Located on the outskirts of the Capital or what is referred to as Outer Delhi, Shahbad Dairy is notorious for cases of abduction, sexual assault and substance abuse.
As many as 107 kids went missing in the area in 2016. Many girls here don¡¯t eat meals after 3pm because they are scared of the walk to the communal toilets. But Shahbad Dairy¡¯s first all-girls cricket team may be the first step to change.
While playing cricket may not seem like a big deal, in Shahbad Dairy it is as revolutionary a step as any. The team¡¯s star player is a 17-year-old, who introduces herself simply as Kavita ¡®Captain¡¯.
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¡°Dairy has always had a difficult atmosphere. You don¡¯t see that many girls out on the streets. Even when they go out, boys harass them,¡± she says. Captain was selected for the under-19 Delhi team last September and has since travelled across the nation.
While kho-kho or the occasional game of kabaddi was considered permissible, girls did not play cricket in Shahbad Dairy. Then a few years ago, a local NGO Saksham introduced extra-curricular activities for girls, cricket being one of them.
What started as a group of three has today grown to 75 young women passionately practising and perfecting the game. Saksham¡¯s founder Sant Lal says, ¡°Every Indian child has cricket in their veins and we wanted our girls to have the opportunity to explore that.¡±
Sisters Kavita, Chanchal, and Champa Mahesh start their day at 2am so they can fulfill their household duties. They cook and clean before heading out for their morning run with the team at 4am. ¡°We collect each member of the team from their house and go for our morning run together.
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We wait for Sant Lal sir and he takes us to the park. It isn¡¯t safe enough for us to go alone,¡± says Kavita Mahesh, 23. After school, they cook again before running off for practice.
While there is resistance against the girls playing a ¡°boys¡¯ sport¡±, their families have come around to it. Geeta Devi, the mother of the three cricketing sisters, says, ¡°When they started playing cricket, I did feel scared. We live in an area where every day you hear about a rape or molestation. But I had to get used to it. They need to live their lives.¡±
The team is now the subject of a short documentary, A Sticky Wicket. Filmmakers Yasmin and Fazal Kidwai spent seven months following the girls, and recording their triumphs and struggles.
¡°They were given this opportunity to play and it¡¯s amazing to see how they have grabbed it with both hands. Being in a team where they have each other¡¯s backs has empowered them both physically and mentally,¡± says Yasmin Kidwai.
The girls¡¯ love of the sport is visible onscreen and off. Cricket has changed the way they see themselves. Captain says, ¡°The thing I love about sportspersons is that they don¡¯t walk with trepidation. They walk with confidence so that the person in front of you knows that you have the courage and strength to fight. I believe in myself now. I¡¯m not scared of walking around anymore.¡±
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Chanchal, 20, recalls an incident when six of them were walking home from practice. Around 10 boys started following them. ¡°We shouted at them to stop. At this point, one of the boys slapped me and then we beat him up. The rest of them backed off,¡± says Chanchal.
Sant Lal says players like Captain have become an inspiration for the young girls of Dairy, ¡°making them feel like their dreams could become reality¡±.
Kavita adds, ¡°We don¡¯t just play cricket for ourselves. We play for the girls who can¡¯t leave their homes, who have been married off early, who have been raped and kidnapped. We want them to raise their voices, like we raise ours through cricket.¡±