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Love-sick maiden waits for Irfan Pathan

VADODARA, JULY 22. Mehmood Khan, father of India's bowling sensation Irfan Pathan, has chided a starry-eyed girl from Ludhiana, currently camping here with a dream of ``marrying'' the bowler, for her ``childish behaviour''.

The 20-year old girl, Payal, who is an orphan, ``fell in love'' with young Irfan after watching him on television during the recent Australia tour of India. She ran away from her Joginder Nagar house near Ludhiana along with her 15-year-old sister Komal on June 30.

Reaching the city on July 1, the sisters were disappointed to find that their hero, who had already won hearts of millions with his all-round performance, was away at the conditioning camp for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.

Since then, the two have been provided shelter by a city women welfare home, the `Nari Sanrakshan Gruh', following Payal's insistence on meeting the cricketer and propose marriage to him on his return from the Sri Lanka tour.

When asked about it, an annoyed Khan, who is a `muezzin' at the Jama Masjid here, could not understand Payal's behaviour. ``Irfan has got a large number of fans who continue to telephone us or even visit our house regularly to congratulate him. But this case is something unusual and too childish'', he said.

Payal, though, remains unfazed. ``I am eagerly awaiting Irfan's return so that I can put my proposal before him'', she says. ``If it is rejected, I will go back to Ludhiana.''

Seeing Payal's passion to meet Irfan, the authorities of the woman welfare home are trying to persuade the 19-year-old Vadodara southpaw to visit their institution on his return from Sri Lanka for a possible meeting with its inmates.

According to the welfare home's Superintendent Rashmi Joshi, they have sent letters to Payal's elder brother Sagar as well as the Ludhiana Police Chief to make arrangements to take back the two sisters, but there had been no response from them yet.

Talking to this correspondent, Payal said she decided to come to Vadodara after his brother put pressure on her to marry her brother-in-law, who already has a child. Payal's parents and an elder sister were reportedly killed in a road accident near Ambala a few years ago. After this tragedy, financial constraints forced Payal to work as a domestic help, while Komal dropped out of school.

Payal, who is crazy about cricket, says she was very impressed with the lanky and handsome Vadodara speedster's bowling action and subsequently fell in love with him.

The two sisters first boarded a Delhi-bound bus on June 30 and finally reached Vadodara by train. After reaching Irfan's old house near the Jama Masjid, both came to know that the cricketer was out of town. The on-going Asia cup in Sri Lanka is scheduled to end on August 1.

Now, the two sisters are passing their days at the rehabilitation home, awaiting their hero's return, while watching on television all the Asia cup matches.

The five-member family of Irfan had recently moved into a new duplex flat in Haji Park Society in the city from their one-room accommodation where they had been staying for the last several decades.

UNI

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