CHENNAI: Cricketers are known to be superstitious, and are said to have a soft corner for numerology. Who can forget the now trademark ‘number 7’ jersey of MS Dhoni that represents his date of birth (July 7 or 07/07). So, when the South African cricket team, including Herschelle Gibbs and Dale Steyn, who are in town to participate in the Champions League Twenty20, walked in for a press conference on Tuesday at Park Sheraton, wearing a white T-shirt with a number sequence 46664 printed on it on the left arm, it raised a few eyebrows. What does 46664 mean? Does it refer to the sequence of fours and sixes they have hit in an over, considering Gibbs’s big hitting skills? According to sources, 46664 is the prison number given to Nelson Mandela when he was incarcerated for life on Robben Island, off Cape Town, South Africa. Mandela was imprisoned in 1964, and was the 466th prisoner to arrive that year. The prison administration’s scheme of numbering prisoners was to follow the sequence number of the prisoner (466 in his case), with the last two digits of the year (64). Hence, 46664 continues to be used as a reverential title for Mandela. Subsequently, a non-profit organisation, 46664, was established in 2002, which held a series of AIDS charity concerts in honour of the former president. South African musicians played in these concerts. Among the many 46664 ambassadors, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan is the only Indian in the list. On August 26 this year, 46664 launched its 46664 retail apparel, which South African cricket stars proudly wore as a gesture of reverence to the great leader. For more details, visit www.46664.com
Comments
0 comment