Apprehension Transformed to Aspiration

Last November, on the eve of the Delhi Half Marathon, several scary thoughtscrossed my mind. Will I as a blind 52 year old runner be able to complete the 21 kms? Can my body take the strain? Will my heart pack up? Will I be cutting a sorry figure? What will people say ? etc. However, as I slowly and steadily covered the distance and jogged across the finnish line in 3hrs and 7 minutes, my mind was thinking about how I could cut down my timing to 2 hrs 30 minutes and how I could bring in greater style and energy into my run in the coming year . Yes, the 21 kms run was truly a lifechanging experience inspite of the muscle cramping and the body aches.I am running 21 kms once again this year on the 27th of November. I am running this time to raise money for the Eyeway Helpdesk which informs,guides and counsels blind and visually impaired callers from across India. Lastyear the Eyeway helpdesk had attended to 1300 queries. In January, we have established theOriya Eyeway Helpdesk at Bhubaneshwar, and later this year we also will be setting up the Eyeway Helpdesk in Bengali. In the next 3 to 4 years, we do propose to setup regional Eyeway Helpdesks in every State in the country. Our dream is to be able to reach out to blind and visually impaired people and their families in the language they understand and are most comfortable with. The Helpdesk responds to queries which are a direct outcome of all our information disseminating channels on a wide range of issues like - Career Guidance, Education, Rights, Legal Provisions,Parenting,Discrimination, Poverty Alleviation programmes and so on.We need your support and encouragement to achieve our goals. We believe that information has the power to touch lives and bring about change.It is contributions from friends like you that motivate us and help us inch towards fulfilling our mission.Your cheques should be made favouring "Concern India Foundation" and sent to us at

Score Foundation
17/107, LGF,Vikramvihar,
Lajpatnagar 4,New Delhi 110024

Ph: 011 26472582

We are aiming to raise Rs.15 lakhs this year through the run to meet cost of running and expanding the reach and impact of our Eyeway Helpdesk. All donations will be exempt of Income Tax under section 80G of the IT Act.Thanking you in anticipation,Best regards,George
George Abraham
CEO
Score Foundation

Ps: Eyeway is a single stop "Knowledge Resource" on life with blindness. We believe that "The real problem is the Mindset and not the Blindness". Eyeway today comprises:
1. The website www.eyeway.org
2. The weekly radio programme Eyeway, yea hai roshni ka karwan in Hindi broadcast from 30 cities of the country.
3. The Eyeway Helpdesk
4. The Eyeway sms alert service
5. The Eyeway Training workshop
6. The Eyeway Advocacy Cell

Chasing two goals!

This year, I am chasing two daunting goals:

1. I am training to run the 21 kms Delhi Half Marathon on the 21st ofNovember. It is a challenge I am taking up. I would like to prove to myself and the World that I being visually impaired too can run the distance. I need your prayers and good wishes.

2. I also am working towards raising Rs.5 lakhs to support the Eyeway Helpdesk for the blind and the Eyeway radio programme which has been reaching out to hundreds of blind and visually impaired persons across India. Over the past 8 years, Eyeway has touched and changed the lives of many families and individuals who have been coping with the challenges of life with blindness.

I believe that it is small contributions from friends, relatives and associates that can make the big difference.

If you would like to donate online, then my "I Pledge" link is

http://concernindiafoundation.org/marathon/ipledge/ipledgepage.php?ipid=DC104&ipdetails=smgma2zvsg73vny

or if you are writing a cheque, then make it favouring "Concern India Foundation" and courier it to

Score Foundation
17/107, Basement,
Vikram Vihar,
Lajpatnagar 4,
New Delhi 24
India

Phone: 91 11 26472582

All contributions are exempt of Income Tax under section 80G of the IT Act. Also, please feel free to share this mail with others who might like to support my run.

Do look forward to hearing from you.

Love,

George

If Sport be the food of life, then play on

1. Blind people in India are passionate about their cricket: The year was 1989, the city was Dehradun, I was visiting the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped and was staying at their guest house. Was woken up one morning by the sound of cricket commentary. Kapil Dev bowling to Sunil Gavaskar... I promptly jumped out of bed and ran towards the grounds just outside my window and saw a group of blind kids playing cricket. The bowling was underarm, they were using a ball that made sound. The skills were good, the action was exciting and the passion was high. I was told that they ate, slept, talked, played cricket just like what one of Coca Cola ads said.
2. Focus is on the Ability and not the Disability: The year was 1993, the city was Ahmedabad and it was the finals of the 3rd National cricket tournament for the blind. The game was between Karnataka and Gujarat. A large number of curious spectators had gathered in the ground to see how exactly the blind play cricket. Soon the curiosity changed to engagement. They no longer were wondering how the blind played the game, they were wanting to know what the score was and how the various individual players were performing. Clearly, the focus had shifted from the blindness to the performance - the Ability and not the Disability.
3. The "mantra" to successful living" It was the great West Indies opening batsman, Conrad Hunt who said " I was born with a tripple handicap. Was born black, poor and not knowing who my parents were. Was growing up wild on the pavements of Bridgetown Barbados, till the time I started playing cricket and discovered the "Mantra" to a successful life. The 5 Ds viz Dream, Desire, Discipline, Dedication, Determination." The sport empowers and I believe that cricket that the blind are so passionate about does teach the blind a thing or two about life.
4. Being a contributer: I believe that it is your ability to contribute that establishes your niche in life, be it your family, your community or for that matter your country. A team sport like cricket does teach you the value of making a contribution. As long as you are able to contribute to the team's cause, you are part of the team. For instance, Yuvraj Singh who was once an integral part of India's batting line up in the shorter versions of the game is today on the fringe of being dropped. He has not been contributing. As John F Kenedy, the former American President had once said "Look at what you can do for the country, rather than what the country can do for you." As long as you are a contributer, you are in the thick of things. Life is about empowerment and contributing.
5. The real problem is not the blindness, it is the mindset: We at Score Foundation have setup Eyeway, a single stop Knowledge resource for living life with blindness. There are 16 million blind people in India and a further 28 million people living with Low Vision. Most of them live in the margins of their families, the community and the Nation.We are concerned about the mindsets of the blind people as well as the mindsets of the community. Eyeway connects with its stakeholders and uses information/knowledge to not only Inform but also to Inspire and Include them into the mainstream. We presently connect with our stakeholders using Radio, the website www.eyeway.org, a SMS alert service, a Help line, Audio books, training programmes. Now we are also looking at establishing cricket as a platform to connect with communities to empower the blind and help focus on their skills and abilities so that they become contributers.
If Sport be the food of life, then we must play on.
(Synopsis of George Abraham's-CEO Score Foundation Talk at the Sport for Development summit held at Mumbai on the 19th of May, 2010)

Table rocking with changes

The last week has seen a number of teams from the top half sliding down and teams from the bottom have been making their way up the points table.

Rajasthan Royals contrary to expectations have started a steady climb with three good wins. Lucky to see another Pathan blitz the other day when he hammered Deccan Chargers attack.

Kings XI Punjab however has not really had any such luck. In fact they have lost all their games and even that single win was a lucky break, thanks to the super over.

Surprising to see the Chennai Super Kings struggling inspite of their heavy weights. The other day they should have put it past Mumbai Indians. I think Suresh Raina and Badrinath did not quite hit the accellerator in the last couple of overs. The last over from Malinga just got them 7 runs. Given the situation, they should have gone hammer and tongs after the 17th over. They had plenty of batting left in the dugout.

The problem I feel with the Kings XI Punjab is not a cricketing one, it perhaps is player politics. Remember, Sangakkara was made captain after replacing Yuvraj Singh. Interesting to note that Yuvraj has not quite set the stadium alight with his bat. In this format of the game, a man like Yuvraj cannot be kept quiet for long.

Last Friday, the Indian team for the T20 World Cup was picked. Surprised to see Ashish Nehra, Piyush Chawla and Rohit Sharma's names in the team. Nehra has not been playing any cricket in recent times, Rohit has not quyite been keeping the scorers busy and Piyush Chawla has not really done anything to justify dropping of Amit Mishra or Pragyan Ojha. Vinay Kumar is a good choice. Manish Pande and the Tiwari from the Mumbai Indians could have been good in the side in place of Rohit Sharma.

We begin our campaign against Afghanistan, which is good. Gives the team some time to settle down before they take on South Africa in their second game.

Would really like players like Irfan Pathan, Ambadi Rayudu, Pradeep Sangwan and Muhammad Kaif to do well in the remaining games. Watson should be soon joining the Rajasthan Royals. He is a big impact player with his bowling, batting and fielding. Well good entertainment awaits us in the weeks ahead.

Champions must be consistent

Against Mumbai Yousuf Pathan looked like a champion. Against Delhi Dare Devils, he looked a novice. Playing at the highest level calls for a certain degree of consistency. Sure, Delhi is a formidable side, but the meek surrender by the Royals was disappointing. The inexperienced middle order of the Rajasthan team was exposed. It is difficult to see Warne and his men making a dent this time round.
Moving to Bangalore, it was delightful to see the exciting and successful 200+ run chase. Kallis was superb and Pande and Uttappa backed him up magnificently. Pande is a definite prospect for the future. At the half way mark, Kings XI Punjab must have thought that they had enough to bag the two points. Bopara is in great touch. Bisla looked good, again the question is how often will he perform. Uttappa was wonderful, but again he needs to deliver more often.
KKR , after last night has come down a couple of knotches. I guess SRK had a premonition of what was coming. Perhaps that is why he had said the other day that he would start dancing only after his team has registered 5 wins on the trot. Good to see Dhoni amongst the runs He is always entertaining. Sad that he is going to miss the next few games. I believe that his presence will not only be missed by CSK as a batter but also as a leader.
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When Rohan Gavaskar took guard, Robin Jackman had commented that he looked a lot like his father. But then he was quick to add that the comparison ended there. Sunil Gavaskar is a tough act to follow. Dad Gavaskar was one of the greatest openning batters the cricket World has seen.
It was also interesting to have the son at the crease while the father was in the commentators box in the same game though Rohan Gavaskar did not last long enough for his father to commentate on his batting. The last time I recall a father commentate on his son was when Lala Amarnath was expert commentator on All India Radio while Surinder and Mohinder were playing in a Ranji game.

Planning Critical and need to play to one's strengths

Each cricketer is in the side for his ability and skills. He brings something special to the table. If he tries to emulate someone else, he is neither doing justice to himself nor to his team. All of us perform tasks and we are best at doing it our way. Likewise, each batsman must approach the task on hand while at the crease in the way he is most adept at We need to back our strengths. .
Stroke players like Dhoni, Gilchrist Kemp and Simons would go bang bang while the touch artists like Laxman, Vijay, Badrinath should depend on finding the gaps and timing instead of trying to blast the ball and manufacture strokes .
120 balls in a T20 game are a lot of balls. One can afford to play a few dot balls as you come to the crease. The top order of the Royal Challengers seem to be in a big hurry. Getting a good start is critical. The easiest thing to say is that we played badly and the opposition was better than us on the day or blaming it on luck.
It is important for players like Dravid to bring in the solidity to the middle order. He should not be expected to play like Sehwag. The problem that the Bangalore team faced was that they lost wickets early and 135 proved too little. It was good to see young Manoj Tiwari blossom in the company of the Ausie veteran Brad Hodge. Also not to be missed, the passionate leadership of Saurav Dada.

In the game played at Chennai, The Deccan Chargers got their act together this time. All their big guns fired. 190 for 4 was a formidable total. But then when the chase began, I wonder what players like Dhoni and Albi Morckle were doing sitting in the dugout. They should have come out higher up the order. By the time Dhoni had walked in, the match perhaps was at the threshold of the impossible Zone.
In a T20 game, a captain should always be thinking of maximising the returns on his resources. Morckle, Dhoni and Kemp should have been batting at 3,4 and 5 followed by Raina and Badrinath. Vijay should have been instructed very clearly to stick around, rotate the strike and preserve one end. Each player must be given his clear role. The Chennai Super King team certainly had the talent to score 190, but then they got their planning horribly wrong.
In life too, all of us have our strengths and ability to contribute to the overall scheme of things. It is critical for us to know what we are good at and look at playing the game of life backing our strengths.

Amazing Stroke play

Today's game between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals was truly fascinating. The Mumbai team scored 212 for 6 in their 20 overs. Young Ambadi Rayudu and Saurav Tiwari put together 110 magnificent runs for the 5th wicket. Good to see young Rayudu perform. He had promised a great deal during the under 16 and the under 19 World Cups some time ago. A good IPL should put him back in the reckoning for National duty. Wonderful talent. I also believe that the Rajasthan Royals bowlers gave away too many free runs through wides.
But then the real treat was yet to come. The Royals stumbled and tumbled at the start. and soon were 4 down with very little on board. A mountain to climb and the commentators had begun to write them off. Out came Dogra to join Yousuf Pathan and what followed was simply breath taking. The hitting was simply out of this World. 100 in just 37 balls with 8 hits over the ropes and 9 boundaries. It was a classic demonstration of outstanding fearless stroke play. It was the ultimate display of self belief and confidence. Truly facing the situation on the front foot. The doubting Thomas's in the commentary box also began changing their tune.
It was just a stroke of sheare good luck that stopped the Pathan onslaught and saved the day for Mumbai Indians.
The Pathan Dogra show reminded me of the Yuvraj Kaif partnership at Lords a few years ago when they turned a seemingly lost cause into a famous win. I guess this is why we say "No match is won or lost till the last ball is bowled". I believe that this is also true with life. Never give up, hurdles could be great, but it is not really wise to write oneself off at any point in time.