are important, but daughters are special."
We can stand next to him. Nothing epitomizes the current Kerala Blasters squad more than that statement. That brotherhood was the mast on their ship as they sailed towards, albeit unsuccessfully, towards the ISL title last term.
As they sit seventh in the table after five matches this season, the club will bank on the same esprit de corps as they look to rise back to the top. Khabra talks about his teammates with aplomb.
"In this dressing room, nobody has a personal agenda. You've seen it on the ground, the team will go together, we will fight for each other," he says with pride.
"You can joke, you can sit with anyone, it doesn't matter if you're from Manipur, Mizoram, Greece, Uruguay or Spain, we're a team. I don't want to be the face of the team, everybody is a face of the team."
And, there is only one man to be credited for breathing this sense of camaraderie into the Kerala Blasters dressing room - Ivan Vukomanovic.
"This is what the coach has made this to be," he says. "Take Ayush [Adhikari, for example], he will play. Last year, all the full-backs were injured, the fifth full-back played and he, Sanjeev [Stalin], got another offer because he played."
"I think the coach has played a role. I'm very fortunate that I've got this opportunity."
Vukomanovic has displayed his tactical prowess since joining Kerala Blasters last year. "He has more quality than the players with the ball," Khabra reveals.
What sets the Kerala Blasters boss apart from the rest, though, is his attention to detail, according to the veteran.
"These small details, he really takes care of a lot. When he speaks to a youngster [for example] when he is not playing," the right-back explains.
"If youngsters are not playing, they are going to sleep late, they will be disturbed, they'll be talking to their girlfriends - okay, it happens - but they don't know they're spoiling themselves."
"Only a simple talk can help them [understand] they are in the plans and they have to work more. That's it, this is what he is doing. Nothing extra."
It is not just the youngsters who need a pep talk from Vukomanovic, however. Despite the amount of experience under his belt, Khabra has himself been pulled aside by the coach for a wee chat.
The former Chennaiyin FC man notably made his first appearance for the Indian national team in 2478 days in a friendly against Singapore in September. After returning to the Kerala Blasters camp, some 24 hours before the team's clash against East Bengal, Vukomanovic provided the player with a gentle reminder.
Kerala Blasters boss Ivan Vukomanovic and Harmanjot Khabra engaged in a serious conversation at the start of the training session. ๐ฅ Kerala Blasters boss Ivan Vukomanovic and Harmanjot Khabra engaged in a serious conversation at the start of the training session.
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It was a topic Khabra was well aware of, distractions. Vukomanovic pulled him aside during Kerala Blasters' last training session ahead of the match against East Bengal to ensure his head was in the right place after linking up with the national team.
Other seasoned veterans may have taken it as an insult, but Khabra thinks otherwise. He says:
"He knows when to talk. He knows the need to have focus and I have to start from zero again. I have started same as any other youngster or debut player. You've seen that."
It is a testament to both Vukomanovic and Khabra's caliber that the manager-player duo did not engage in a follow-up conversation after the match. In the defender's own words, there was no need for it.
Vukomanovic's pre-match conversation with Khabra evidently did not stem from doubt. The player, though, has his fair share of naysayers.
Khabra is now 34 years old and there is always a feeling among some that the next match is going to be the day his legs finally give away. As some eagerly wait for a pacey winger to put Khabra to the sword, he continues to prove them wrong, coming on top again and again, day after day.
"I can't change their opinions. How can I change, by playing on the field. One time they will say this is just a fluke and this is what has been happening for many years. I have to keep rising," the Kerala Blasters star asserts.
"People, they have records. I have records too, I have played. Now, they have to think if I'm playing every minute, then I'm doing something which the coach is asking me to do."
"If anybody else can do or could have been doing, he would have been also playing."
While Khabra is aware that he cannot change the opinions of his doubters, he does not shy away from acknowledging the pressure that comes with it. The criticism, though, helps him stay on his toes.
Khabra's secret to staying at the top for as long as he has done is simple - approach each game as his first. Over the last decade and a half, he has made it a habit to hit the reset button after each match, whether it be victory or defeat, and go again.
"What do I have to do, I have to start from zero again," he avows.
He adds:
"To be the same Khabra, I have to keep going into training sessions as I go for a match. It's not about hurting someone, I just want to be challenging to someone."
"I'll be the same in the training, same for a 50-50 challenge."
Khabra notably has his contract with Kerala Blasters running out at the end of the season. Asked about his future at the club, he insists he is in the dark about what lies ahead for him.
"The future is always... I don't know, kuch nahi pata abhi (I don't know anything now). I can't say what will happen. The best thing is I'm enjoying every day," he says about his future with Kerala Blasters.
"The club have their plans and the contract is getting over, I think there is still time to talk about this."
It appears his contract is just another distraction at this point. For Khabra, football is about taking one day at a time, proving himself game after game, doing it all over again and enjoying the process.
"Again, I've started from zero every time, I enjoy this," he concludes.
"Tough days never last, but tough people do," it says on Khabra's Instagram. There is perhaps nothing that encapsulates the Kerala Blasters man's career better than that.
Khabra's words, though, deceptively disregard the bodily and psychological scars that football has bestowed on him over the years. No matter what life throws at him, he takes them on, comes out on top and sums them up with a simple Yahi hai, bas.