Cricket is a sport that has endured people all around the world. It is the most watched and most played in the Indian Subcontinent. And who plays cricket in the stadium? It is often the richest of the players we can ever see. The poor and ordinary never get a chance to show the talent that they are born with. Can we call this the ill effects of our social/economic divisions around us? That is what a group in UAE has tried to do some justice to the affected segment of our society – by bringing the blue collared workers and pair them up with their white collared bosses to play high-intensity 6-a-side cricket.

Smartlife foundaton in UAE is the brain child of this unique concept which was designed on the idea that the blue collared workers should get a high class platform to showcase their cricketing talent. Normally we forget the contribution by them in building our green planet and this effort is a great approach towards showing the togetherness. The tournament was aptly titled SmartCup 2013. Because of the inspiring environmental activities by ?Green brigade?, we were invited to participate in the tournament.

The league had been based on the IPL format with 8 teams participating with their logos designed by the students via a competition (3 Green Brigade members have submitted their logos for the competition also). Rules stated that there must be an equal number of people from each side. Although I didn't participate because I was at the Terry Fox event, I did visit the venue to cheer up my team members and the others who were playing their hearts out. We fought out the games hard and we were ably supported by the blue collared workers and their talent was amazing.

Apart from cricket, I also learnt something more.  Looks are always deceiving. The blue collared workers are actually some of the best cricketers I have ever seen. Their talnet in any field should never be taken lesser to us. They have to be given equal opportunity to showcase their ability. This idea was further proved when we went to a huge group of construction workers to share various thoughts on environment and sharing tips to conserve water/electricity through skit and quiz. In all the occasions, they lived up to much higher heights than we expected.

I hope that all readers take a different view on them and help them in anyway possible. I also think that you can do such novle initiatives. We can also help them by establishing a brilliant platform to help them also show what they have within them. They have to ge lifted to new heights then only can we call our society and our world a complete one.

members of Green Brigade participated in Smart Cup cricket tournament to support the cause