Seve van Ass settled down right into a chair and appeared across the observe pitch of the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. “You know this is my eighth visit. I really like India,” mentioned the Dutch hockey participant.
Not simply Seve however his complete household has a deep India join. His mom got here to India as an 18-year-old and has been returning ever since. His father, Paul, was India’s chief coach in 2015. Seve himself performed within the now defunct Hockey India League (HIL) for Uttar Pradesh Wizards.
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“I have been to India once with my family as a tourist for three weeks and seven times as a hockey professional. That is a lot of times already,” laughed Seve. “It is always amazing to come back to India. I like the Indian culture. It’s way different than back home.”
It was in 2013 that Seve’s mom introduced the household to India, to expertise “the colour and vibe” as she had. The household spent three weeks travelling to New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Goa, Mumbai and Varanasi.
“It was during my initial years in the Dutch team. We had our winter break and my mother really wanted to share her experience of India with us. She did all the bookings. It was a while ago but it is still fresh in my mind,” mentioned Seve, who made his debut in 2011. He has 204 worldwide caps and helped Netherlands beat Malaysia 4-0 in Pool C.
Of all of the locations he visited, Varanasi left the strongest impression on the 30-year-old. Seve was overwhelmed by the spiritualism he noticed and felt in one among India’s holiest cities.
“Old Delhi was really impressive, the Taj Mahal was really beautiful but for me Varanasi was an unbelievable experience because of the traditions, the whole learning of reincarnation, life, death and cremation and all the rituals around it on the banks of the Ganges,” mentioned Seve.
On different visits too, he tried to squeeze in such journeys regardless of lack of time. “If you’re here for hockey, you’re either training or seeing a lot of the hotel. But on off days I always like to go out and see as much as possible but gets difficult,” mentioned the midfielder, who received silver on the 2014 and 2018 World Cups.
This time too earlier than coming to Rourkela he took his teammates round Bhubaneswar the place they’re getting a swimsuit tailor-made. “It was a great experience for us. We are not used to that kind of craftsmanship with the tailor picking a fabric and making a suit out of it. The guys were a bit hesitant at the start but eventually liked the experience. We will pick up the suits once we go back to Bhubaneswar. I really like the Indian suits (bandh gala) but not many occasions to wear it. It is probably going to hang in my closet,” he mentioned.
While Paul is busy as coach of the Dutch ladies’s group, Seve’s mom and brother will come to Bhubaneswar to see the Dutch play.
India has additionally had an influence on Seve’s food plan. He likes “naan, dal makhani and chicken curry”. “I like to eat vegetarian food as much as possible; in Holland, it is doable but not as tasty… I don’t know the names and recipes, but they are so tasty with so much flavour which you don’t get in Holland.”
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