Specially-abled Cricketer Raja Babu Left With No Choice But To Drive e-Rickshaw To Make Ends Meet

Thanks to inflation and fewer job opportunities, people with talent and knowledge have to resort to jobs that they are not meant to and it is heartbreaking.

A specially-abled cricketer has to drive an e-rickshaw to make ends meet

A specially-abled cricketer, Raja Babu scored a 20-ball 67 for Uttar Pradesh in a national-level tournament against Delhi in 2017 and is now driving an e-rickshaw. He is also selling milk in Ghaziabad just to make ends meet.

The half-century was known as 'Hausalon ki Udaan' in Meerut. Babu received a lot of praise for this accomplishment and received the promise of getting rewarded through the sport.

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According to Economic Times, a local businessman even came forward and gifted the cricketer an e-rickshaw, which Raja is using now to survive. Sadly, the Covid-19 pandemic wrecked Raja's cricket career. The Divyang Cricket Association (DCA), a charitable organisation which supported specially-abled cricketers in the state could not support people like Raja due to a money crunch.

"It really broke our back. For the first few months, I sold milk on the streets of Ghaziabad and drove an e-rickshaw. The rest of my teammates used to work as delivery agents and waiters at 'Disabled Dhaba' in Meerut during that time. It (DCA) was opened by Amit Sharma, the founder and coach of Dhaba Association," Raja was quoted as saying in Navbharat Times.

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31-year-old Raja is now driving his e-rickshaw 10-12 hours a day and he barely earns Rs 200-300 per day. He supports his family of four including wife Nidhi (27) and children -- Krishna (7) and Shaanvi (4).

"I ply the e-rickshaw between Baharampur and Vijay Nagar for about 10 hours a day so that I can earn only Rs 250-300. I can barely meet the household expenses and there is nothing left for the education of my children. There are hardly any employment opportunities for the differently-abled," adds Raja.

He is optimistic for the future

Even though things look grim for Raja now, he is optimistic about the future. "In 1997, while returning home from school, I lost my left leg in a train accident. At that time my father was a Grade IV employee in the Railways and was posted in Panki, Kanpur. After the accident, my studies came to a halt as the family could not pay the school fees. The accident changed my life but I did not stop dreaming," says Raja.

In 2016, he received numerous honours in UP and Gujarat. he was named "man of the match" in a competition on a nationwide scale. He was also honoured by the Bihar government in the same year.

Hope things out better for him.

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