BHUBANESWAR: It was an unusual Monday for Bhubaneswar-based mountaineer, Nilachala Parida. Little did he know that even social media can bring him a pleasant surprise or ‘a dream-come-true moment.’ Twitter users kept tagging his account to a post shared by South African cricketer, Chris Morris. And, the post left him both confused and shocked. The official Twitter handle of Morris was rechristened as ‘Nilachala Parida.’ “Why would Chris Morris use my name?” — that’s what troubled his mind. He then realised that it wasn’t a parody account. Morris, who is playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2020, had indeed used Nilachala’s name.
The post, which was clipped to a photograph of the cricketer’s jersey bearing Nilachala’s name, read: “Nilachal Parida set up a vegetable shack during lockdown and offered free delivery to senior citizens. Saluting Nilachal’s spirit, I’ll be wearing a jersey dedicated to him and all such challengers!.”
Over the next couple of minutes, the mountaineer — who had turned to vegetable vending for supporting his family and contributing towards Covid relief funds since April, connected the dots from the past. “I remembered the news report in this daily on May 3 on my effort of raising funds for Covid. A month ago, officials from RCB had called me and enquired about my work,” he said. As part of a campaign to honour Covid heroes, RCB selected Nilachala from Odisha. So far, he managed to save Rs10,000 for the donation. “I’m planning to approach the Sports and Youth Services Department of Odisha Government to hand over fund next month.”APG Shimla University had approached him.