India's most promising cricketer Suresh Raina had a childhood story that would send chills down your spine. He suffered from excessive bullying and torture, so much so that he even contemplated suicide at one point of his life.
This is the reason why Raina prefers to sleep on the floor and not on a bed, says the report published in India's leading national daily.
Raina grew up in a Sports Hostel in Lucknow far from home, where every day had it's own challenges and the atrocities he faced as a teenager would give you goosebumps.
Growing up in a UP Sports hostel
During one such instance, Raina was travelling on a train and as he had no reservation he was sleeping on a newspaper between berths, a practice which is very common up North even today.
Suddenly he felt "a weight on his chest and even before he could open his eyes, his hands were pinned down. A big kid was on his chest, and had started urinating on his face", says the report.
However, after a tussle Raina pushed the bully off the train “ek ghoosa maara, and threw him off the train”. Suresh was 13 at that time.
Needless to say, the other boys in the hostel were jealous of Raina as he was getting the attention from cricket coaches, which meant that he would go far ahead in life.
“They were there to get certificate from the hostel. Spend four years, take certificate and get a job in Railways or wherever in sports quota.” Soon, it got worse. Trash would be thrown into milk buckets. “We used to use a chunni (worn like a long scarf) to filter and drink,” he said.
Bucket of cold water would be splashed at 3 am on a bone-chilling winter night. “You just wanted to get up and beat them but you know if you hit one, five will jump on you. Kya Karen,” Suresh said.
The bullying was not verbal only and there were times when Raina was hit with hockey sticks. Raina recalls a batchmate was so shell-shocked that he went into a coma-like state. Another was so terrified that he will be hit, that he was about to jump off the dormitory floor.
“Niraj, a friend, and I managed to stop him and told him, ‘what are you doing? Sabko marwa dega tu. Sab kuch band ho jayega. Students would come from Pratapgarh, Raebareli, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh — athletes revolver rakh ke sote tey. How could I show anger, they might just hit me or shoot me, Khatam sab.”
Read on to know more about Suresh Raina's journey from Lucknow to the IPL!
Finally, he quit the hostel only to return with a new resolve. To channelise his anger in a positive way.
There's been no looking back since then
A call came from Mumbai to play for Air India and his life changed forever! “UP mey rehta toh bas khatam ho jaata, chote mote games khelte hue,” he said in the report.
In 1999, Raina got a scholarship with Air India that paid him Rs 10,000. “I would send 8,000 to my family. A STD call to home would cost four rupees, and as soon as two minutes would end, I would keep the phone down. All that taught me the value of money,” Suresh recalls.
IPL was another turning point
The IPL was another turning point in Suresh’s life. In April 2015, Suresh married Priyanka Chaudhary, an IT professional in a bank in Amsterdam.
“Marriage has brought stability and responsibility. I just used to play and go away. Now I look at the contracts more carefully. How I can utilise time better, plan for future. We might have a kid in the future, and you know about cricketer’s life. Lagta hai kaam bahut jyaada hai, time bahut kam hai. (It seems like there is lot of work, and time is very less)," he said in that report.
Priyanka and Suresh recently became parents to a healthy baby girl and have named her Gracia.
From being beaten up with hockey sticks and bullied around in the hostel days, Raina's exceptional story should be an inspiration to many kids who want to make a career in sports, but give up due to the uneventful circumstances.
“God has been kind. I have earned respect with my hard work; no can take that away from me. Logon ka kya hai, jitna bhi karo, khush nahi honge (How much ever you do, some people won’t be happy). I just want my parents, my wife to be happy. That’s it,” he says.
The excerpts of this story have been picked from this post.
If you have any insights, questions or comments regarding the article, please share them in our Comment box below. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Google+ and Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest from theIndusparent.com
[Image courtesy: Twitter and Google]
