2023-07-08 23:30:00
VeeA large unharvested paddock adjacent to the courtyard. It is four o’clock in the evening. Youngsters like Vineesh, Suneesh, Babu, Unnikrishnan, Rajneesh, Vineesh, Nidhish, Shaiju are ready in the field. They have cricket bats made of olam matal in their hands. Minnumani should come with you now. One of the group reached out and shouted. The answer came immediately. Minnumani came to the field with a bat made of coconut shell and a plastic ball. It is this old passion from years ago that brought the star Minnumani to the attention of the country.
When the Indian women’s cricket team for the 2020 series against Bangladesh was announced, Minnumani, a Malayali and a Wayanat girl, also got a place in the team. This is the first time a Malayali woman from Kerala has made it to the national team. Hard work and determination are the basic qualification of Tarodaya Minnumani. A collective prayer of a tribe in the group.
A childhood in poverty
Minnu’s mother, sister, father and mother
An ordinary forest dweller, CK, a laborer in the family home. Minnumani was born as the eldest daughter of Mani and housewife Vasantha. Minnu’s life journey through 24 long years of hunger and poverty has many stories to tell. Often there was no food in the house, and when he was young, his father used to buy even jackfruit and jackfruit seeds. The price was 50 paise for a seer of sugarcane seeds then. The family often went hungry after buying and eating it. Occasional wage work is the only source of income. Mani’s mother Sridevi collects firewood and sells it in the market and looks after her children. Mani also has the experience of going to Mananthavadi to buy household items for Onam because he did not have enough money.
Minnu and her sister Minita do not wear new clothes on many special days including Onam. The children of the neighborhood were dressed in new clothes and their eyes were filled with tears. But Minnu never once complained to his father. When he needs to buy something, he first asks if his father has money. Not often. Mani also says. Since the age of four, Minnu was a member of Edappadi Kalaksetram Ammankudam team. The small income received from it also kept the family away from hunger.
Elsamma teacher’s call
Minnu studied till class 4 in St. Martin’s LP School near home. From five to seven Mananthavadi Govt. UP school. 8th Class Mananthavadi Govt. In higher secondary school. 9th and 10th at Thodupuzha St. Sebastian High School. Plus One Plus Two Bathery Sarvajana Higher Secondary School. Degree from Thiruvananthapuram Women’s College. It was when Elsamma, a sports teacher, came to GVHS in the 8th standard that she got the call of cricket. Minnumani, who excelled in football, throwball and athletics, was asked by her teacher to be a member of the first women’s cricket team to be formed in the district. Minnu was already in the state team in throw ball. Shanawas, a cricket coach, discovered the real player in Minnumani. Elsamma teacher’s daughter and the then state women’s cricket team captain Anumol Baby competed for Kannur team and Ernakulam team despite being from Wayanad. It is for this reason that the demand for a team for Wayanad arose. Thus Wayanad also became a women’s cricket team. With that, Minnumani became a national star today.
Step by step progress
Minnu started with football, throwball and athletics. Girish Mash, who was the coach of Tirunelli Athletic Academy, was the first to recognize the athlete in Minnu Mani. At that time, Minnu was in the 4th standard – at St. Martin’s School. Girish was a sports teacher in the same school. Girish remembers that Minnu won first place in the Mananthavadi sub-district sub-junior category in 50m and 100m that day.
Teacher Elsamma says that Minnu came to practice for the first time wearing the jersey of Tirunelli Athletic Academy. It’s only uphill. Although initially unsuccessful in cricket matches for Wayanad, he later made a comeback. Minnu made his debut for the Kerala team at the age of sixteen. Minnu scored 246 runs and 12 wickets in eight games for Kerala in the women’s ODI cricket tournament last season. India was part of the A and B teams in the Challenger Trophy. Minnu, who came to Delhi Capitals for Rs 30 lakh in the first Women’s Premier League, was able to play only two games. Minnu was brought to the Indian team due to his all-round excellence with left-handed batting and right-handed spinning. He was trained at Thodupuzha KCA Cricket Academy when he was studying in ninth standard. Later he trained in Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad Krishnagiri. The Indian Blue team reached the State Challengers Trophy through excellence. Later in senior cricket, he played against South Region. So he became a member of the national team. Meanwhile, many awards have come to Minnu. Chief among these is KCA’s Women Cricketer of the Year.
Success beyond limitations
Today, we are witnessing the sight of world cricket opening up in front of Minnu, who wandered with the dream of cricket when he had no money even for the carriage fare. The people of Wayanad believe that there is still room for miracles in a land ruled by a forest resident first lady. Minnu’s journey was born in a traditional Chhathaya family and is a path to Parimati. When there was no money for food, the cricket training period was spent by taking food from home and cooking it.
Minnu’s rise in playing cricket with the boys and beating them is a role model for the entire tribe. Minnu reached this level by overcoming the tribal customs of the time when Bhrisht ordered girls to go out. We owe it to the youth of that country. Minnu lives in Kaipat Mavungkandi house in Edappadi Choimula near Mananthavadi. Sister Mimita Mananthavadi Govt. Got admission in first year B.Com in college. He lives on three lakhs of land that has been divided by the tribal property. A small house has been built with three lakhs of rupees given by the tribal department. Livelihood is dairy farmer income through two cows. The 2020 match will be held in Bangladesh on the 9th. Minnu’s family is eagerly waiting to see it on TV.
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