Captain Deepika TC, leader of India’s blind women’s cricket team, lost her eyesight as a baby, but never her vision for life. In this exclusive conversation, she shares her journey from humble beginnings and early struggles to representing India on the world stage. A singer, cricket lover, and Virat Kohli fan, Deepika opens up about battling social prejudice, her family’s support, and breaking barriers for blind women athletes in India.
00:00It's a great honour for me to have with me today Dipika. She is the captain of India's
00:18blind women's cricket team and the international tournament for T20 women's cricket for the
00:24blind is going to start from tomorrow, that is 11th of November. Dipika, first of all,
00:28thank you so much for speaking with Aishanet News. How is the preparation? Do you think
00:32that India is going to win tomorrow? It's a match between India and Sri Lanka.
00:36Yes ma'am. It's very good. Our team is good. Everyone is all-rounder players. We started
00:48practice in one month. It's very good. Definitely, the match has been prepared.
00:56Okay. Dipika, I was reading about you and I got to know that you are from Tumkur in Karnataka and you partially lost your vision when you were only 5 months old. Can you talk to me about what exactly happened? How did you lose your vision partially?
01:12I was told by the 5 months ago and I was Professor and I was injured in the week of the year.
01:18After that, my mama joined the doctor in Bangalore. But then he told me that after 11 years we can go to this case.
01:30But now we have to spread a lot of problems, so we will not have an operation.
01:39We have to take the first year and we have to do an operation.
01:42Then we have a lot of financial problems in our family.
01:48Now we have to take our parents.
01:53I was to take my parents back to the first year to take the first year.
02:01Now they have to take their attention.
02:04And then they are not like that.
02:07I do not know how to take their attention to the first year.
02:11But I was totally upset.
02:14But I have understood them, some people don't see anything in society,
02:23I have one eye to see them, and I am happy to be with them.
02:27You are in B3 category, so you have a little partial vision.
02:31Yes, yes, yes.
02:33This is a good thing.
02:36Initially, I think agriculture was the sole primary income,
02:40and now you are working at the Office of Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Mumbai,
02:45as a multi-tasking staff, if I am not wrong.
02:48Yes, I have a lot of money, but after I joined,
02:52I have a lot of financial help.
02:54But now, my father is a different place to work,
03:00and my father and my mother.
03:02And I can get money, and I can get a whole family.
03:06But now, it was very difficult for us to eat food.
03:12At one time, we are very happy to eat food.
03:17Especially when we get rice, we are a brother.
03:20We will eat food and eat food.
03:23And now, after Cricket joining us,
03:28Cabi, Samarthanam, Indecent Bank,
03:31they have helped us.
03:33We have a lot of problems in our family.
03:39Samarthanam, they have a lot of help.
03:42They have a lot of help.
03:44They have a lot of help.
03:46I have a lot of thank you.
03:50So, Samarthanam trust, you have a lot of help financially.
03:54I was also reading that your inspiration is Virat Kohli.
03:59Your favorite cricketer is Virat Kohli.
04:01So, was that a factor why you got into Cricket?
04:05I play in school.
04:09Now, I always say that.
04:11I stay on the ground,
04:13I stay on the ground,
04:14I stay on the ground,
04:16I stay on the ground,
04:17I stay on the ground,
04:18if your attitude is aggressive,
04:20running through theile and I follow the letters.
04:22Therefore, my manager,
04:24commercial,
04:26harem,
04:26they tell them,
04:27if you follow,
04:29Art Biennale?
04:30It asks people I me.
04:35I truly enjoy Virat Kohli.
04:39Mexico has had a wonderful family challenge in your family.
04:43You filled peanutorder treatment with your family and mother.
04:47If you talk about society, what do you have to face?
04:52In society, we especially look at the girls
04:57But what do they do?
05:00How do they do it?
05:02They have a question mark
05:03But especially in blind school
05:06But in my family
05:08I studied in 1-4th normal school
05:12I studied in 4-10th blind school
05:16When I joined in blind school
05:20We all talk about it
05:22I joined in blind school
05:24How do they study?
05:26How do they do it?
05:28This is a question mark
05:30I get a scribe for the board exam
05:36I get a scribe for the 10th exam
05:40I ask them in my family
05:42How did that pass?
05:45I did not know that
05:46I did not know that
05:47I was reading the scribe for the exam
05:49But I also passed this
05:52But after that
05:54I won the IBAC World Game
05:55In 2023
05:56I won the gold medal in 2023
05:57I won the gold medal in 2023
05:59I won the gold medal in 2023
06:00I was reading the gold medal in 2023
06:02But after that
06:03I won the gold medal in 2023
06:04The whole newspaper and social media spread a little bit.
06:09After that, I told my father and mother to say that my son did something, but he did something good.
06:18He also encouraged me to encourage me.
06:21My mother, especially my mother, asked me, why are you going?
06:25How are you going? How are you playing? Don't do anything at all.
06:28When I first went to cricket, I helped me a lot to understand, but it was a whole family, a whole village, so I had time for them to understand and encourage me a lot.
06:49I think there are questions that people ask, how do you go to school?
06:53The lack of awareness is to see how much we are aware of our society.
06:58That's when we ask questions.
07:00Deepika, you are also captain of the team.
07:03How do you bond your team ahead of these cricket matches?
07:11I tell that I'm proud of my team.
07:17Yes, but we were very good players in our team.
07:21We were all-rounders.
07:23We were all senior players.
07:27We were all national and state captains.
07:33But I doubt that they would go and ask them.
07:39But I couldn't take this decision.
07:42After that, they asked me to take this decision.
07:45But after that, I could take this decision.
07:49I really am proud of my team.
07:51I support my team.
07:52Right.
07:53So, communication is good in the team.
07:54Deepika, now we have seen that the national women's team clinched the victory in World Cup ODI.
08:08And the manager told us yesterday that you guys have been following the cricket religiously.
08:14You were following the cricket matches.
08:16You were following the cricket matches.
08:17You were following the cricket matches.
08:18So, they also share you.
08:20First of all, how do you feel about the World Cup win?
08:23And what do you feel?
08:24Can you manifest that you are also in the same place?
08:26And what are you taking the World Cup?
08:28Definitely, ma'am.
08:30Our head is one of them.
08:33Yes, they have won the women's team already.
08:37We will definitely win the match.
08:40I don't know what happens.
08:43How do you feel about it?
08:45I always say, with my team,
08:49I always say,
08:51Think about your country.
08:53Think about your mom and dad.
08:57We will play well.
08:59Definitely, I will give the name of Baarat.
09:02We will win the match.
09:04There are a lot of visually impaired girls and women
09:07who have a dream to get into sports,
09:09to involve themselves,
09:11to be active in their social lives.
09:13So, how do you feel about that message?
09:15Because from a very early age,
09:17when you were only 5 months old,
09:19you have faced these challenges.
09:20So, what do you feel about that message?
09:22Is there a lot of teachers?
09:23Yes, you are.
09:24What do you feel about it?
09:25I don't know.
09:26It is different from being a teacher.
09:27But, it is different than normal people
09:28as a parent.
09:29But, especially visually impaired people.
09:32You are not seeing them.
09:33But, it is different from being a teacher.
09:34You are not seeing them.
09:35You are not seeing them.
09:36You are not seeing them.
09:37This is, this is what parents think,
09:38that is, this is what parents do.
09:39This is what parents do.
09:40Don't do it.
09:41Don't do it.
09:42They have to do it.
09:43How do we get into sports, dance, and singing?
09:47How do we get into sports and dance?
09:51We will definitely reach the goal.
09:59Including in the example.
10:03But my dad and mom said to me,
10:09You are also a good singer.
10:11And we are also a good singer and the famous singer.
10:13Okay.
10:15In a song.
10:21beautiful i i mean i can't believe uh your voice is so melodious uh debika you are you
10:48also like football any particular team or any player that is your favorite
10:57i don't know i just follow a lot of me like vratkuli roi sharma ms dhoni and
11:04women's team in america smithi mandana okay last question uh government of india
11:11so it will be more beneficial for the players to train uh to avail those facilities so
11:23what request from the government of india what more they can do to help you guys
11:28my way to my government can request them to help us to practice but
11:38we have three or four world cups and they don't have a job
11:45so i don't want to say anything about them but if they give a job they can
11:52We can work with our families. I request that too.
11:58We also support normal cricket players.
12:03I request that too.
12:07Thank you so much Dipika.
12:09I wish you all the best for tomorrow's match.
12:12And hope that you guys will win the World Cup all together.
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