PUTTING THE WILL IN WILLOW

Amir Hussain Lone lost both arms in an accident at eight, but that couldn’t stop him from becoming captain of Jammu and Kashmir’s para-cricket team

- TARIQ BHAT

Just before the Sangam bridge over the Jhelum in Anantnag, 40km from Srinagar, there is a path to the left. Drive on it for 10km and you reach Waghama, a village of cattle rearers and apple growers not found in travel guides or geography books. Yet, from the narrow lanes and old houses has emerged a story that has not only lit up social media, but grabbed the attention of Sachin Tendulkar.

Amir Hussain Lone, a cricketer with no arms, first found fleeting fame in 2016, when then India captain Virat Kohli tweeted about him, and Tendulkar sent him a bat as his token of appreciation. It took Amir another eight years to meet his idol in the flesh, but patience and grit have been his strongest allies in life.

Born to Bashir Ahmed Lone and Raja Begum, Amir is the second of four siblings. One day, when he was eight, his mother sent him off to the family workshop with lunch for his older brother. Amir, wearing a new jacket his father had brought him from a trip to Delhi, handed over the lunchbox and began playing near the bandsaw there. “My jacket got caught in the machinery, swiftly pulling me in and severing both my arms,” recalled the 34-year-old. They did not have a vehicle and sought help from the local Army camp. A car was called, but the driver, despite the family’s pleas, dropped them off at the highway and refused to go further. The Army personnel stepped in and drove them to hospital. The stay there was long, and cost a lot. Amir’s father sold the bandsaw and some land, all the while fielding questions from nosy villagers about the need to spend so much on a “disabled boy”.