These Kerala Youngsters Used Cricket to Help a Friend’s Father Who Had Cancer

How far would you go for friendship? We live in a world which is largely driven by self-centred and venal interests, and it is quite hard to find instances where people have come together to ease a friend’s predicament.

However, a group of young men from Kottayam proved that true friends always come to help in the time of need, when they came forward with a novel campaign to raise money for their friend’s father and managed to amass a total of ₹33,000.

When 54-year-old Raveendra Menon was diagnosed with cancer, his son Aneesh didn’t know how he would manage to find the finances to support the expensive medical treatment, with the income that he made through a catering unit.

When Aneesh’s friends came to know of his predicament, the Puthanangadi Smrithi Arts and Sports Club, of which Aneesh is a member, decided to step in.

They came up with the plan of organising a cricket tournament and utilise the money raised through the sporting event, for Raveendra’s treatment, reports Mathrubhumi, a local Malayalam daily.

Aneesh Rajan, the president of the club, along with fellow members Ajith Rajan, Jilo and Vineeth, took up the leadership of the entire event. Teaming up with Kottayam Chinmaya Cricket Club, they conducted the tournament at Nagambadam Nehru stadium, which saw 28 teams battling it out through 27 matches with six overs each.

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Besides collecting an adequate amount for Aneesh’s father, the tournament organisers were also able to give away a cash prize of ₹44,444 and the Rajeev Memorial Ever Rolling Trophy to the winning team, Kottayam Cobra.

It wasn’t just the sports club that rose to the occasion. Inspired by the initiative, even the Kottayam municipality collected only ₹4,000 as rent for organising the novel tournament in the stadium.

Thanks to the timely, humanitarian intervention by Aneesh’s friends, his father is now receiving treatment at Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) in Thiruvananthapuram.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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