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Championing the cause of helping Adivasi children

Dubai - "Volunteers are welcome to join me for my trip now and in the years to come, to the Adivasi areas of Chhattisgargh state where the majority haven't seen a school."

Helping Adivasi children who are among the most under privileged in all respects in India, is Jairaj Thakur's immediate goal in life.
He says he is in it for the cause and not to be a real life hero. "Anyone can join me and my aim is not to be hero. I am not a big man monetarily or for other reasons, so many don't know me except my inner circle of friends and cricket contacts of so many years. I mean this seriously," said Thakur, who lost sight in one eye during a cricket match and is a pioneer cricket coach here with many batting records to his credit, two decades ago.
"Volunteers are welcome to join me for my trip now and in the years to come, to the Adivasi areas of Chhattisgargh state where the majority haven't seen a school," he said, "Cricket and other sports skills can be passed on to the children there along with the school curriculum. For this I will be looking for land and try setting up skill based vocational training centres in agriculture and other means of a livelihood."
Thakur made a trip around the same time last year and in his first outing he went around the schools during the monsoons and the various centres far away from the capital city of Raipur before starting his first cricket coaching programme.
"For the trip this time, I have collected second hand and brand new equipment for nearly Dh500 like in 2014 and I have just air transported the bags. Like last year, I will be visiting the establishments on a fact finding mission before hands on coaching and passing on my ideas to the elders and children," Thakur who has scored a mind boggling six double hundreds in 25 overs-a-side matches, said.
The JTS Academy owner recently lost full vision in his right eye after sunstroke hit him when playing here, a passion which he still continues to have at 56 when one usually thinks of re-locating to home base and being with children and grand children in a relaxed atmosphere.
"Helping Adivasi children from grades one to 12 in Chhattisgargh is my next aim in life. I don't want big money, just enough for my wife and child are more than enough and you can see it from the way I run my academy," Thakur, the first Australian qualified cricket coach here, added, "Just join me if you are convinced. One should not have doubts. You could join me as a lover of sports in what I do.
"At the same time, I need financial and other material support for the Adivasi children. I am thankful for the backing I get from Jaspara Sports for the playing clothes; the cricket councils in Dubai, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain among others for the old balls; Emitech; CTK Nasir who provides financial aid; Pack 2 Go for free air freight plus some more contacts who have promised backing in different ways. I knock door to door and assistance of any kind is welcome including voluntary work with me in Chattisgargh," the former Maharashtra Ranji Trophy and Mafatlal player who surprisingly for reasons unknown did not make it to the ECB side that represented the UAE including the cricket World Cup in the eighties and nineties, added.
"Those were the days, and I don't sit and brood over the 'ifs and buts' of life. Playing for Mafatlal was like turning out for an Indian side, in fact former teammate K. Jayantilal who opened with Sunil Gavaskar for India, is a volunteer for my work in Chhattisgargh," he said.
moni@khaleejtimes.com