by Aakash Hassan
SRINAGAR: They say that destiny is printed on the palm of the hands, but, what for Amir Hussain Lone who lost both hands at the age of seven?
Captain of Jammu and Kashmir’s Para-Cricket team, Amir’s date with destiny is indeed a departure from the usual.
On September 21, 1997, 2nd primary student, Amir, from Wagam Bijbehara, was sent to drop lunch box for his brother, who was working at a sawmill with another mechanic. Amir, a prompt kid started playing at the mill—while the mechanic duo started to lunch. But they left blades on the move. While playing with a piece of wood, blades caught the kid and rolled around, leaving him on one side and his both arms on the other.
“The injuries were so severe and unbearable for eyes that, no one dared to take him to the hospital,” said one of the eyewitnesses, “however we informed the army instead and they took him.”
His initial dressing was done at the local army camp before being taken to Srinagar for further treatment.
At the Bone and Joint Hospital Srinagar, doctors conducted multiple operations and had to cut his arms from his shoulders.
“I remained in different hospitals of Srinagar for three years and in between this, everything was shattered for me,” said Amir, “even when I was brought home people suggested to my parents that, they should find some way to eliminate me as I was now of no worth and already taken great toll of my parents.”
However, Amir’s parents didn’t leave him alone and made it sure that they would do everything they could for him.
“I had to sell most of my agriculture fields and sawmill to make sure that my son is treated well. I even took a loan from a bank, but how one could leave his son in any way,” said Bashir Ahmad Lone, Amir’s father.
After a few months when Amir was well, his parents insisted he join the school, so that he won’t get bored at home and would learn.
Upon joining the school, he was disgusted as he had to face many hardships, and teachers were also reluctant to teach him.
However, dedicated to learning, Amir refused to go home and stayed there.
“When firstly teachers told me that I should sit at home, I obeyed them and did it. But soon, as my grandmother stood with me and encouraged me to join again, I did so. This time I didn’t pay attention to anyone, who was against me for joining school,” he said.
Gradually, as his fervour to read and write peaked, he worked hard and trained himself in writing with his foot. “Initially we were against him for joining school because he had no hands and we thought that he could not learn, but he was outshining with each passing day,” said one of his teachers.
However, he had to face other troubles at the school as most people were still unwilling to help him.
“In school, I had to face lots of problems, like going to the toilet etc,” he said, “even it was really hard to travel three kilometres distance to school by foot.”
Once, he recalled, he had to wait from morning to evening as the button of his pent broke while going to school. “I asked a few people to help me but no one came forward. Thus with bashfulness in my eyes, I remained seated inside an agriculture field till the night fell over and then went home and took my pent into mouth.”
Despite difficulties, he continued his struggle and studies and passed his Class 10th, 12th with flying colours.
In between, he changed himself into a person who wasn’t dependent on anyone, anymore. He took every difficulty to challenge himself. From learning to swim while being inspired by ducks, to developing tastes of becoming a cricketer like Sachin Tendulkar and doing paintings to render names like M F Hussain, Amir Hussain was doing it all with style and substance.
He, despite losing both his arms, is one of the finest bowlers and batsmen in his area. Taking a cricket ball in his fingers of foot and with amazing line length, Amir amazes everyone. Moreover, his strange style of holding the bat between his neck and shoulders has left everyone who saw him, speechless.
His talent was channelled when Amir joined his college cricket team.
“Everyone was stunned to see me playing cricket in college. Within few minutes everyone was applauding for me, and I became an icon in Degree College Bijbehara,” he said. But his life as a cricketer changed once his talent was spotted by one of the faculty members in the college who later helped him to join J&K National Para team.
Looking at his extraordinary performance, he wasn’t only selected in the National Para-cricket team of J&K, but also appointed its captain.
From there, after coaching for a few months, he and his team went to play in Delhi. In Delhi, Amir showed such a performance that the opposite team put him on their shoulders.
“He decided to bat on the last number. And when everyone was out, he took all the matches on his head and stood not out. With his great performance, we won the match against Delhi,” said, Zahoor Ahmad, one of the teammates.
Zahoor was himself inspired by Amir’s performance and this made him to join the team.
“I belong to the same area and used to watch Amir’s performance, which encouraged me to play,” said Zahoor, a polio victim.
In the interim, Amir visited many places across India with his team and everywhere he stood on the top.
“I wanted to create an example that a person like me can do anything and can be self-reliable. This is my answer to those people who rejected me and told my parents that they shouldn’t waste money on me,” said Amir, with moist eyes.
Insallah Allah will bestowed you all comforts of life.shine like starts in the peaks of the World.
You rendered me speechless dear bro, take a bow. Quite disappointing at the same time that people were indifferent towards you, may Allah have His mercy upon you and your parents who had to endure a lot. Stay blessed.