Cricketer Harbhajan Singh is not much excited about the lockdown relaxations

Deepkamal Kaur

Even as most people are happy with the restrictions of lockdown getting relaxed so as to be able to get a chance to step out, cricketer Harbhajan Singh is not.

“I am a simple, reserved man, who is happier sitting at home, enjoying clear skies, doing yoga and spending the entire day with my family. I am not the one who has a showy life or enjoys eating out. I have a limited diet and even today I am happily cooking my own bhindi and going to eat it. Yes, we had a part-time cook whom we stopped from coming about three months back. Now, I and Geeta are cooking ourselves and I make sure that I prepare at least one dish a day,” he begins to share his lockdown routine.

“We are maintaining a very healthy regime. We get up at 8-8:30 am. We read some stuff, of course, not much on corona, but better things. Together, we do weights and exercise. As we get ready, it’s time for our daughter Innaya, who is in LKG, to take her online classes. As one parent has to sit through, it is mostly Geeta. Geeta is also learning the piano. Being together, we really do not get to know how time flies,” Bhajji beams.

He adds that these days he is also enjoying poetry, “Recently, I found a nice piece of poetry on the lockdown in Punjabi. I tracked and found that it had been composed by someone based in the Dugri locality of Ludhiana. So, I contacted the person and asked him if he would allow me to translate it to Hindi and recite it and use it on my social media account. He immediately agreed. It is such a beautiful composition, which I feel should travel across all language barriers.” He quotes some stanzas from it:

‘Ek minute ka jiske paas samay nahi tha;
Qaid ghar mein aaj woh insaan kar diya.
Ek aisi phoonk mari hosh sabke udd gye;
Is kadar berozgar sara jahan kar diya.
Teri raza ke bina ek pata na hile;
Aaj pher tune apna hukum parwan kar diya.
Sab astik nastik dekh rahein hain;
Ikatha Ved, Granth aur Quran kar diya.
Malik ek hai;
Aaj tune yeh ailan kar diya.

Ask him when he thinks he can go to the cricket field again and pat comes the reply, “Cricket is not that important. How can I think of my game at a time when my fellow countrymen are starving and walking miles to go to their homes? My heart goes out to them as they are perhaps going through the worst phase of their lives. The whole scene makes me realise that we are so blessed. Then why should I complain of not being able to play?”

Having replied to the query, he turns somewhat philosophical, “I have learnt that we do not really need to run for money. We have already earned much more than we actually require. So, I have been telling my friends in Jalandhar to distribute ration on my behalf and they have been doing it. Recently, we got a call from some coolies in Jalandhar that they needed help as they were not getting any work. My team went there too. As we are in Mumbai and my mother is in Jalandhar, I feel like going to her but we need to see a lot many things before we plan it. Maharashtra is the most affected state. If I go from here, I would be quarantined for 14 days. Thankfully, my mother is keeping good health but I do not want to put her to any risk by going

from here.”

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