The air-conditioning in the Airbus from Delhi to Patna all but gave up its losing battle against the sweltering sun on Sunday. A hot gust of wind greeted us at the Jayaprakash Narayan Airport in Patna, and things got no better on board the crj200 that ferried us to Ranchi. "Wait till we get to Ranchi. I am sure we will have better weather," Mahendar Singh Dhoni reassured the Outlook team, as we sweated it out in the departure lounge. Sure enough, moments after Ranchi’s most famous son landed at Birsa Munda Airport for his short break at home before heading to the West Indies with Team India, the state capital was drenched by showers and a cool breeze blew across the city.
The mention of Ranchi brought a twinkle in the eyes of the 24-year-old who has enthralled cricket fans and countless others with his simple approach to batsmanship, his leonine mane, stylish swagger, and warm, intelligent personality. Dhoni might be from India’s hinterland, but he’s no hick from the sticks. "I was born and brought up in Jharkhand. When people ask me where I hail from I tell them that though my parents are from Almora (in Uttaranchal), I belong to Ranchi," he says. His attachment to Jharkhand is reiterated when he says: "Whatever I do will first be in Jharkhand. We are in the early stages of planning an academy for cricket and other sports so that these will flourish at the grassroots level." And he’s going to be cautious about the causes he supports. "I don’t want to associate myself with a charity or a firm unless I’m sure of its credibility and intentions," he declares.
Dhoni may have grown up in a city from where women hockey players, rather than cricketers, have made it to the international stage, but he didn’t feel the absence of a local role model—he grew up idolising Sachin Tendulkar, to the point that he would switch off the TV whenever the little big man of Indian cricket was dismissed.
The next morning, the birds were still chirping and it was not even 7 am when teenagers Harsh Chauhan, Chetan Midha and Manjit Singh gathered at the gates of the Dhoni residence in Shyamli Colony, in the hope of catching some stardust. The most enterprising of the trio, Manjit Singh, even tried talking his way into the house but had to retreat when told that the star hadn’t returned home from spending the night at his sister’s home. Their patience was rewarded when their hero finally arrived on a gleaming red bike. And their day was made when he signed autographs for them and posed with them for some photos.
Dhoni owns two SUVs but his real passion is reserved for his powerful bikes. "One of the senior players used to come on a powerful bike to train us in school. I loved the sound of theRD350. I guess I was hooked when I was about 13 or 14. I wanted one of my own," Dhoni says. "I bought my first bike when I was 18. I now have four motorcyles and am getting two more soon, including a dirt bike." The 24-year-old prefers to take his bikes out early in the morning when the roads are fairly free of traffic. His passion for powerful bikes has caused his team mates some concern, but Dhoni insists he is never rash: "I don’t overspeed. On two or three occasions in the recent home series, when one of our players won aTVS bike as man of the match, I rode the bike right into the dressing room—it was so much fun for the team to see a bike enter the dressing room!"
As we follow him into his modest but well-appointed home, we notice that the garage has been extended to stable the suvs and the clutch of bikes that he owns. The neat lawn, with its colourful flower-beds is the result of the green fingers of his father Pan Singh, who retired from construction companyMECON as Works Supervisor. The large LCD TV he won as man of the match in Lahore has pride of place in the drawing room together with trophies and mementos. It is a comfortable, homely room—the sofas have cloth covers so that the family’s dogs Sam and Zara, too, can get up on them.
Dhoni has no plans to move from Ranchi to a bigger, more conveniently located city. "I may have lost my privacy here but I love Ranchi and I see no reason to leave it."
It is this down-to-earth attitude that has helped Dhoni keep his head despite the influx of money in the last year. "Being from a middle-class family helps because one understands the importance of money," he says. "My manager advises me with investments and I have recently identified a chartered accountant too to help me make investments. I always remember that the money has come because of cricket, and that is what I stay focused on."
Dhoni has spent the past fortnight concentrating on his corporate commitments, shooting commercials and making appearances. "My commitment to corporates who think I can be the perfect fit for their brands because of what I have done in the last year, has to be 100 per cent. If I can handle this as well as I play my cricket, I think I will be a complete man." His manager, Gameplan’sCEO Jeet Banerjee, says corporates like Dhoni primarily because of the way he plays his cricket."They are also attracted to him because he is an original. He came in with his famous long hair and swagger and none of this was part of any packaging exercise. He is what he is and there is no pretension about him." He also points out that the young star could quite easily have been carried away by the adulation he has got. "Yet, he remains the same fun-loving guy he was before he became a star. He has become more confident while dealing with all the attention he gets, especially while handling the media. He is extremely intelligent, articulate and sensible, which is why he has tried to improve himself—both as a cricketer and as a human being."
Dhoni himself admits that fame has affected the way he now has to live his life. "People recognise me everywhere now. Not just in Ranchi, but in places like Kochi as well. One of the major things that bothers me is the fact that I have lost my privacy. I can’t do things that I used to even a year ago. People see you as an icon and you have to be careful with whatever you are saying. You have to make a good assessment and then only make a statement."
Two recent incidents reflect the man’s concern for his image. Last month, it had been widely announced in Ranchi that he would lend his shoulder to the School Chalo Abhiyan, and then a local newspaper got the district administration to say that Dhoni had played truant. One of the first things that he did on returning home to Ranchi was to try and correct that impression. "I hadn’t even been told about the programme and I stayed back in Mumbai after the Abu Dhabi series."
The other event reveals his growing maturity. Even as Outlook was completing its interview with Dhoni, a couple of newly-elected officials of the Jharkhand Football Association approached him with a request to address a press conference in support of soccer. The manner in which he advised them patiently, promising them support at the grassroots level but only after they came up with a well-conceived plan, was admirable.
At Dhoni’s home, the phone and the doorbell ring constantly. As their younger son flies high, embracing stardom as if he were born into it, and yet rooted on terra firma, his simple but unassuming parents Devki Devi and Pan Singh, too, are learning to cope with the loss of privacy.
G. Rajaraman in Ranchi
