Swapan Sadhan Bose, Tutu Bose to millions, has resigned as the president of Mohun Bagan. It is a fair call, with his son certain to contest for the position of General Secretary. To ensure that there are no allegations of conflict of interest, Shri Bose, long-standing president of the club, has finally put in his papers. But that’s not the subject of this piece. Tutu Bose and Mohun Bagan are.
Some people can never resign. Their contributions are such that memories will last forever. Tutu Babu is one such. Walk into his sprawling bungalow in Ballygunge, and the first thing that will greet you is the calm. And then, to think of all of the transfer dramas orchestrated by the same man. Tutu Babu lovingly calls Mohun Bagan his third son. “I have always said the club is my third child,” he told me when we met a couple of weeks ago. “I love it as much as my own sons.”
How will he be remembered in the annals of Mohun Bagan was the question a couple of friends asked me yesterday. Let me give the answer here. When I was growing up in the 1980s, East Bengal mostly had the upper hand on Mohun Bagan. They had the better foreign players and the better player-catchers (that’s how they were known). Come the transfer season, the best inevitably went to East Bengal. As Mohun Bagan fans, we were kind of helpless.
Also, Mohun Bagan had this bizarre rule that the club wouldn’t sign foreigners. It was in the name of tradition. It was Bose who realised that such an outdated rule and mindset were against the progress of the club. Against all odds, he forced a rule change, and within five years, Mohun Bagan had every East Bengal star they wished for. Bose, for Bagan fans, was a kind of genie – someone who fulfilled every wish and made it an even playing field. With him there, fans knew money was never an issue. They also knew that he’d go to any extent to get the best.
“I wanted Cheema [Okerie] for Mohun Bagan,” he told me once. “The way to get him was his wife Cathy. I decided to go to her house early morning and be there all day. When she saw me, she said: ‘Now that you have come, please hold my children as I make breakfast’. Her children were small, and you know what such small children could do if they sit on an unknown person’s lap.
“They peed, and I said to myself it was liquid gold, for this was my way to get Cheema. When I went home, I instantly asked my wife for a change of clothes and told her what happened. She said I had never let my own children pee on me, but when it came to Cheema’s children, I said nothing. I told her it was all for Mohun Bagan!”
From Cheema to Krishanu Dey, and Bikash Panji to Monoranjan Bhattacharya, Bose orchestrated many a transfer heist in the Kolkata football ecosystem. “When we picked Monoranjan, and I got him to this house, there was a swing upstairs where my wife would sit,” said Tutu Babu. “I told her Mona would be sitting on it for the next two weeks, so you please allow him to. She was stunned, but then, she knew my passion for the club.”
So, while he may have resigned, Bose will forever be part of the Mohun Bagan story. Someone who helped make the club what it is, and added to its aura. More importantly, he orchestrated stories that fans can reminisce about and celebrate for generations. His deeds will live on forever.