ICC World Twenty20: Dhoni's stand man

MOHALI: Ram Rabu, all of 30, has been busy at work – following his idol MS Dhoni to all parts of the world. He met Dhoni seven years ago on a cold wintery January night in Dharamshala after braving the freezing winds deep into the evening before Dhoni walked out of the stadium and decided to lend him an ear. After enquiring about his life, Dhoni told him to wear at least a T-shirt in the biting cold instead of the bare-chested body paint he had on himself “only for Dhoni.”

“Life changed after that night and here I am cheering for Bharat desh and Team India,” Ram Babu tells you amid a huff and puff. Though not as powerful as the diminutive and more famous Sachin fan who has been media’s kodak moment for quite sometime now and in all parts of the world, Ram Babu is fast catching up with Dhoni fables and travelogues all his own.

Though he could not make it to the front stands in stadiums during the 2011 World Cup matches “as I had to buy my own tickets in black most of the time”, he has been the Indian skipper’s special guest at Asia Cup and most bilateral series at home. He could not make it to Australia as “Dhoni sir had already left for Australia before I could reach his home in Ranchi to get a letter from him required for a visa,” he says.

Not that all this adulation is going down well with the family whose only son has no time for work and no intentions of ever having a regular job. “Cheering for my nation is my regular job. When there is no cricket happening, I do part-time jobs like driving an auto etc to keep the family going,” Ram Babu tells you. His mother’s last ditch attempt to bring him in line was to marry him off but then too he managed to “have a settlement with my wife” that whenever there’s cricket, he will be in the stands.

Dhoni, he says, has been extra kind to him. “I had dengue in Dhaka during the Asia Cup and when Dhoni sir came to know about it, he not only referred me to the best doctor but also arranged for me to return to India for treatment,” he says with pride. Though passes for matches are no longer a problem now that he is on the skipper’s complimentary diary, Ram Babu has been making do with meagre funds to travel and stay in cities where Team India has travelled in this World Cup.

“At Nagpur, I spent the night on the terrace of a juice seller near the stadium. At Mohali, I stay at home because I live here. In Kokata, I spent the night at the Railway Station and I do so wherever I don’t get accommodation,” he tells you.

Babu was a fast bowler and a middle order Mohali batsmen during his younger days but could not sustain playing cricket as “sport needs a lot of money and pull which I did not have.” But that has not deterred him from being with cricket as closely as he can  and he does not mind that there are more famous Dhoni fans than him, like the London-based Basheer from Pakistan, the yellow paint guy from Chennai and now him.

But this is the autumn of Dhoni’s career so what will he do after his icon retires? “I will keep cheering for Team India, not for any other player” says  Babu who has — for this tournament, sported a zigzag hairdo with an India map carved out in is hair on the left temple and an India Tattoo with MSD in the middle on the other. Tell him Dhoni never wore this style and he is quick to reply. “Earlier I used to sport his long-locks style but since he cut his hair, I make my own designs to suit the occasion.”

And, by the way, this fella has no charm for IPL and follows no team, not even the erstwhile Chennai Super Kings. “I am Team India and that’s the way I will stay,” he says, signing off with a flourish. 

Source: The Pioneer, March 27, 2016