‘Where do you play cricket, in the Himlayas?’ It”s normal for Nepali cricketers to face such queries during international tours. They always try to convince the curious people by saying the country is not only Himalayas, but the youngsters in this remote district of Humla have different answer: they play cricket on the lap of Himalayas.
They have never seen anybody playing cricket other than on television. Out of curiosity and television-driven passion, they have started playing it themselves. And for them, the grassy airport serves as a field, that is, unless there is no snowfall or rainfall.
Each evening they play cricket at the airport ground despite cool breeze blowing. During morning, the regular flights give no chance for the school kids to play.
‘We learnt the basics from television,’ 14-year-old Girwan Yugga Shahi of standard seven in the Mansarobar Secondary School told the Post. ‘It”s very interesting. Girwan is the first man of the district to have proper cricket bat and ball. He asked his parents to buy him the gears after he leant to play with a wooden bat.
Now the number of interested players has grown. Player even put bets for a chance to play. ‘Without bets, it”s hard to get a turn to play,’ Uttam Lama, who scored more than 100 runs to win a bet, said.
After noon, it”s almost impossible for planes to land because the wind blow at the speed of 10 knots and the airport ground becomes the playing field. Children play all types of games but cricket is gaining popularity. ‘I used to play football,’ 13-year-old Ujjwal Rokaya said. ‘Now, I love cricket.’
Most of these players are fans of Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar. Some can name Shakti Gauchan and Binod Das. ‘I want to be a good batsman,’ Binod Lama, a sixth-grade student said. ‘In morning, airplanes disturb us otherwise there would have been enough practice.’ There is no ground other than the airport ground in Simikot.
By Janak Nepal, Humla, as published in The Kathmandu Post on 24 May 2005