Chasing Dreams, BLINDLY

Owing to the dysfunctional and non-registered J&K Blind Cricket Association, some international visually impaired cricketers who have played for the unrecognized J&K team, share their gratifying life stories and ordeals related to it that go beyond their Para-athletic career, Syed Ahmad Rufai (arufai143@gmail.com) narrates their stories.

Chasing Dreams, BLINDLY (Illustration/Syed Ahmad Rufai)

Umer Sidiq’s world spins around imagination. As he enters his office in the Rajinder Nagar area of New Delhi, he reaches for the smooth surface of door- but the color of it unknown to him, sniffs a whiff of potpourri and overhears colleagues chit chatting, as he walks past them.

His senses are more powerful than ever now, but every time he opens his eyes- it is dark.

Umer was born to his teenage parents with congenital blindness. Of a total of 66,448 blind souls- 25,656 comprises males and the remaining 30,792 females, as per the 2011 census.

An all-rounder on the cricket field, Umer picked up the sport in the streets with his fellow neighbors.

Far from the cricket world now, at the age of 25, Umer engages by uploading posts with his 4955 friends on Facebook, of which many he met many on the cricket ground. "Off late, I am not in touch with my cricket buddies," Umer sighs.

 

The dysfunctional and unregistered J&K Blind Cricket Association has been the reason for Umer and his teammates to fall apart.

A friendly match between two visually impaired teams (Image/Danish Ali)

The Youth Services and Sports department J&K has 52 sports associations registered under its banner. But, the blind cricket team stands nowhere on the list. Umer recalls meeting a young teen of his age, Irfan Ahmad Mir at a match. Now, his closest friend.

Irfan agrees to have seen the world with his eyes but has just a vague blueprint of it now. He lost his eyesight 6 months after he was born in Dussu, Pampore.

Over a phone call, Irfan vexed and complained that the media’s coverage doesn’t entice them anymore. 

“Your articles never fetch us what we want from the administration- a team for blind cricketers,” said Irfan.

Umer and Irfan have tried to shun the bat and ball world. Earlier, they played matches against England in bilateral series in 2018. “We live a life beyond being recognized as para-cricketers by you,” Irfan said.

Blind Cricket (Illustration/Syed Ahmad Rufai)

In August 2021, a team hurdles up in Kashmir University’s ground. A squeaky voice emerges from the hurdle, “All the best,” Showkat Ahmad reiterates.

After winning the match, they gather around to interact with the media.  “I submitted an application on August 9, 2020, to the JKCA for the registration of J&K Blind Cricket Association,” Showkat added. But to date, the association has not been registered.

CAREWORN CHILDHOOD

Umer passionately moves his hand to and fro on the hard surface of road, waiting for a small prick on his hand by pointy gravels. He collects and puts them in a plastic bottle, as a substitute for cricket ball. “We wouldn’t have a ball, instead we used the bottle, and the gravels for the noise that Umer would recognize,” one of Umer’s neighbors said.  

Umer struggled through his infancy in the lush green orchards of Sumbal Bandipora. But for Umer, the meadows were always black. “I can imagine how trees look like but without colors.”

Umer was still crawling, when his father, Mohammad Sidiq consulted doctors outside Kashmir for his unusual behavior to light. “He would not react to our actions, and not even blink his eyes to the harshest of lights,” Sidiq said recalling the doctor visits.

Shehzada Begum, Umer’s mother panicked when she heard about Umer being the first one to be born blind in the family. “They (Doctors) even recommended sending Umer to Dehradun for his schooling,” Shehzada said.

Umer’s parents grew worrisome when relatives and neighbors criticized them for sending Umer to Dehradun. “You don’t care about your Umer, we know you have left him,” Shehzada imitates.

Shehzada still takes pills for what she calls her undiagnosed depression, which she developed after she was stigmatized for sending off her baby to Dehradun.

According to a report, genetic and congenital conditions, Vitamin A deficiency, and infective diseases are the leading cause of preventable blindness in children.

Umer spent his 12 years of schooling, and Irfan a mere 3 months for an ‘Adjustment to Blindness’ training course. But, Umer and Irfan never crossed each other’s path at the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (NIEPVD), Dehradun. 

Mohammad Irfan Mir (left) and Umer Siddiq (right) holding a trophy. (Image/Special Arrangement)

“There are 1.4 million blind children out of 45 million blind people in the world, of which 75% live in Africa and Asia,” a report claims.

As painful as it was for Umer’s parents to handle the situation, Irfan had already managed to get over it.  After 3 months after his birth, Irfan cried but with tears of blood. He closed his eyes forever after consultations with doctors.

At an Amritsar hospital, Irfan went under surgery where skin from his lips was pasted under his eyes to halt the bleeding.

While as Umer enjoyed his school life to the fullest at Dehradun reading and writing Braille script, Irfan found tribulations to study at the local government school. “It was to keep Irfan busy, nothing else,” Sattar Mir, Irfan’s father said.

THE GAME

Umer got selected for the Uttrakhand team to play his first National match in 2012 against Haryana. They lost. But, in 2015 he was finally able to draw selector’s attention when he won two man of the matches.

From the Uttrakhand team, Umer was approached for the world cup selection trial in 2016. “Unfortunately I was not selected,” Umer said. But, he never lost hope, in 2018 he went on to play a bilateral series with England. Irfan was with him.

Visually Impaired Persons Playing Cricket (Image/Danish Ali)

For the first national that Umer and Irfan played, they learned the rules. The match is played on a standard 22-yard pitch, a white plastic ball filled with cycle bearings for players to listen to and track the ball, underarm bowling

The 11-player team is divided into three categories on the basis of sight, four B1 players- completely blind, four B2 players- sight up to 3m, and three B3 players- sight up to 7m. The World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC) has organized five world cups until now, with the last one played in 2018.

In 2016, Irfan and Ajay Thakur, another player from Jammu met with an idea to form a J&K blind cricket team. But the team to date remains unregistered.

TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN WORLD

For the first 18 years of his life, Umer never traveled alone. “Until my high school, my dad would come to Dehradun to take me to Kashmir,” Umer said.

The Braille Literacy rate stands around 1% of the 15 million blind population in India. 

“The dependency and stigma around visually impaired people in Kashmir would stop me from taking up higher studies,” Umer added.

A Technology-Driven World (Illustration/Syed Ahmad Rufai)

It was for his admission at Ramjas College in Delhi when Umer traveled alone. A 20-hour road journey from Srinagar to Delhi in a state road transport corporation bus was a mixed experience for Umer.

Irfan, after losing his sight was allowed to travel alone for a cricket match in Dehradun. “Independent and liberated,” Irfan feels while traveling alone

Traveling has become fun and enjoyable for both, Google Maps and screen reading software on their androids can help them travel to any part of the world. But more thrilling was when Umer got into Ramjas College. “I had never studied and interacted around people with sight, it was hard,” Umer said.

Using social media platforms, Umer connected with a chunk of people who became his friends in college.  Umar feels that visually impaired people should not spend their life in a blind community only.

A BLESSED LIFE

People gathered around Umer’s residence in Sumbhal, after he played his first international cricket match against England. “Everyone was here, even those who used to criticize us for sending Umer to Dehradun,” Siddiq said with a hint of a smile.

“We love Umer beyond his cricket, for what he has achieved in life,” Umer’s parents said proudly.

Umer Siddiq at Taj Hotels, Mumbai. (Image/Facebook: UmerSiddiq)

Umer’s first preference in academics has remained information technology, even after being an arts graduate with a master's degree in Hindi, he works as an assistive technology consultant at Sakhsham Trust, an NGO in New Delhi.

“I love being independent,” Umer said. He sometimes provides financial assistance to his younger visually impaired brother, Rauf Sidiq.

“Due to unemployment and being confined to a room, the already stigmatized blinds get more depressed,” Irfan added.

Umer has not been active on his social media platforms lately due to his office work.

Every day, Irfan opens up his eyes to a black scene and Umer’s dreams are dark “But even after that my life is colorful. I am as happy as you are in life,” Irfan reiterated.

While Irfan still plays cricket hardly ever, Umer is busy with his job. “Would there have been a J&K blind cricket team, I might have been playing,” Umer said.

It was when a stranger asked ‘What if you get eyesight, how happy will you be’, Umer replied ‘I won’t be happy, I have already felt and seen everything around me and even better than you.