Ravichandran Ashwin urges Tamillians to learn Hindi, says they will ‘blossom’ if they change mindset

Chennai: The people of Tamil Nadu would “blossom” if they stopped saying ‘Hindi theriyathu poda (don’t know Hindi, go away)’ and realised that it will be difficult if they don’t learn Hindi a bit, cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has said.

In a conversation with a Tamil Youtube Channel, Sports Vikatan, the Indian spinner also shared that cricketers from north Indian states look at him as if he is “Einstein” because of his fluency in English.

Ashwin has just released his book — ‘I Have the Streets: A Kutty Cricket Story’ — penned by him, along with cricket writer Siddharth Monga, where he has shared stories from his early days as a cricketer to entering the World Cup squad, and his relationship with M.S. Dhoni.

Responding to a question about how he felt during his early days travelling out of town and meeting players from different states with no understanding of Hindi, Ashwin shared that it’s difficult for Tamilians to navigate life outside the state without knowing the language, and that his friend and former cricketer Anirudha Srikkanth would comfort him back then.

“He is just like his father (K. Srikkanth). He would comfort me saying… Hey, let him be, he always talks in Hindi,” Ashwin said, adding that he would manage to have a good time, despite his lack of understanding of the Hindi language.

He recalled an incident during an Under-14 camp at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, where one of his colleagues could not understand “main khelunga (I will play)”.

“We were all in a single room, and there was a power cut. So, everyone was sharing inspirational stories about various cricketers. One of the players shared a story about Sachin (Tendulkar) playing a match in Pakistan. Imran Khan bowled his ball and it hit his (Sachin) nose, and it started bleeding. Somebody went near Sachin and said, ‘Come, let’s go out.’ But Sachin replied, ‘Main khelunga.’ It was a goosebump moment,” Ashwin narrated.

He went on, ”After two mins, one of the boys came to me and asked what was ‘main khelunga’. He asked me if it was something like a McDonald’s burger.”

Recounting another incident from the time when he was attending the Under-17 camp, the spinner said, “They were all Hindi-speaking and I was speaking only English. They looked at me as if I was Einstein. First of all, If I were Einstein, they would not allow me inside at all. It took me 15 years to realise that they would not let me in because of it. I don’t want another person to take that long and that’s why I have written this book.”

Ashwin also spoke about his relationship with former Indian captain M.S. Dhoni.

“Until 2008, Dhoni did not even know that I existed. That had been my goal since then. I wanted to get his wicket to make him look at me,” Ashwin said.

He also recalled how he found out about his selection in the World Cup squad before the official announcement.

“I found a Facebook account named M.S. Dhoni, and texted ‘Hi’. He responded and I asked him if it was his original account. He then asked me, “What do you want?”, which confirmed that it was his original account,” the Indian bowler said. “At the time, I was looking for an opportunity to be picked for the World Cup team. In the chat, he just said, ‘Get ready for the World Cup’. I did not know how to react or whom to share the news with.”

(Edited by Mannat Chugh)