Looking at Aquila, the tough, tomboyish looks are far more than misleading when she bleats about having no one back home to practice with. Aquila says, “I started playing five years ago when I was in ninth standard, but after school all the girls stopped playing. I did not lose hope and used to practice with the boys, but they too were soonlured away to flex their muscles and gave up football.”

Most of her time after college goes in practicing basketball and hockey as the coaches insist that she is good at it but after that, she is left alone looking at the football trophy that her school awarded her after her first nationals. From that time onwards, it has been her prized possession and the two have been inseparable. She says, “Though I dribble with the ball alone, but it won’t help me in the long run.”

Sincerely wanting to play for India, Aquila does not know how she is going to realise that dream. After playing in three nationals, she feels that Manipur and West Bengal are invincible and explains, “The entire India eleven are from this area and hence it gives me jitters when we play against them as I feel like we are playing against the India team .”