“Jab tak Suraj chand rahega, Dhoni sir ka naam rahega (As long as the sun and moon exist, Dhoni sir’s name will remain).” Ram Babu has been saying this for twenty years.
It was 11:37 on a chilly night in Dharamsala when Ram Babu met his “bhagwan” for the first time. Seven years he had been attending matches to get to this moment. “I touched his feet, he held my hand and hugged me,” Ram Babu recalled. “I didn’t sleep at all that night. I felt like meeting Dhoni sir again and again.”
From that night on, MS Dhoni began arranging match tickets for him.
Now, Ram Babu, like the rest of the CSK faithful is unsure if he will see his hero playing in yellow again. Injury and the need to keep a winning combination going saw Dhoni sit out of all CSK’s games this season. Post the loss to Gujarat Titans on Thursday, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said there would be clarity on Dhoni’s future only next year.
It was 11:37 on a chilly night in Dharamsala when Ram Babu met his “bhagwan” for the first time. Seven years he had been attending matches to get to this moment. (Special Arrangement)
“Bahut saal se tapasya hein hamara…bahut dukh hoga (After years of devotion, it will be sad if he does not play anymore),” Ram Babu said on Friday.
Ram Babu is from Mohali. He first saw Dhoni in 2004. It took three more years, three ICC trophies, and a nickname – Captain Cool – before something shifted. “He was so lucky for the Indian team,” Ram Babu said. “He has won three ICC trophies for India. I loved him with all my heart.”
He has been attending matches for over two decades now. Eleven months away from home every year. No steady job — a job would mean missed matches. “Sometimes I miss the deaths of my relatives,” he said. “I am jobless. I can’t do the job now. If I do a job, then I will not be able to watch the match. I have to leave a lot of things.” His mother never stopped asking. “Beta, what is this job? This is no job. You keep roaming around with the flag.” He kept roaming. “I feel very proud of it,” he said. “The whole of India knows me because of MS Dhoni’s name.”
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Pick any game, he says, and two constants appear: him and Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, the Sachin Tendulkar fan.
Friends helped for a while, but Ram Babu stopped asking after a point. The financial situation at home was not good either. He got into trains without tickets instead. “I was caught by the TTE many times,” he said. “I used to tell them my situation. If you want to put me in the cell, go ahead.” Most let him travel. “If someone tells something with honesty, and if it comes from the bottom of the heart, others will also accept it.”
He has been attending matches for over two decades now. Eleven months away from home every year. No steady job — a job would mean missed matches. (Special Arrangement)
Then came Bangladesh. The 2014 T20 World Cup. Ram Babu fell ill during the tournament – fever, dropping platelet count – but kept attending matches. He fell a few times in the stands. The team physio, Nitin Patel, prescribed medicines. It was not enough. Dhoni called Ram Babu to practice ahead of the semifinal against South Africa, looked at the reports and said: “Your condition is very bad.”
Ram Babu did not want to leave. India had not finished their campaign. He said he would manage the flag.
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Dhoni explained first. “You don’t have the strength to stand. So how will you watch the match? How will you wave a six-metre flag?” Ram Babu said he would manage. Then Dhoni asked him to show his passport. Ram Babu handed it over. Dhoni put it in his own pocket and told Ram Babu to leave.
The phone rang at four in the morning. “Take your passport and go. Your flight is booked. 8 a.m., Jet Airways. Directly from Dhaka to Chandigarh.”
Ram Babu left on the morning of the semifinal. A doctor in Chandigarh told him: “Say thanks to Dhoni sir. One or two more days and your condition would have been very bad.” Ram Babu has not forgotten. “That second life is thanks to Dhoni sir,” he said.
He has one promise for himself, for the day it finally ends — when Dhoni walks away from the IPL. “I will leave IPL too.” (Special Arrangement)
He is 40 now, though the years have a way of disappearing on him. “Patah hi nehi chale kaha chale gaye sare saal (I didn’t even realise where all the years went).” His friends still ask how he manages, how he keeps going. He also has friends from different cities who still help him travel across India. “There were times when I kept questioning how I would reach a certain place,” he said. “But eventually I went there. Ek jeevan kisko samarpith karna — Indian team ko dena (To dedicate one life — give it to the Indian team) … Bhagwan ne himmat diya hein ho jayega (God gave me the courage, it will happen).”
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He has one promise for himself, for the day it finally ends — when Dhoni walks away from the IPL. “I will leave IPL too.”
