Chaudhary, one of India's top cricket umpires, is forced to stay in his village during lockdown days due to Coronavirus where he is also facing 'googly' and 'bouncers' in open fields due to poor network.
Chaudhary was to officiate in the ODI matches between India and South Africa, but he was shifted to his village Dangrol in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh on 16 March as the series was halted midway. Chaudhary said, 'I came to my village with my two sons. I came to the village after a long time, so I decided to spend a week here, but after this the lockdown took place and I am following it completely while my mother and wife are in Delhi."
Chaudhary, who has officiated in 20 One-Day and 28 T20 Internationals so far, is engaged in maintaining social distance and making people aware of Covid-19 in the village, but due to network problems, he can't take the workshops including the International Cricket Council (ICC). He said, 'Network is the biggest issue in the village. We cannot even talk to anyone or use the net. I have to go outside the village or on a particular terrace or tree. There is no network there either."
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The umpire of the ICC panel himself has put some pictures on social media in which he is seen climbing the tree. Chaudhary said, 'The biggest problem right now is about children's online classes. Boys studying in cities like Delhi, Roorkee, Dehradun etc. are not able to take online classes. My son studies in Hindu college. His classes are going on but in our village, there are network issues."
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He said, 'This issue has been there for the last one year but due to the lockdown it is affecting children's education. This is the situation when my village is only 85 km from Delhi.
Chaudhary said that on his request in this regard, the village head also wrote a letter to the District Magistrate of Shamli, Jasjit Kaur, but they are still awaiting action on it. He said, 'We sent the letter ten days ago but we have not received any reply till now.'
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Chaudhary, however, also made people aware of Covid-19 during this period. He said, 'I encouraged people not to gather together, to play cards, to wash their hands continuously with soap and they also obeyed me. I also distributed some masks to them. My villagers are now fully following the social distance.