Captain of Nepal cricket team Paras Khadka got busy signing autographs after a program at the Ministry of Health and Population on Thursday, where he was named the national champion for 1000 Golden Days and Handwashing with Soap.
People seeking autographs came from different walks of life — from teenage boys to already established development workers. “You gave us reason to smile,” almost everybody had the same thing to say.
Thursday´s program was just one of those that Khadka and his teammates have been a part of, after coming home from the ICC World T20 Qualifiers in the UAE, where they qualified for World T20 2014.
Cricket Association of Nepal gave them a grand welcome at TribhuvanInternationalAirport and organized a felicitation program. The government announced prize money of Rs 1 million to each player of the squad and the National Sports Council organized a victory parade Wednesday.
Khadka and teammates attended a felicitation program organized by the Armed Police Force Thursday morning and the endorsement program at the Health Ministry in the evening, just before heading for another program, organized by the Indian embassy.
Wherever the Nepal cricket team goes, they have been thronged by fans. As team leader, Khadka, obviously, has been in the spotlight.
“I came to attend this program since my brother told me I would get an opportunity to meet Paras (Khadka) here,” said Pragya Tuladhar, who was at the Health Ministry to get pictures taken with her hero.
UNICEF Country Representative Hana Singer made it clear why her organization endorsed Khadka as national champion for the nutrition and sanitation programs, stating that he and his team were ´real champions´.
“He (Paras Khadka) is a role model that every Nepali can identify with,” said Singer.However, Khadka claims that he is not sure about his celebrity status. “I don´t know whether I have turned into a celebrity or not, but what I do know is people are showing their love and affection to every member of my team,” he said.
“I have noticed that people are happy with us and this has added to our responsibilities,” he added. When Nepal defeated Hong Kong during the ICC World T20 Qualifiers to qualify for the World Cup of the shortest version, fans immediately likened Khadka to a national hero, something that is a rarity in a country trying to get over a decade-long armed conflict.
Some sections of Nepali sports fans claim that the Nepali sports fraternity has found a new hero after South Asian record holder marathoner Baikuntha Manandhar and four-time South Asian Games gold medalist Deepak Bista. They claim that a ´Paras Khadka era´ has begun.
“Success gives people a positive attitude and the case of Paras is an example of that,” said Pawan Agrawal, former captain of the Nepal cricket team. “He was a hero in many matches that Nepal won and this success has made him a celebrity,” he added.
However, Agrawal cautioned that it would be too early to call Khadka a national hero. “He is definitely a celebrity now but he has yet to go a long way,” he said. Citing Indian cricketing heroes like Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar, Agrawal said national heroes should serve long and achieve much more.
“Khadka could be a national hero if he achieves success regularly with further improved performance and handles his celebrity status properly,” said Agrawal. “But people have definitely started looking up to him and he should live up to expectations in every aspect of life,” he added.
Khadka himself believes that the recent success is only a beginning. “It is only the beginning. Other things will get better only if we give of our best on the cricket field,” he said. “We have to improve day by day on the cricket pitch and fulfill our social responsibility outside it,” he added.
(Report published on Republica and myrepublica.com at first)