'Current bhi nahi tha': Meet Nilam Xess, Indian hockey player, son of small-time farmers, who lived without electricity for 19 years

How Indian hockey player Nilam Xess went from spending night in complete darkness to representing Team India in FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 at his hometown Rourkela

Source: Twitter

Nilam Xess, who will be playing his first hockey World Cup in his hometown Rourkela, is the hero over there. The Indian defender has seen tough days and will now don the national jersey to help India win their first World Cup since 1975. His parents are small-time farmers, growing potato and cauliflower in their field. Xess feels embarrassed to tell his story as he feels he comes from a very poor background. Not to forget, that he has spent 19 years of life at his house in village Kadobahal without electricity. 

This village on the outskirts of Rourkela, one of the two host cities in this World Cup, had no electricity. The power has come to this village only in 2017. Forget about playing for India, Xess did not even know anything about the past players from the city like Michael Kindo, Dilip Tirkey, Lazarus Barla. 

"Current bhi nahi tha (There was no electricity even). Forget the world, I didn’t even know what was happening in Rourkela," Xess told Indian Express. 

Join us in wishing Nilam Sanjeep Xess, defender in Sr. Men Team of Hockey India, a very Happy Birthday. #HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #BirthdayWish @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/dUk0q182ip — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) November 7, 2022

Bipin, his father, said, "We aren’t saying there was a power cut… there was absolutely no electricity. We only started getting power supply in 2017. Until then, we lived in complete darkness."

The situation was so bad at home that Xess' family had to make oil lamps called dibhris in hindi by using small containers. 

Even when Xess played hockey when he studied, he did it as a recreational activity and out of fun. He was never serious about hockey and wanted a good job in the city. 

But life changed in 2010 when Xess was picked for a sports hostel in Sundergarh and there he realised that he could make money by playing hockey. "That’s when I got to know you can make money by playing hockey. Izzat milti hai (You earn respect). So I worked hard to become a player. And then, when I saw the London Olympics in 2012, I set myself a goal — to play for India," said Xess.