“Her father was my coach, and he used to always specially mention this guy called ‘Chhetri’ to her. I was 18, and she was only 15. She was really curious about me so she stole my number for her dad’s phone and texted me saying, ‘Hi! I’m Sonam and I’m a big fan, I want to meet you.” There began the love affair between India football team captain Sunil Chhetri and his wife Sonam Bhattacharya, daughter of the former Indian national football player and Mohun Bagan legend Subrata Bhattacharya.
Although Chhetri had node idea who the girl that messaged him was, he decided to meet her.
Sharing their love story on the Facebook page 'Humans of Bombay', Chhetri writes, “I decided to give in and met her. When we met I realised that she was just a kid! I told her, ‘You’re a kid, go study’ and walked off. But for some reason, we didn’t stop casually texting each other.”
He, however, did not know she was his coach's daughter even though they have been texting for two months. And when he found out, he was “livid”.
“That went on for two months, and then one day my coach’s phone stopped working — so he gave it to me to fix. While I was fixing it, the coach’s daughter called and her number looked familiar to me. That’s when I realised that it was Sonam’s number! I was so livid.”
Chhetri called her up and told her that if Subrata Bhattacharya were to find out that he was chatting with his daughter, that would be the end of Chhetri's football ambitions. He even vowed to cut all ties with her. “She apologised for not telling the truth, but I wouldn’t have any of it,” he writes.
However, they began to text and talk to each other after Chhetri realized that he was missing her.
“Soon, we started to meet. We had to be really careful and couldn't let anybody know. I used to travel a lot so we’d only meet twice or thrice a year. I remember I used to go to the cinema, buy two tickets — and leave one on her name at the counter. I’d enter first and she’d enter 10 minutes after me,” he writes.
He said the relationship stood the test of time and got only stronger as years passed by.
Years went by and our bond only grew stronger. As I excelled in my career, she was there to always cheer me up, calm my fears and be my backbone. It was almost as if we grew up together and fell in love in the process.
And when it was time for them to get married, he was filled with jitters when he walked to her house to talk to her dad.
“When we sat down, her dad started talking about everything under the sun. Until I finally mustered the courage and told him, ‘Sir, I love your daughter and I believe she loves me too’. He just said, ‘Ya, ya it’s okay’ and went to the bathroom.”
“Finally when he came out, he gave his nod of approval! And in a few months, we got married.”
He said they dated for 13 long years and have been married for two years now.
Sonam has literally been there through every monumental moment in my life. When I was a nobody and had no money, she was there. When I had my first win and even my first loss, she was there. When I made captain, she was there. I just can’t imagine my past without her, and definitely not my future. ‘Till date she calls herself my ‘biggest fan’, but I hope she knows that I’m always and so much more, in awe of her,” he writes.