TN midfielder Indumathi winning hearts during lockdown

It is on a few of such streets filled with ghastly echoes that the quaint figure of a female police officer goes about her duty with her colleagues, making sure that movement is restricted amongst the people in order to flatten the proverbial curve.

Wearing the traditional khaki uniform of the Tamil Nadu Police -- a surgical mask stretched over her face, and a pair of gloves pulled over her hands for protection, Indian Senior National Women’s team midfield general Indumathi Kathiresan is barely recognisable to those stopped by her for checking on the streets of Anna Nagar, Chennai.

“It has been a difficult situation for the entire country. But taking the necessary precautions is paramount to the

 safety of one and all,” said Indumathi, a member of the Tamil Nadu team that won the Senior National Championship for the first time in 2018. “We try to ensure that everybody is observing the guidelines.”

Being a footballer at the highest level in the country, Indu, as she is fondly called by her teammates in the dressing room, is no stranger to a disciplined and regimental life. However, the lockdown has meant that she has had to follow a rigorous routine, where she has to report for duty at seven in the morning, and has to keep patrolling the streets till almost midnight every day.

“It has been a demanding time for me personally. I have barely had the time to do anything else. In difficult times like these, you generally want to spend some time with your family, but I have not had much opportunities to do that,” Indumathi informed. “It is a call for the nation. I have to play for the nation every day during Covid19 pandemic, and I had to respond fast.”

The creative midfielder whose duties keep changing on a day-to-day basis, feels that the lockdown has been especially difficult for her fellow police officers.