Once labelled a ‘burden’, this Kashmiri amputee lives life on his own terms
SRINAGAR: An accident at a saw mill left an eight-yearold Amir Hussain Lone without his arms. For three years after, he struggled in a hospital as he recovered. However, from a time when people suggested to his father that he “get rid of him”, Amir has become a pride for his family.
From south Kashmir’s Bijbehara, Amir not only managed to make his feet double as his hands, but even learnt to swim and play cricket. Now 26, he is the captain of Jammu and Kashmir’s para cricket team.
“After the accident, people told my father that I will become a burden on him. I thought, no, I will not let that happen and decided to fight,” says Amir. While he adopted his swimming style by imitating a duck, Amir practised to hold the bat between his chin and shoulder to hit the ball. Using the same two toes of his right foot with which he eats, writes and shaves, Amir delivers his “in and out-swings”.
“First I thought that he will have to be provided a lot of help, because, without arms, he won’t be able to do anything. But then he started to do everything by himself using his feet. And it was his amazing capacity to adapt and learn things without his arms,” said his father, Bashir Ahmad. “Immediately after the accident, people told me that he is of no use and that I should get rid of him. But I backed him all through this and even sold my agricultural land for his treatment,” said Bashir. Amir studied till college level, where a teacher discovered his cricketing talent and introduced him to para cricket.
For Amir things will never be easy. And he rues the government’s lack of industry in improving conditions for people like him. “The government is neither serious about the welfare of the disabled nor is it concerned about the promotion of para cricket in the state. Our para team is not provided with a coach. I teach my players myself,” he said, adding that he will continue with the sport.