Kolkata: Karihar Shaw, a born-blind man was present at the Mohun Bagan ground on the occasion of inauguration of floodlights.
He was a regular visitor at the Mohun Bagan ground since 1975 and a huge fan of Ulganathan and Manas Bhattacharya. He used to visit the club ground with a transistor in his hand and used to listen the relay. The cheer of the fans and their craziness made him feel the atmosphere of the match. He loved this craziness and dragged him to the ground on a regular basis from 1975. But now it has been difficult for him to visit the ground as his friends who used to bring him to the ground had parted ways. Nowadays whenever he gets time he visits Eden Gardens during IPL and still carries a radio with him just to hear the IPL commentary unlike football matches as there is no more relay in football matches nowadays. In IPL matches he feels the same way which he used to feel during the football matches in 1970’s.
The special supporter is an employee in Calcutta Mint and has a wife named Gouri Shaw, who is also blind from birth and they both have a daughter named Puspa Shaw who has vision in her eyes. He informed that her family keeps on encouraging him to engage in sports and other activities. They are always by his side.
Bengal’s football is really being carried forward by this kind of supporters and without their love and passion Maidan football could have never gone forward and on the special occasion of Mohun Bagan’s flood light inauguration, Karihar Shaw came with lot of light in his mind.