Cricket is a gentleman’s game and gentlemen do not get their clothes dirty.
Who said? asks Jonty Rhodes. In town to encourage children to get out and get dirty for the Surf Excel Dhoega to Jeetega contest, he emphasised on the need for teachers and parents to let their children get out and try to be the best at what they want to. No matter how dirty they get.
“Both my parents were teachers, and they were the ones who encouraged me to go out and play and be the best. I think parents all over the world should also encourage their children to do the same,” says the former South African cricketer.
Jonty washed a huge stain out of a sheet to reveal what was underneath the stain. What it turned out to be was a sum of Rs One lakh which he donated to two NGO’s working for the benefit of streetchildren.
Though, he was more than eager to comment on the present cricket tests between South Africa and India, he puts off any ideas of taking to the mike in the commentary box. “Commentary means going away from home. I don’t want to do that.” However, he may take up to coaching upcoming talents. “Every team nowadays has a batting coach and a bowling coach but fielding is left unattended. I think it is a real help to have efficient fielders to save runs.”
“It is a great feeling to be here working for children. I have worked for the underprivileged earlier, but that was in South Africa. It is my first off-the cricket venture in India and it feels good to be part of a cause,” he says.
The 15 children from the NGO Karm Marg got to pose for the shutterbug with the famous cricketer. Says Basant Kumar, who had never met a celebrity ever before, “It was for real. He was standing with me, I even got a photograph.”
But not everyone went home happy. The students of Modern School were furious because they were not allowed to meet Rhodes. “It’s unfair, we have been waiting for hours now but the security won’t even allow us to have a glimpse of him,” said one of them. But the children of the NGO’s took home with them a photograph that meant the world for them, “Till Sachin Tendulkar comes,” they said.