April 10: Calcutta's most famous African face for decades, footballer Chima Okorie, cannot believe that life could be difficult for fellow Nigerians in a city that had made him "feel loved" even when he was "a nobody" 32 years ago.

Chima, who had earned the moniker "goal machine" while playing for Mohammedan Sporting, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan at various times between 1985 and 1999, remains "a Calcuttan at heart" despite living in the UK for several years.

Speaking to Metro from Manchester, where his daughter Diya is based, Chima said he was shocked to hear from Nigerians and other African people working or studying in Calcutta that the city was no longer the place that had embraced him three decades ago.

"In the initial days, nobody knew me. I was staying at the Mohammedan Sporting mess on Elliot Road. The only person who knew me was the cook there, Hassan Bhai," said Chima, who went on to marry Calcutta girl Kathleen and spend more than three decades in the city.

The couple's two children - son Okeoma is a lawyer - still hold Indian passports.

Chima had landed in Calcutta in 1985, when he was a student of architecture in Visakhapatnam. Playing for Mohammedan Sporting on the side meant spending considerable time on the Maidan and he would shuttle between the two cities.

He remembers Calcuttans as being very warm and welcoming of foreigners.

"In those days, I used to ride a motorcycle and would often take it to a garage near Elliot Road for servicing. I do not remember the name of the place, but there would be others visiting the garage with their motorcycles. All of them were complete strangers and yet they would come up to me and start conversations. We would share jokes and laugh. It used to be a great adda over tea," recounted Chima, who retains his easygoing nature.

Chima finds it hard to reconcile that image of his adopted city with the one formed through the accounts of fellow Africans, many of whom have opened out to Metro since the attacks on black people in places like Greater Noida and Bangalore.

Luis Nigi Ebami, a Nigerian footballer married to a local girl, had recounted last week how he regularly finds his parked Hyundai Santro with flat tyres. He has no idea who hates him so much and why.

African students said that finding a place to rent was a challenge. In colleges and universities, some local students allegedly hurl racial slurs and refuse to share the same bench as their African classmates. Even buying groceries without facing discrimination in service or pricing is a pain.

But Chima, who is doing a course in advanced football analysis at Liverpool University, said racial bias against black people could not be part of the Calcutta chromosome.

He had visited Calcutta two years ago and admittedly found little to suspect that Nigerians and other Africans were being treated differently than he was when he lived here. "My friends do tell me that Nigerians and other Africans are facing problems in various cities. Though they have personally not faced any hostility till now, they keep telling me about others who have."

But Chima is convinced that all is not lost. "To me, India remains a peaceful place to live in. And Calcutta is a city of warmth. I think there is some misunderstanding. I am sure Calcutta will be as peaceful for us as it used to be earlier," he said.

He looks forward to visiting the city soon and strengthening some old relationships. "I will never forget Hassan Bhai. I would teach him how to cook an African dish and he would cook it for me the next day," he recalled.