As the last run of the target was scored, other players of the winning side got excited. Few among them performed Gangnam style dance, emulating the West Indies player Chris Gayle, who made the dance a global phenomenon during last year’s T-20 World Cup finals.
A group of people sitting near the boundary rope were stunned. Dar, who was third umpire of the first innings, told a person sitting close to his chair, “How quickly they remember and understand things. This shows their mental ability to capture any moment with pulse.”
JK XI-A is now set to play in a national level tournament which will be held outside Jammu and Kashmir this year. “I watched their match last year, I guess, but during the refreshment time, they almost thrashed the shop keeper who had given half-cup tea to one of their players. They all went to him in a group. They are very volatile,” Balli Singh, another ground-man, recalled with a laugh.
Mohammad Saleem Wani’s contribution in making of Jammu and Kashmir Association of the Deaf has been phenomenal. Being a deaf and dumb himself, he strived hard to find boys like him from all over Kashmir valley. Getting them involved and shaping their talent has remained the main focus for him over the last nine years.
Wani was born in Sarai Balla, Srinagar. His parents were normal and it was hard for them to come to terms with Saleem’s disability. They preferred sending him out to mix with other boys and he was admitted to a deaf and dumb school.
“Besides learning the rudiments of arithmetic and language, and understanding, I started taking part in various physical activities. This became starter of my brief career in sports arena,” he wrote on a paper and handed it over to me.
With the time, his talent got him many medals, trophies and certificate at district and state level. Seeing his performance and with rising fear and uncertainty in the Kashmir valley in early nineties, his parents decided to sent him out of the state for his safety.
Wani, who is now in his twenties, was a bright teenager boy when his parents sent him to Multi Purpose Training Institute in New Delhi where he completed two-year course in professional photography. During his stay at Delhi, he didn’t remain bonded to studies only. Rather he explored his potential in sports activities as well as by participating in various tournaments and meetings organized by deaf associations and groups.
When he returned to Kashmir in 2003, the experience, contacts and his position became the reason for him to establish an association for deaf where he now works as a general secretary. “With the help of my deaf friends, things began to move which brought silver lining spirit among boys. Selection of the new executive body was done and I took up the reins of sports wing,” he says in his note.
While praising his efforts and expressing satisfaction with his achievements, he added: “I thank God for giving me this opportunity to work for my deaf brothers and sisters.”
In addition to his role as head of his association, Saleem works in valley’s premiere Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science, Soura in the department of clinical photography. Presently, he is living with an impaired wife and has got a seven-year-old daughter who is normal, despite her parents being deaf and dumb.
