RANCHI: "Hume nahi milenge toh, kis ko milenge (If he doesn't meet us, who else is he going to meet)," quips a cab driver to the most obvious question he must have heard from almost every outsider who has visited Ranchi. The question, obviously, was about the son of the soil — MS Dhoni. In Ranchi, everyone you meet has their own Dhoni story — from cab drivers to auto drivers to budding cricketers to the general public. The aforementioned cab driver claims to have met the former India captain and the Chennai Super Kings skipper during some late night bike rides. Then there are the limited edition cars with the name of his biopic — MS Dhoni, the untold story — on it.
Meanwhile, Paramjit Singh — among the very few to actually know Dhoni personally for almost three decades — reveals very little. "He is the same as he was when I first knew him in 1993-94," he says with a smile as he invites us into his sports equipment shop Prime Sports. It is not just Dhoni though, Paramjit and Prime Sports remain the same as well. After all these years, people still come in wanting to hear and know about the demigod figure of Indian cricket, and Paramjit is happy to interact with them. He greets them with warmth and a chai (tea), shares stories of the past, and shows the bats and the newspaper clippings he had framed from the India A tour to Kenya in 2004.
While Paramjit and Prime Sports are one of the key spots to visit for any outsider, they have been in the news for a different reason. Recently, Dhoni was seen practising with a sticker of Prime Sports logo on his bat, and it, understandably, went viral on social media. Inside the shop, there are a number of signed bats from various years, but the latest one attracts all the eyeballs. The one Paramjit shows with much pride in his face.
The said bat has a Prime Sports Blaster sticker on it and also has a message, "Best Wishes, Chotu Bhaiya", with his signature below.
It was the very bat that trended recently on social media, that Dhoni gave to Paramjit in the first week of February before leaving the town.
Although Dhoni was seen training with that bat then, it was not the first time he had this idea. In the late 2000s, Dhoni had suggested the idea of having the sticker of Prime Sports on his bat — after all, it was Paramjit who got Dhoni his first sponsor with BAS — but the latter had kindly declined, asking him to continue with the brands as his stardom was on the rise.
For someone who is as closely guarded as Dhoni is, Paramjit has remained one of the few closest friends till date. Ask him how, the answer comes along the lines of how they both have remained the same as they were in the 90s. Even today, if they meet, there is no talk about cricket. They still have their 'chai', chit chat and have fun as they did all those years ago.
Dhoni has grown out his hair like he had in his younger days. He is having a bat stickered with Prime Sports — Paramjit is not sure if Dhoni will play with that sticker, but that is for later. He will be in Chennai next week for the CSK pre-season camp with the Indian Premier League beginning on March 22. CSK will be taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore at Dhoni's adopted home ground — MA Chidambaram Stadium. Paramjit, who has not seen Dhoni play from the venue all these years, may come and watch him this year.
Is this an indication of a swansong season for the legendary captain? Paramjit doesn't know. Perhaps, as is often the case, only Dhoni would.