Struggles of Nepali women cricketers
In 2007, when Nepali women got their first opportunity to represent the country as cricket players in Malaysia, they returned home as the runner-up team. The following year, they won the U19 ACC women’s tournament, and went on to win it two more times in subsequent years. And although the senior Nepali women’s team is yet to win an international trophy, the players are passionately representing the country and their regions in different tournaments.Ashmita Kharel, Sita Rana Magar and Aarati Bidari play cricket with oodles of enthusiasm, even though being a sportsperson is not easy in a country like Nepal, where the playing conditions and atmosphere are not quite ideal and where women generally have to face greater challenges. Here they share their stories.
Investing in women
Sita was always into sports. It was football that she wanted to play, until cricket entered her life in 2004 while she was still in school. Teachers from her school in Nepalgunj encouraged her to play cricket as she uses her left hand, which is a huge advantage in any sport and also in cricket. Since then, Sita has not had time to look back. While she was playing for school, she was selected to represent Region 5. Then she got selected to play for the national team, and she even represented Nepal in its first international women’s cricket tournament in 2007. Sita has not only represented Nepal in different competitions, but also been recruited as a player for the Armed Police Force. She earns her livelihood by playing cricket.
Her father didn’t like the idea of his daughter being a sportsperson. He didn’t believe women could play sports and make a living out of it. But her mother always believed in and supported her. Her father’s opinion also changed when she started representing Nepal in international tournaments and people started recognizing him as ‘Sita’s father’. “These days, he is anxious about my games, worries about rain on game days, and keeps tabs on my schedule,” says Sita.
As a national player, Sita has seen the highs and lows of women’s cricket in the country. While Nepal has won three U19 ACC tournaments, the same kind of progress has not been visible in the senior Nepali women’s team. Sita remarks, “If we had gotten sufficient encouragement and support after winning the U19 cups, we would have scaled newer heights—maybe even played a World Cup match by now. Until recently, our team didn’t even have a dedicated coach who would inspire us to play better.” It was the idea of the new coach to request the physical trainer of the men’s team to also support the women’s team. “In my 15-year-long career, I had never known the impact a physical trainer could have on a player’s life,” says Sita.
Sita believes more matches, longer training sessions with skilled coaches, and better facilities for women cricketers could help a lot. The recent talk about private leagues hosting women’s tournaments is also a good sign. Sita thinks if the culture of private leagues investing in women cricketers pervades the society, more girls would be able to pursue cricket as a career and not just as a passion. Perhaps then, many Nepali fathers would stop counting their daughters’ age for marriage, and would instead count the number of runs they are scoring.
Idea of happiness
Ashmita represents Region 3 in national games for women’s cricket while she is on the ground. Off the ground, she organizes different sporting events as an event coordinator. She has recently been accepted into an online master’s degree in Sports Management with full scholarship from Johan Cruyff Institute.
Ashmita has been playing gully cricket ever since she can remember, but it was not until 2013 that she started playing professionally. She had been following women’s cricket for a few years, but had not been able to find a way to pursue it further. A talent hunt for women cricketers finally opened the door for her and she has since been playing cricket and representing Region 3 in various national cricket events.
She says being a full-time woman cricketer is not an easy task in Nepal. “There are not enough matches or quality training sessions. And the remuneration for a regional player is negligible,” she laments. But because she cannot imagine life without some kind of association with sports, she has also started a career in organizing sporting events. She feels organizing men’s sporting events is much easier though. “No matter how much we try to promote women’s sports, sponsors are not interested in them, whereas everyone always gets excited about men’s games.”
Ashmita is thankful to her brothers with whom she grew up playing cricket and who have always supported her to play better. But she also hopes the new generation of girls will get an opportunity to play with, and be inspired by, senior women cricketers. Ashmita looks forward to finishing her master’s degree and playing cricket for as long as she can. There is no place like a cricket ground to make her happy. Playing in a team, winning and losing matches with one’s teammates, and simply getting on the ground, is Ashmita’s idea of happiness.
To save 10 bucks
Aarati’s earliest memory of playing cricket is tagging along with her brothers and them making her stand outside the boundary line to throw the ball. That was around 12 years ago in Chitwan. Now Aarati plays for the national women’s team, has established her own club named ‘Rising Cricket for Women’, and takes classes for young women aspiring to be cricketers.
Although her present seems to be a bed of roses, it was not an easy journey for Aarati. The day she was supposed to play for selection to the national games, her dad, her biggest supporter, passed away. Though other family members were never against her playing cricket, they could not support her in any other way due to financial constraints. Aarati used to spend the whole day around her college to attend the training session in the evening so that she did not have to spend an extra 10 bucks on transport.
Having understood the kinds of problems that young women cricketers with limited means face, Aarati established a club exclusively for them. But this journey has not been smooth either, with troublesome people posing various obstacles and the everlasting difficulties of raising funds for women’s sporting events. But this has not stopped Aarati from playing for the nation.
“Being a national player, I had not received much recognition in Nepal. But I got a lot of respect while visiting other countries,” says Aarati. “In Jaipur, Rajasthan, a young girl once approached me after finding out that I was a national player and asked me to shake her hands and teach her how to play. Never had I thought that the sport that I loved all this while would bring such a delightful experience for me.”
Quick questions with SIDDHANT RAJ TAMANG Actor/ Model
-
Q. What is your favorite travel destination?
A. Sandakphu in Ilam.
Q. What is your favorite cuisine?
A. The food my mother cooks for me.
Q. What is your hidden talent?
A. Even I have not discovered it yet.
Q. If you could go back in time, what would tell your younger self?
A. Spend as much time as you can with your father.
Q. Which is your favorite movie?
A. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
Q. What role would you like to play?
A. Roles that improve my acting skills.
Q. If you could wish for one thing and one thing only, what would it be?
A. To do one project with Saugat Malla.
Q. What is your favorite childhood memory?
A. When my father came home in the evenings.
Q. Do you have any celebrity crushes at the moment?
A. Anna Sharma.
Q. Would you date a fan?
A. Yes!
Rain rain go away
As I write this, Indra Jatra is in full swing. And the rain is falling. Heavily. A couple of months ago I wrote in this column that the monsoon rain appeared to be falling only at weekends. Then it disappeared pretty much all together. Over the last two or three weeks it came back with a vengeance! And everyone is discussing how the monsoon should be on the way out by now. Even the BBC advised that the ‘receding’ monsoon was returning for one last go. But Facebook reminds me that over the past five or six years I have written comments in September about how much late rain is pelting down. So it’s not just this year we are getting a lot of last-minute rain; our memories are simply short!I live between two, let’s call them ‘rivers’ for the sake of argument. Over time these two rivers have had their banks encroached by houses. In fact one river runs completely under my road to emerge around 200m further on to join its sibling. Reunited they both flow on under Uttar Dhoka road and I assume into the palace grounds. Although I must admit I don’t see any evidence of this. (If you know where that river goes to please let us know in the online comment box!) Each year my road floods as these siblings try desperately to fit into their tiny channels, fail, and rush at considerable speed along the slightly sloping roads. Being trapped between these two rivers means there is no way into the neighborhood that doesn’t involve wadding through knee-deep water. Thankfully, once the rain stops, the water miraculously disappears.
So now I want to mention the heroes of this story. No, not Lord Indra, but a couple of taxi drivers! Those of you who either know me, or read this column regularly know my ongoing battle against taxi drivers. Yet two weeks ago, coming back from a meeting, we could see the larger road to my place was running with water. At a gallop. A truck was sitting in the middle of this, obviously wondering what to do next. Reversing the cab out of the road I suggested going another way round which would get me closer to where I thought I would have to start wadding through the murky water. That road was also flooded but my hero braved the water and took me directly to dry land. As it was Teej my neighbors had visitors dressed to the nines in their heavy silk finery. They looked relieved when he said he could take them out of the rising ocean of filthy water.
The next morning I saw some of my neighbors pumping water out of their lower-than-the-road homes. That was a futile job as later that same day the tsunami of dirty water came again. With the rain not as heavy I was confident that the road would not flood. Obviously Indra did not take this position. This time Utta Dhoka and three roads leading to my apartment were flooded. But as luck would have it I had another hero of a taxi driver who drove through even deeper water to reach my place. I was seriously worried about the engine. This time a private car was sitting on the only dry spot and took comfort that the taxi got through and decided to make a go of it. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how that story ended.
But back at my story: I have now come to the conclusion taxi drivers get so bored in their daily grind their refusal to go where you want them to is their way of kicking back. But give them a challenge and they will rise to it. Like true knights of the road!
And BTW, Lord Indra, we thank you for this year’s rain but now it’s time to leave. Please.
Let there be blues!
The year’s biggest festivities are approaching, and we’re not talking about Dashain here. For blues musicians, listeners and fanatics, the fourth edition of the Kathmandu Blues n’ Roots festival is all set for September 28 at Tangalwood, Kathmandu. Starting from small stages within the confines of local bars, last year the Kathmandu Blues n’ Roots festival took to a bigger outdoor venue with a massive stage, sound and lights. More musicians, more audience and obviously a lot more fun is in store for the KBR this year as well, the organizers tell us. And this time, along with the best of local musicians, the audience will get to see an international line-up of “Mr No Money Band” from Italy and “Boy and the Bear” from Thailand.
Fabio Ioannisci aka Mr No Money, the lead singer and pianist of the band that plays rock 'n' roll, rhythm & blues, boogie woogie and barrelhouse piano, is excited about his performance in Kathmandu, again. The Italian frontman has been to Nepal twice in 2013 and 2014 to perform. Having travelled across the globe, collaborating with various musicians and performing in over 800 concerts since 2005, Mr No Money also released a song in 2015 dedicated to Kathmandu, called “Namaste Kathmandu.” The boogie blues track in English is based on his experiences and love for Kathmandu.
“I am called Mr No Money as I put my passion over money,” Ioannisci tells APEX in a brief online conversation from Ukraine where the band was performing at the time of the writing of this report. About the band and its ever evolving line-up, the artist says, “I have different kinds of ensembles for different shows. For KBR, we’ll have a trio of piano and lead voice, guitar, and drums.”
Ioannisci likes the cultures, people, and food of Kathmandu, he tells us. About the local music scene, he is “fascinated by the way Nepali musicians feel the time of music.” “It’s totally different to how we do it,” he says. “There are so many good musicians in Nepal. I specially love Mukti [Shakya] and Satish [Sthapit],” he says, “I can't wait to spend time with them. I can’t wait to come.” Mr No Money Band will also be traveling to Pokhara for a short musical tour following the main event.
Also coming to Nepal for the KBR is the “Boy and the Bear” duo comprising of Boy Blues on guitar and Edward Bear on saxophone. The two musicians are experienced artists with decades of experience. Boy Blues is currently based in Chiang Mai and started over 30 years ago playing with his uncle Took, considered as one of the godfathers of the Thai blues scene. Boy went on to open his own place, Boy Blues Bar, in the heart of Chiang Mai's famous Night Bazaar district, which has since become one of the city’s best-known live music venues.
As for Bear, he is a travelling musician and has played all over the world, from Australia to Hong Kong to Turkey to Thailand, in a career spanning nearly 40 years. “While I play a bit of jazz too, my heart and soul are in the blues,” he says in an email interview with APEX.
Bear also informs that although the lineup for the KBR is slated to be Boy and Bear, his friend Roddy Lorimer will also be joining. “Lorimer is an enormously experienced musician who has toured with the likes of Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones and The Who,” he adds.
For Bear, it is not his first visit to Nepal either. He was here at the end of 2018, he informs, when he spent a month each in Kathmandu and Pokhara, playing with musicians everywhere he went. “The Nepalis were warm and welcoming and the music was of high standard,” he says. “I was keen on coming back and when I heard of the blues festival, I managed to get in touch with Satish and round up Boy and Roddy. The next thing I know, we had our tickets booked and were on our way.”
Satish Sthapit, the founder of KBR who co-organizes the event with his Newaz bandmate Roshan Kansakar, i n forms that final preparations are underway for one of the biggest events of the genre in the country. “We’re picking up slowly and anticipation is high this time,” Sthapit informs.
This year the event will feature local acts like Green Blues Black, winners of the Kathmandu Blues n’ Roots online music competition ; the Himalayan Connection; Spirit X; TMR Trio; Newaz and Kathmandu Catz; alongside the international acts.
