In Nepal, the sport was first introduced in 2006 when two trainers from Pakistan Blind Cricket Council (PBCC), in association with Nepal Association of the Blind (NAB), came here to train blind Nepali youngsters.
Major Pawan Ghimire was one of them.
Besides the blue-roofed Hong Kong Bazaar at the Bhrikuti Mandap exhibition grounds in Kathamndu is a line of one-storied almost ramshackle compartments. One such compartment serves as the office of Cricket Association of the Blind, Nepal (CABN), and Major Ghimire is currently the chairman of the four-year-old organization.
If the Nepal Army officer had not lost his sight during a Maoist ambush in 2003, he says, he would never be playing cricket – the sport which he now calls “the game of sound.”
“I liked cricket. Not as a player but only as a spectator,” says Ghimire, settling down in a creaking sofa in the CABN office. “Playing cricket was initially thrust upon me as a rehabilitation tool. But it has given me a greater goal in life to socially uplift the visually disabled.”
When the Major lost his eyesight, he recalls that he could not face people. Coming from a military background where you are required to be strong, he could not dare show his weakness to the world and had locked himself up in his home for almost a year. Back then, he admits he was living just for the sake of his mother and considered his life had ended.
“When I started taking blind cricket training, I gained my confidence back. I learnt quickly, and when I started training other blind youth, I found a new purpose in my life. It was like I learnt to live again,” he says.
Having attended blind cricket training camps from Pakistan to London, Ghimire has been involved in training other blind cricket players since the inception of the organization.
“We now have around 350 students from around 10 districts of Nepal, and I feel like every one of them is my own student,” he says. “The mission of the sport is to rehabilitate these young people to help them regain their self-esteem and self-respect.”
According to Ghimire, the game skills have become life skills for most of the students. As you have to be alert to every sound when you play the game, it increases your concentration level, helping you in your studies. Once you are playing as a team, it also develops the “we” feeling, and at the same time leadership qualities. Forming strategies to win the game teaches tactfulness and transforms a dull mind into a creative one.
“I’ve seen the game change people and have experienced it myself,” he says.
In a society where disabled people are looked down upon, Ghimire’s first reaction to becoming blind was that he was going to be treated like a beggar. He did not want to be dependent on others and become a burden on them.
“I realized in time that it was my depression that was causing stress to my family rather than my blindness,” he says. “And as I started to change my behavior and joked around again on the pitch, my family also changed with me.”
Ghimire, who loves to have his family over at his games, says it is important that blind people make themselves active to create a favorable social life for themselves. He believes that change starts with oneself and the discovery of self worth begins.
Referring to a poster with a group of young ladies in their cricket jerseys with him in the middle, hung on the white wall stained with watermarks from leakage, he says with pride, “That’s the all-ladies blind cricket team – the first one in the world.”
He adds, “Initially, some of those girls wouldn’t dare speak to normal people. But now, they ooze confidence even when they speak to media or to a large group of people. They have a new identification, and that gives them this confidence.”
Though currently blind cricket has been used only as a rehabilitation tool, Ghimire says that it can be developed professionally as well.
“We’ve held three national tournaments and taken part in two international tournaments in Pakistan as well. We’re looking forward to take part in the Blind Cricket World Cup 2011 in South Africa even though we haven’t been able to collect enough funds,” he shares.
Another obstacle is that though school and college students play cricket for the love of the game, eventually they discontinue it. “Some outstanding players have gained scholarships for their further studies, but for the rest, there’s very little motivation to continue this professionally,” he says.
Major Ghimire, however, is still positive. A fighter that he is, he accepts that his life on the cricket field has been more challenging than the battlefield. But with his dedication to the game that gave him a new life, he continues to move forward, turning misfortunes into new opportunities and trying to do the same for others like him.
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