Supporting his daughters’ ambitions
A man stayed throughout the practice, to take care of his kids
While reporting on a story about baseball in Gurugram, a man dressed in a kurta and pyjama, and adorning a cap repeatedly caught my attention. He always seemed to be there — at the periphery of the ground during practice sessions, at the stands during a tournament, at the school gate during sunset. He was just always there. I learnt that his name was Jitender Singh Yadav, and he was father to three girls practising there.
There were few parents who attended the practices, and none who were there every single day. It made me curious about Yadav and what brought him here every day. Later, I learnt that Yadav’s daughters — Ritu, Priya and Gita are some of the best baseball players in the school. While Ritu and Gita are part of the state baseball team, Priya, 20, is the eldest and a baseball coach training the girls.
These girls were not just baseball champions, and had represented the country in many taekwondo championships and won many titles. When I asked Yadav about his daughters, his face lit up. “They make me proud. People know me as their father now, what more can I ask for?”
Yadav, a resident of Wazirabad village, accompanies his daughters to all their tournaments. He said he introduced his daughters to Taekwondo in 2011 when he saw a man practising at the Ardee city park. He wanted them to be familiar with a sport, but, more importantly, be adept at self-defence. As his daughters began to excel, Yadav had to devote more time to them, their tournaments and training. By 2013, the girls were a part of many international and national tournaments. Yadav, formerly a small-time trader of second-hand vehicles and furniture, left it all behind and devoted his energy to his children’s growth and success.
“I want my daughters to excel, achieve all their dreams and have a life and opportunities that we could never have or give them,” he said.
But if the promise of a better life for his daughters is what motivates him to be their backbone and mentor, adversities and resistance endured in the past and possible in the future worry him too.
‘Ladkiyon ke piche itna kyun bhaag rahi ho, woh toh paraye ghar ki hain’ is a statement, Yadav said, he has heard ever so often when he left his trade to support his daughters in their career. But the jibes eventually stopped, when the naysayers saw his resolve. But it is the future that worries him now. Their savings are nearly dry, and he worries about his ageing father.
But he is back to his jovial self soon and said he hopes baseball will be his daughters’ ticket to a better future. And that hope and resolve is what brings him there everyday, unerringly.