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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, MARCH 5: Little Durganand Paswan did a balancing act as he took stance to bat. His crutch provided some support even as Vinod Kambli held him from behind.
“He bats okay,” said Paswan a little later, which would give Kambli much needed encouragement ahead of the World Cup and the selectors ratification of their choice. “But I could have batted without him,” he added.
Some of Mumbai’s best known cricketers, past and present, gathered in support of VCare Foundation’s afternoon picnic at the Elf-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy on Friday organised for children suffering from cancer and sponsored by BPL Mobile. The children got to play and mingle with Abey Kuruvilla, Amol Muzumdar, Jatin Paranjpe, Sairaj Bahutule, Balwinder Singh Sandhu and Dilip Vengsarkar apart from Kambli, dressed in a purple shirt and sporting a yellow tie.
While the event’s USP (unique selling proposition) Sachin Tendulkar could not come due to personal reasons, there was enough to go around for the children as they scampered forautographs, never mind if they knew the cricketer or not.
“Who is that?” asked one child.
“Jatin Paranjpe,” replied his friend.
“Of course, I know who it is. I just wanted to know if knew,” came the retort.
The scramble turned fun when a reporter, standing near the bunch of stars, was approached for his signature!
Vandana Gupta, founder of VCare, heaped praise on the academy for arranging a dream come true for the children, an attempt to push the thoughts of illness away. The five-year-old organisation provides “emotional” support to people suffering from cancer and to their families.
But if the young stars were for the children, there was something for the volunteers and parents of the children. Jayanthi G, here with her two sons, was delighted on spotting Vengsarkar at a distance. “Ooh! There is my college hearthrob,” she squealed.
