“Talk or chat?” Darren Caldeira’s terse text felt like a rhetoric question because his phone does stay busy these days. Caldeira, 33, is a former footballer whose 15-year career as a midfielder began at Mumbai’s Mahindras and ended at Kerala Blasters with stops at Bengaluru FC, Chennai City, ATK and Mohun Bagan, among others. “Let your conscience be your guide,” says his Twitter bio.
The verified Twitter handle had less than 6,000 followers but the numbers are climbing rapidly. That is because his timeline mostly has messages amplifying Covid-19 helpline numbers, requirement of ICU beds, plasma, Remdesivir and Tocilizumab—drugs used in treating the effects of Covid-19—leads for oxygen cylinders and concentrators; phone numbers of those who will deliver hot meals and links to register as a plasma donor.
You will have to trawl really deep to see a tweet that is not about the unspooling humanitarian crisis in India during this second wave of Covid-19. The last thing on football Caldeira, who cut his teeth as commentator during the last season of the Indian Super League (ISL), shared was retweeting FC Goa being assured of finishing third in their group in the Asian Champions League.
Caldeira didn’t want to talk about his effort to help. “Just don’t want this to be a big deal. It isn’t to me,” he said, in another text on Saturday. But his work has meant a lot to others. “Appreciation tweet to @darrencaldeira, you are absolutely brilliant in these difficult times,” said former India footballer Jules Alberto on Friday. “Darren’s amazing. That boy is relentless,” said Sunil Chhetri over the phone on Saturday from Goa where Bengaluru FC are readying for an AFC Cup qualifying tie in the Maldives later this month.
Chhetri too is helping. He has 1.6 million followers on Twitter and has let his account be managed by those who have access to information you can use but not enough reach on social media. “Guys, I am on your team,” Chhetri said while announcing his decision in a video message on the micro-blogging site on Thursday.
Rino Anto, an India right-back who has represented Bengaluru FC, Salgaocar, ATK and Kerala Blasters, India’s No.1 goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and current national team midfielder Sahal Abdul Samad have also joined the fight against the pandemic. “My reach on Social Media (sic) isn’t much, but even if it is only a handful of people who benefit from my amplifying their messages for support or relief or leads to verified #Covid19 resources, I will be a happy man,” tweeted Anto who has 29,600 followers.
“I would like to let you all know that my twitter handle will retweet any requirements concerning the pandemic. Tag me on your posts and I will reshare it so that you can all help out each other as soon as possible,” is a pinned tweet on Samad’s handle which over 13,000 follow. “Looking forward to playing my part, however little it may seem, in amplifying resources for help,” wrote Sandhu, who has nearly 61,000 Twitter followers.
These players are part of an informal Indian football community which is using Twitter to help families deal with Covid-19. Included in this is the fan handles of Bengaluru FC (@WestBlockBlues; followers: 19.3k), the India team (@BluePilgrims; followers: 15.6k), official handles of two-time ISL champions Chennaiyin FC (followers: 877.7k), Kerala Blasters (followers: 1.8m), FC Goa (followers: 345.3k), Odisha FC (followers: 16.1k), NorthEast United (followers: 432.6k), Hyderabad FC (followers: 15k) and Mumbai City FC (followers: 181.5k).
Footballers had stepped in last year too when Covid-19 had caught India in a bind. Former India forward CK Vineeth had volunteered for a helpline in Kerala’s Kannur district. Vineeth, 32, has said he would donate blood before taking his first vaccine shot, being eligible for one from Saturday. Bala Devi, who plays for Rangers in Scotland, was part of a not-for-profit initiative, the national team made a donation to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund and Pritam Kotal, Pronay Halder, Arindam Bhattacharja and Prabir Das contributed to the West Bengal Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. The All India Football Federation donated R25 lakh.
“It feels needed. It is the least we could do,” said Chhetri, referring to how clubs and players have chipped in as India became the first country to register over 4 lakh new cases on Friday with 3,464 deaths. “In the midst of so much pain, the buzzing of my phone tells me people are trying to help each other,” said the India captain.
“I can speak for myself and some players. The motivation came from what the common person was doing. Someone was taking his auto-rickshaw and ferrying people to hospitals after sharing his contact details on social media; someone had sold his car to donate. They are India’s biggest heroes. We just had to support them,” said Chhetri, 36.
“Right now, I would like to request all of us who can to please donate. The amount isn’t important. Don’t do it for validation, do it because people need it. There are so many ways people are helping. If you need motivation or an idea it is there,” said Chhetri.
Chhetri had Covid-19 twice, the second time after Bengaluru FC’s worst season in ISL where they finished seventh among 11 teams. “The second time was brutal. For five days I was in the kind of pain I have never experienced,” he said. While in Goa, Chhetri’s parents, who live in Delhi, caught the virus.
“My sister, who lives in Delhi, told me to not leave the bubble and that we should take it one day at a time. Yet, trying to help I made a few calls. The feedback I got was, “this is not available,” “that can’t be done” and it hit home how bad the situation was,” said Chhetri.
His parents are recovering now.