Sometimes I wonder about the modern Indian propensity of rushing to provide every possible opportunity to the younger generation. Will they ever have fire in their bellies, that drive and ambition to forge their own paths when they’re older if everything is provided to them on a platter? It worries me. So whenever I feel my children are beginning to look even vaguely complacent, I tell them the story of Harish Singh, of village Thalli, district Almora.
Merely 21 years of age, the story of his young life reads like a modern-day fairy tale — except that Harish steadfastly refuses to bask in the happily-ever-after stage. “I came here as a 10th-pass from the village in 2007, now I speak fluent English and will take class 12 exams this year. I came here with no professional skills, now I’m well-versed with computers. I came here with a regular passion for neighbourhood cricket, today I’ve been selected in the first 30 for the state Ranji Trophy team…” he says, “but I know I still have lots more to achieve.” Here’s his story.
“My village had no job opportunities, so I came to Delhi to work as a domestic servant. That’s what my brothers had done before me,” says Harish. But he was different from his brothers. While they were happy where they were, Harish set about trying to understand what set him apart from his employers. “I realised it was education and lots of hard work!” Harish’s class-10 education in a village school sadly hadn’t made him fluent in English and Hindi — so mastering the two languages was his first goal. Hindi, spoken all around him, posed no problem, but English did. “I began with listening to the English cricket commentary. Then I started watching the English news and also used the primary textbooks of my employer’s son to re-learn the alphabet… Thus, I achieved my goal of learning English!” he says.
Language barriers broken, Harish wondered how else he could improve his future prospects. “My employers would work all day on computers and I realised that to be employable, I had to master the computer too,” he narrates. So Harish found a shopkeeper with a Photostat machine and a computer, willing to teach him. “For Rs 1,000 a month, he taught me basic skills and typing. In two months, I was surfing the net, making pie charts and more!” he smiles. His employers were more than pleasantly surprised when after a couple of months, they found like any other young person, Harish was active on Facebook!
Meanwhile, as he accompanied his employer’s young son to a Chanakya Puri cricket academy, Harish became inspired to train as well. He knew he played well, and thought that maybe, if he trained under good coaches, he could become even better… “So I asked my employers — when I took their son for cricket practice, could I train as well?” he recollects. His employers not only agreed, but coughed up his fees as well. Here, too, Harish turned out to be a quick study. Early this year, he debuted in a match against Gurgaon, in which he gave away only 11 runs in 10 overs and took two wickets. Today, he goes for training every day.
“My aim now is to bowl for India, so I’m training very hard,” says this remarkable young man, “also I want to graduate, and then do an MBA from a good institute.” Watching him get ready for practice after he’d made lunch and cleaned the kitchen, I said it was a safe bet that he’d get there. He shrugged with a modest smile, “I still have a long way to go though… .”