Akshay Explains Cricket

This bright-eyed little guy is Akshay Kumar, age 9. He lives in Kolkata, India, in one of the slums of that city. On all the CI records, his first name is listed as "Akhya", but he's signed both of his letters "Akshay", so I am assuming that is what he goes by. So that is how I will refer to him from now on!

Akshay wrote his own letter, in Bengali, except for the greeting "Dear Sponsor", which he wrote in English.

"Dear Sponsor,

I am feeling glad to write to you for the first time. Hope all is well with you and your family. I am doing well with my family. I read in Grade II. I like to read Bengali. We have 5 members in our family. I have a younger brother and sister. I play hide and seek with my friends. I watch TV and draw picture in my spare time. I am extremely thankful to you for sponsoring me.

Yours,

Akshay S."

In the "drawing" area, he drew a very nice picture of four people playing soccer. He's pretty much better at drawing than I am, and I'm 27 and he's nine.

In my first letter to Akshay, which I sent just a few days after I began to sponsor him, I asked him about cricket. One of his favorite pastimes is playing cricket, and I do not understand cricket at all. So I asked him to please explain a bit about it for me, since in the USA we don't really play cricket!

Akshay writes:

"Dear Nicole A, [In English]

I've received your letter and I am glad to know about your family. Your writing is very nice. Hope all is well with you and your family. I am doing well with my family. I live in a city named Kolkata. It is the capital of West Bengal. have you ever watch cricket match in TV? There are 2 teams with 11 players in each team. One team does batting and another team does fielding. Sourav Ganguly is my favorite player of Indian cricket team. I am thankful to you for your help.

Yours,

Akshay S."

How wonderful! Obviously, I could just google "Cricket" and learn all about it, and I did do that. But it's so much more interesting and fun to hear Akshay explain the sport in his own words. I will have to tell him that no, I have not ever seen a cricket match on TV, nor in person.