MUMBAI, July 29 -- By every conventional measure, Harshika Jain is an outlier. She grew up on Mumbai's Altamount Road, far removed from the dusty fields and grassroots academies where most of India's football dreams are born. She's a vegetarian in a sport famed for its ruthless physicality. And now, at just 22, she has become the first Indian woman to sign with a Romanian first-division club: Atletic Olimpia Gherla. This places her alongside Indian women football pioneers Bala Devi, Aditi Chauhan, and Manisha Kalyan, who have all managed to break into the elite level of European football. The Mumbaikar's journey to Romania began with her coach and mentor, Varin Mehta. A former professional himself, it was he who took the initiative to send Harshika's CV to clubs across Europe. Eventually, Atletic Olimpia Gherla responded, offering her a 20-day trial which proved to be rigorous. She was put through full-pitch and half-pitch tactical drills, long stamina-building sprints and high-pressure one-touch and two-touch routines - hallmarks of the fast, fluid and physical playing style that defines top-tier European football. A versatile attacker who toggles between the No. 9 and No. 10 positions, Harshika thrives as a striker and an attacking midfielder. She prefers roles where she can not only finish chances but also control the game. "I love seeing more of the ball. It helps me dictate the rhythm and make the kind of plays that impacts the match," she said. On July 24, after closely observing this style and attitude, the head coach of Atletic Olimpia Gherla, Mirel Albon, often referred to as the father of women's football in Romania, offered her a contract. Next month, Harshika will make her official debut in the SuperLiga Feminina, Romania's premier women's league. "It already feels unreal, I have butterflies in my stomach. And if we qualify for the Champions League, it would be surreal," she said. Playing sports came naturally to a young Harshika. Back in Mumbai, she was a multi-sport captain at GD Somani School, leading the handball, basketball and football teams with equal verve. But the gravitational pull of football was inescapable. "Every time I played anything, the ball would somehow land at my feet, even in handball! The coaches would get so mad," she recalled, laughing. The turning point came in 2017 during a summer camp organised by Mehta. From there, Harshika's climb was steady. She played for clubs like PIFA and Kenkre FC, where she eventually captained the senior team in 2021 and 2022. She represented Maharashtra at the Senior Nationals and netted a memorable last-minute winner against Kolhapur in a district final. Before leaving for Romania, she had a short stint with Aspire FC in Pune, where she finished as the second-highest scorer in the Maharashtra League. However, her most emotionally testing chapter unfolded in Kerala. Eager to grow and challenge herself further, Harshika moved to Gokulam Kerala FC after the Covid-19 pandemic. But instead of instant success, she found herself benched for a year. "I called home every single day. I wanted to leave. It was one of the hardest times of my life," she said. Unbeknownst to her, the coaches were testing her mental game. When finally given a chance, she seized it, scoring 10 goals in 12 games, followed by a hat-trick of free-kicks in the Kerala Women's League, a record that still stands. She then helped Gokulam Kerala finish runners-up in the 2023-24 Indian Women's League, emerging as one of its breakout stars. Over the last two years, Harshika has netted more than 30 goals, a prolific run that made people in Europe take notice. What also sparked surprise, especially abroad, was her diet. Harshika is a committed vegetarian, something of an anomaly in the world of elite football. "People always question how I get my energy. But I've done a lot of research and foods like sweet potatoes, bananas, red and brown rice, and pasta offer energy equivalent to a non-vegetarian diet," she said. Her role models reflect her ambition and edge: Nepal's Sabitra Bhandari, whose relentless work rate she witnessed firsthand in a match in 2022, US legend Alex Morgan, and India's captain Ashalata Devi. Which is why when asked about her ultimate dream, there was no hesitation. "Wearing the Indian jersey," she said. Perhaps, in the end, for all the talk of outliers and anomalies, the dream to represent the country is the most shared one of all....