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From wicket-keeping to wheelchair

Anubha Charan

Success, they say, is its own reward. Tell that to Mahendra More - former Maharashtra Ranji cricketer, who has spent the last three-and-a-half years of his young life in the aftershadows of a freak accident on November 23, 1996, that left him an obscure paraplegic with short-term memory impairment and slurred speech.

Success? More had plenty of it! Making his debut in the 1991-92 Ranji season alongside Rahul Dravid, within the first two matches he established himself in an extremely rare and valuable combination - that of opening batsman-cum-wicket-keeper. His 89 runs in the maiden match were among the very few instances of resistance to Javagal Srinath's seven-wicket haul.

Later, in Kolhapur, he took seven victims from Baroda, falling just one short of Syed Kirmani's record eight, and then notched up 120 runs against the same team at the latter's home ground. The accident that changed everything happened just one day before a contract offer from the Northern Island team arrived at his house.

Rewards? After coming out of a 40-day coma, More has spent the last three-and-a-half years waiting for basic support systems like a wheelchair and a ground floor flat to make his life just a little bearable. The accident was dictated by a cruel destiny when, while going back from a family party, the then 27-year-old cricketer decided to ride home on his two-wheeler even as the rest of his family took an auto-rickshaw. Just before he reached his house, More's two-wheeler went over a pothole. The impact sent him flying in the dark before the back of his head struck the ground. The blow to the brain left his body stiffened and unconscious for 40-days.

Seven months later, when he got out of the hospital, life had changed irrevocably. "I would go out of the house and see everyone going about their normal life while I could not even walk. I knew that my passion - cricket - had been lost to me forever. I was reduced to being a mere spectator in things that I had loved all my life," recounts More.

Former colleagues like Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Nayan Mongia and others stepped in to try and save the day in March 1999, by promising to play in a benefit match for More. This, however, did not seem to impress either the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) or the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as they prolonged the agony for another year, finally allotting him no more than a Deodhar Trophy one-dayer (North Zone versus Central Zone), sans any crowd-pulling stars on January 25, 2000.

It has always been More's employees - Bank of India - who have striven to bring a measure of relief to the 31-year-old, whether in the form of treatment costs, interest free loans or a job that is as flexible as he requires. Even as the BCCI promised a princely sum of Rs 25,000, the bank, alongwith Mahendra's friend and former cricketer Sunandan Lele, brought together individuals from Pune, who pitched in with sums of Rs. 1,000 upwards, managing to bring the figure upto Rs 10 lakhs. The gesture of the Central Zone team was one glimmer of hope in the middle of this farce, as they came forward to unhesitatingly gift their match allowance to the benefit fund. Almost half of the collections, it is certain, will get absorbed in paying off the debts incurred for treatment expenses over the years. Is the rest enough for More to sustain himself in his current state?

The most unfortunate part is that Mahendra More is not an isolated instance of apathy - he is only one among many. This, after all, is a country where sportsmen of the status of former Indian batsman Bhausaheb Nimbalkar, acknowledged world over as a living legend after almost shattering Don Bradman's world record of 452-runs among other feats, struggles to make both ends meet in complete obscurity.

Forces one to think back on the words of Professor Deodhar, known as the Father of Indian cricket. When asked to apply for his benefit match, Deodhar had retorted angrily, "What do you mean by apply? Am I asking for charity? That is every cricketer's right and should be treated as such by the associations."

That, finally, is all that Mahendra More is asking for - his rights. The right of a decent existence where everyday is not a depressing struggle. The right to fulfil his dreams, whatever are left of them. The right to life. Is it asking for too much?