Temple, Travel and Sport

Former TN Ranji Cricketer Peter Fernandez gets timely financial help from the ICA He has been without a cricket coaching engagement since January 2016

Peter is hopeful of the TNCA offering him a remunerative coaching assignment after the lockdown

40 years after he made his Ranji Trophy debut, Peter Fernandes is seeing turbulent times financially.

It was early 1980s when I first saw Peter Fernandez captain and bat at the Forest College ground in Coimbatore against local strongholds LMW and Ramakrishna Steel. He had been roped in by SVPB (Sri Venkateswara Paper Boards) Udumalpet, whose founder Soundararajan was beginning to promote cricket in a big way in the districts and was keen to build a strong team (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/06/svpb-udumalpet-soundararajan.html). Peter was a strokeful top order batsman and had played in his only year of Ranji cricket in 1980-81. He played 3 matches for Tamil Nadu that season but was never considered again. He captained SVPB and led them to victories in the Coimbatore league in the early 1980s.

TN State teammate NP Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html) joined him a year or so later. Both of them played in the Coimbatore first division league alongside S Sukumar and M Subramaniam (Idly Subba) among others for close to two decades while working at SVPB in Udumalpet.

In the 1990s, Peter was also a Ranji selector for three years under the chairmanship of VV Kumar. He has also been an U17 and U22 selector.

However, by the end of the 1990s, with the severe slowdown that hit the Indian industry in 1997-98, SVPB landed up in financial trouble. His cricket teammates for two decades NP Madhavan and Sukumar moved to SVPB’s sister concern GVG Paper Mills and they continue to work there two decades later.

Joins Spin Foundation

It was at this time that Peter spoke to Robin Singh who had played for SVPB in the Coimbatore league in the mid 1980s after coming from the West Indies. Robin offered him a coaching role at the MAC Spin Foundation. Peter had wanted to spend 15 days in Udumalpet and the rest of the month at the spin foundation but Robin was keen that Peter join full time. He left his young family behind in Udumalpet and came to Madras to take the coaching role at the spin foundation and coached at there for 15 years till January 2016 when it shutdown. Unlike the MRF Pace Foundation, the MAC Spin Foundation did not take off in a big way.

During the 15 year period, he came into close contact with legendary spinner EAS Prasanna, Aussie off spinner from the 1970s Ashley Mallet, Lankan legend Muralidharan and Shane Warne’s coach Terry Jenner that was an enriching experience. He also graduated to an ICC Level 3 coach during the period. At the spin foundation, he was also involved in the preparation of the pitch and later on in managing the accounts.

His son Rohan Fernandez is a Level 1 coach and was under Robin Singh at the academy in Dubai for a few years but serious health issues laid him low and he had to return home.

Serious Financial Challenges

Since January 2016, when the Spin Foundation shut down, Peter Fernandez has had a tough time financially with no work of any kind. Once in a while he has been involved in coaching/helping young kids in cricket but financially he has found it challenging with the health issues of his son adding to his worries. He had hoped for the spin foundation to re-open but internal family fights among the owners led to a permanent closure.

ICA's support to needy cricketers

This month's initiative by the Indian Cricketers Association (ICA) to support financially challenged first class cricketers has come as a God sent gift to Peter Fernandez.The ICA which was formed last year is the only formally recognized players’ association for former cricketers in India. Its role is to promote the welfare and interests of its members consisting of former cricketers.This month, the ICA has pooled in financial resources from cricketers across the country to help former Ranji cricketers in need of financial help in the retired years of their lives.

ICA is expected to handover Rs.80000 to Peter Fernandez this week. Peter says that this financial support will be of great help to him at this stage of his life. He says he has also spoken to the TNCA to explore some sort of engagement in terms of a coaching role once the lock down is lifted.

He is hopeful that being a level 3 coach and with the experience he has had at the Spin Foundation he will be able to get an assignment this year with the TNCA that will help him overcome the financial challenges.

But for the moment the funding from the ICA has been timely for this TN Ranji Cricketer from the 1980s.

Cricket to Cement- After decades of uncertainty, the once famous opening partner of K Srikkanth is now making a ‘Dashing Comeback’ in his second innings Sanku has plans to foray into Cement Dealership as well as Ready Mix Concrete Business

Last month, this section featured a story on a first division cricketer from the 1990s, Promodh Sharma(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/05/promodh-sharma-cricketer-turned.html), who quit cricket at 20 and built an 80 million dollar business by the time he was 40. That story also briefly highlighted cricketers who continued in the first division well into their 20s only to end with financial challenges later in life. This story looks at one such cricketer who was a big local star and belonged to the latter category.

Matching Cheeka shot for shot

For a period in the 80s, VV Sankapani (Sanku in the cricketing circles) was spoken of in the same vein as Srikkanth for his dashing style of play. At the peak of his career, he had offers from leading organisations including MRF, Indian Bank, RBI and the Income Tax. However, he rejected each of those tempting offers preferring the partnership with his long time friend and Indian cricketing legend K Srikkanth and played for several years for TVS Alwarpet opening alongside Cheeka. Huge crowd gathered wherever Alwarpet played just to watch the two of them bat together with discussions centered on who would outshine the other that day. On many occasions, Sankapani won that battle. He scored 10 centuries for Alwarpet and an equal number of 90s. He always sported a smile and was a happy go lucky cricketer and one of the big entertainers in the city league cricket in the 80s.

A Blistering Century at 40

Two decades later, I umpired a lower division league match at Vivekananda College where Sankapani scored a typically blistering century. After many years for Alwarpet in the shadow of Srikkanth, Sanku moved in the direction of many of the cricketers who belonged to the second category – he played through the early 20s hoping for the big break. He was on the verge of a Buchi Babu Tourney debut before losing that to Alwarpet teammate K Ravishankar. While he remained a crowd favourite, he could not break through to the state level (the grandmas of Mylapore did not like him though for he consistently broke the window panes of the apartments near the PS School ground with pulls and swipes that went well past the tall Western wall of the ground). !!!

Delayed entry into the Corporate World

By the time he realized that he would not be able to make it to the state team, he was already well into his 20s and past his prime. During his period of his success at Alwarpet as a professional cricketer, he received a great offer for the role of ‘Inspector’ at Income Tax but he continued his cricketing stint with Alwarpet (where he was paid a ‘cricketing fee’) choosing Srikkanth’s partnership as far more valuable than a Government posting.

Later for a brief period, he looked like having settled down at Oriental Insurance but an office job did not seem to captured his imagination. Half a mind was on cricket and the other half questioned the need for financial security in life with a family behind him. And he quit the insurance firm to make a foray into the share market, with the hope of making it big but that decision did not go off well, financially.

A Cricket Star in the Making

He had been one of the most consistent batsmen for South Zone in the inaugural edition of this inter Zonal U15 tourney in the late 1970s. In a rare move, he signed up with first division team Globe Trotters as his first league team before he was 15 years. The string of big scores that included a belligerent 73 against Central Zone helped him get into the National U19 summer camp. But as luck would have it the U19 tour of Sri Lanka was called off due to the ethnic problem. That was the closest Sanku came to National Selection.

For a high quality cricketer from his teenage days, he spent a decade in financial insecurity. The IPL like it has done for many cricketers in the city provided him a ray of hope with a cricketing managerial opportunity that came his way. For a year, he was in a powerful post as the Operations Head of SRH (the Hyderabad team) coming into close contact with the biggest stars of World Cricket. But for an entertainer that he was, this engagement proved far too taxing for Sanku, both physically and mentally. And he chose not to take it up after the first year.

When the TNPL was launched, he donned the role of the COO of Karaikudi Kaalai, a team owned by Chettinad Cements. He had known MAMR Muthiah for many years and he accepted this role. It seemed that he was once again in a top position before Chettinad decided to sell off the franchise leaving Sankapani almost jobless once again. During this period, he also took on the 'honorary' role of managing a lower division league team as the President of the club and he continues in that role to this day. Life after IPL and TNPL once again became a struggle as he lived on meager income.

Into the Cements Business

And that’s when he got yet another fresh lease of life. MAMR Muthiah, his God Father now in the Cements business, offered him the cements agency business. In the last three years, he has once again been on the ground (not the cricket ground) understanding the nuances of the cement business and building a strong customer relationship. He has spent the time meeting hundreds of builders, contractors and masons and striking cement deals with them. He is now hoping to make a difference to the Small and Medium Builders and Contractors. He is personally involved in creating a Personalised Structured Plan for each one of them based on their requirement and cash flow, thereby creating value for them. That understanding of the customer is his biggest strength and that’s the value addition he has brought to the customer. As he moved into the cement agency business, two big groups straight away supported Sankapani signing up with his firm for the entire project.

Just when things were looking up, Covid 19 hit his business hard. While April was really bad with the complete lockdown, there was a semblance of business coming back end of May. But this fortnight in June, he has something to really cheer about. Builders, contractors and masons, especially the small and medium ones, have all got back to work and this has reflected in the rise in enquiries for Sanku. While the enquiries are cheering him up, he feels it will be at least another quarter before he can be more confident about the way forward for his business.

Big Business Plans

Into the future, he is looking to take cement dealership as well as foraying into the Ready Mix Concrete business, both of which will be capital intensive. One of his big challenges has been the lack of funding from financial institutions. He is hopeful that they will begin to finance the working capital requirements of the sector that he believes will help kick start the business again in the post lock down scenario.

Cricket to Cement

Like his batting at the top of the order, Sankapani has always flattered to deceive. Every now and then, he has given the hope of having found something to his liking but has pulled out just when one thought he had settled down. From a riveting teenage phase when he was a much feared opening batsman to losing out to his Alwarpet teammate in the Buchi Babu tourney, Sankapani experienced the highs and lows in cricket in the 1980s and early 90s. The decades after his cricketing phase has been a lot more challenging as Sankapani in the last two decades and more moved from a stable insurance job to the volatile share market, made his re-entry into cricket with IPL and TNPL and has finally seemed to have found his place in the business world.

With the three year experience in the Cement Sector, Sankapani now seems to be enjoying life more than ever before and is confident about his prospects. He has created a website for his firm and has even begun making power point presentations to his customers. For this great cricket entertainer from the 1980s, the cements business may yet become his biggest success story. One will have to wait and watch as to how things unfold over the next few years.

After playing in the SS Rajan Trophy against KR Rajagopal and PK Dharmalingam, teenager Srivathsan packed off his cricketing kit under his parents' orders to focus on academics - a move that paid rich dividends for he secured the 11th rank in the CA Final

The offie made three passionate 'comebacks' in cricket playing till the age of 57 remembering his favourite Erapalli Prasanna each time he came on to bowl

He was just into his teens and it was the time he heard commentary on the radio of the now legendary S Venkataraghavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/venkataraghavan75.html) making his Test Debut. But what surprised him the most during the teenage phase was the fact that his home maker mother inspired and initiated him into cricket in Nagercoil. As with boys from remote towns, the cricketing passion was high even though the opportunities were limited. He played in SS Rajan trophy when he was 16 years old and dreamt of going up the ladder in cricket. But soon as was the case in middle class households in those times, his amma who created the cricketing interest in him and bought his first bat and ball asked him to pack off his cricketing kit and focus on academics. The boy went on to become the CFO of a TVS Group firm but his passion for cricket did not die and he went on to play amateur cricket till the time he was 57. Here is the story.

Cricketing Debut in Nagercoil

S Srivathsan was introduced to cricket at the 40 acre Sethulakshmi Boys High School campus in Nagercoil that boosted of multiple grounds. There were no coaches and no correction to batting or bowling techniques. He made his cricketing debut in Ratnavel Memorial Trophy playing for Kanniyakumari District.

Becomes an Opening Bat in Tirunelveli

His father, an officer in the Income Tax Department met with transfer every 3 years and his next port of call was in Tirunelveli where he schooled at the Sankar Secondary School, one that promoted cricket in a big way even at that time. With the shortage of opening batsmen at that time (newcomers in early phase typically have a tendency to avoid the new ball), the physical director at the school asked him to register himself as an opening batsman. Characteristically, he was a patient boy and being thrown into the deep end as an opener suited his natural instincts for he displayed his patience in full measure with his dogged defence. While Tamil Nadu’s Venkataraghavan’s was the first big name he heard in cricket, it was Karnataka’s two giants who were to become the young boy’s inspiration – for his off spin he looked up to EAS Prasanna and when it came to batting he tried to imitate GR Viswanath.

Bowling to KR Rajagopal in SS Rajan Trophy

Two of his biggest moments in the teenage life came in the early 1970s. While at the Tagore Arts College in Pondicherry (his father had been transferred yet another time), his captain handed him the new ball to bowl off spin (he has a hearty laugh looking back - the concept of off spinner Dipak Patel bowling with the new ball came only in the 1992 World Cup but this teenager had experimented it even in the 1970s). Srivathsan recorded one of his finest moments in cricket with the new ball for Pondicherry against Tirunelveli District in SS Rajan Trophy when he came up against the dashing and much feared KR Rajagopal and PK Dharmalingam. He was given the task of keeping Rajagopal quiet, mind boggling assignment. But much to his surprise, he kept him quiet for 8 overs with the new ball almost giving away nothing and he even received a few confidence boosting words of appreciation from Rajagopal. But soon Srivathsan got a taste of Rajagopal’s belligerence when he came back for his 2nd spell as he was smashed all over the ground conceding over 40 runs in his 2nd spell of 5 overs. The other big memory from that match was getting the wicket of PK Dharmalingam.

In that phase, Srivathsan was also the champion in the Single Wicket tournament organised in Pondicherry, a high point for him at that time to emerge as the top cricketer in the Union Territory. And his cricketing ambition seemed to be building up in those teenage years.

There were plans to set up a University team at that time in Pondicherry and Srivathsan garnered hopes of playing University cricket as well. But his hopes were dashed when JIPMER pulled out of the plan

(the medical college provide a large number of the cricketers in Pondicherry and without their presence, a team could not be formed).

Meeting Legendary VV Kumar in Pondy

It was in that period at college that he came up against the legendary VV Kumar(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/07/cricket-tales-exclusive-with-vv-kumar.html). The Pondicherry association invited MCC to a match. When the team turned up at the ground on the morning of the match, Srivathsan was delighted to find VV Kumar and JC Patel. And for the first time, he saw the magician leggie at work. The batsmen tried to come down the pitch to meet the ball only to find it hanging in the air, dipping and then turning past them for the keeper to remove the bails. It was a delightful experience of facing the legend’s over that Srivathsan cannot forget almost 50 years later. VV Kumar vividly remembers staying in Ammu Nivasam in Pondicherry while they were there for that match.

Playing at Chepauk

In a return gesture, the MCC invited Pondicherry cricket association to a match in Madras. And much to their surprise this match was played at Chepauk. For the first of the only two occasions in his life, Srivathsan had the privilege of walking out on to the field as a player at this great stadium and he remembers playing against the Haridas brothers in that match.

From Cricketer to CA All India Rank Holder

That was the exciting part of his cricketing phase. But soon came a message from his parents, especially his mother that both saddened and angered him. They asked him pack off his cricket kit to a corner of their house in Mandaveli and to bid goodbye to his cricket kit and the whites as they directed him to focus on academics. He was graduating in commerce and his father asked him to take up both Cost Accountancy as well as CA “The message was clear and straight. Cricket will not feed you. There is no money in cricket. Focus on academics and settle down in a job”. It was disappointing and he felt dejected for a while but he respected his parents’ words and did not touch a cricket bat or a ball for a few years.

Keeping cricketing thoughts aside, he focused on academics and shone. The parents’ advise paid rich dividends for secured the 11th rank nationally in his CA Final. As was the case in those days, big corporate offers came his way especially from the top companies in Bombay. And once again, his parents showcased the typical conservative middle class mindset and asked him to remain ‘local’ in Tamil Nadu and to take up whatever offer that came his way in the state.

Pallipalayam - A 2nd coming in Cricket

He joined Seshasayee Paper Boards at their Pallipalayam plant near Erode in the mid 1970s where he remained for a decade. While he learnt the accounting processes and system at the firm, cricket came his way a second time. Salem Districts’ wicket keeper Chellamani was the Finance Head at the company. He had seen Srivathsan’s cricketing interest from the profile he had sent and asked him to join the team nets on just the second day of his stint at the company. They were impressed with his all round cricketing skills and became a regular in the company team for many years. When he started out in his teens, he was a dogged opener but with his favourite GRV making waves in the cricketing world especially after that magical knock of 97 Not Out at Chepauk against the West Indies, Srivathsan became a more ‘flamboyant’ batsman in his corporate days at Seshasayee and also remained for life a No. 4 batsman, a position in the batting order that the cricketing legend had made his own. Such was the impact GRV had on this passionate cricket fan that this amateur cricketer moved himself from an opener to a No. 4 batsman!!!

Marker and Groundsman in the Popular Seshasayee Tourney

Cricket was active during the period of his tenure at Seshasayee and they even organised an annual 30 overs tournament bringing in teams such as the renowned SVPB from Udumalpet(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/06/svpb-udumalpet-soundararajan.html), Ramakrishna Steel and Friends XI, Coimbatore. During the days of this tournament, Srivathsan played the role of a marker and groundsman rolling the pitch, nailing the mat and drawing the creases. While he quit any hopes of development in cricket long ago, Srivathsan was delighted to play against the likes of Ranji Cricketer Peter Fernandez, NP Madhavan(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html) S Sukumar and PR Ramakrishnan in that tournament. Ramakrishnan remembers scoring a century against SVPB to secure the trophy for Ramakrishna Steels in 1979. SVPB opener Sukumar too has vivid memories of this popular tournament which the Udumalpet team won two years in a row.

His association with cricket grew even bigger during his stint at Seshasayee. Seeking to increase this passionate association with cricket, he appeared for the umpiring exam and was interview by top notch Indian umpires, Mohd Ghouse and KB Ramaswamy and performed well. But just at that moment, life was to take a different turn for Srivathsan. With his daughters growing up Srivathsan felt the need for a move to Madras.

TVS Directors' grill him

He had a rigorous interview at the TVS Group’s auto components firm Wheels India Ltd., at Padi being grilled for half hour by brothers and directors, S Ram (current Chairman) and S Viji (current Chairman of Sundaram Finance Ltd.,) and by the then Finance head SV Rajan, who was already touching 60 at that time. It was a tough interview but he did something right to get the nod from the directors.

He had several lucrative offers coming his way but being in the finance profession, he felt it important to be part of a firm that was renowned for integrity and honesty in its business. And thus he joined Wheels India Ltd., in 1986 and continued with them till his retirement three decades later.

Becomes CFO within 18months at Wheels India

As life would have it, Rajan suddenly passed away just a year later. Soon after the board meeting on June 18, 1987, Director S Ram came to Srivathsan, who had a triple professional degree of Cost, CA and Company Secretary, from the meeting to announce to him that founder TS Santhanam had nodded to his promotion as the Secretary and Finance Controller (CFO). He was only 34 years old. It was something that Srivathsan had not expected in his wildest dreams - to move up from Deputy Manager to CFO in under 18 months.

A Third Comeback in Cricket

For almost close to two decades at Wheels India, given his position in the firm and with his children growing up, Srivathsan stayed away from cricket. It was only in 2004, when the TVS firms in Padi decided to play a match amongst themselves that Srivats Ram, the then young MD of the company informed Srivathsan that the company too would be playing in the tournament. It was a third time home coming for Srivathsan in cricket and he delightfully put together a corporate team along with a few other cricketing personnel in the firm.

At Chepauk under Floodlights

For the second time in his life, he entered Chepauk this time to play the finals against Lucas TVS under the floodlights. He considers playing under the lights at Chepauk a delightful experience. Soon after, with a special interest shown by MD Srivats, Wheels India too became part of the Thiruvallur cricket league and the team was promoted to 1st division league after starting out in the 3rd division. Srivathsan continued to play for Wheels India in the Thiruvallur League till the time he was 57 rolling his arm over as he visualized himself as the ‘Prasanna’ of Wheels India.

Retires from cricket at 57

Finally, just short of turning 60, he had to hang his cricketing boots for the final time when he received an email from his daughter in the US ordering him to stay away from the ‘Whites’ and to get away from the ‘teenaged cricketer’ feeling. Four decades earlier, it was his mother who had put an end to his cricketing dreams and asked him to pack off his cricketing kit to focus on his education. And this time, the young 57 year Srivathsan was packed off from the biggest passion of his life by his elder daughter.

Not to be undone, since the time away as a ‘cricketer’, Srivathsan has had two memorable and unforgettable cricketing experiences. Just over a decade ago, he was sent by Wheels India on an official trip to Australia where he had the once in a life time opportunity of going around the MCG including making his way to the center wicket. And then a couple of years ago, soon after his retirement from Wheels India after having served them for three decades, he made his way through the long room at Lords in the height of the English summer.

It has been a remarkable journey for this 67 year old former CFO of Wheels India. From nurturing cricketing ambitions to locking horns with VV Kumar and KR Rajagopal as a teenager, from rejecting lucrative job offers to donning the role of a marker and groundsman, from experiencing Chepauk as a cricketer to visiting the Home of Cricket, Srivathsan has had a passionate association with cricket. For the moment, he spends his lockdown days with a cricketing memorabilia, the Red Cherry from Lords that he picks up in his right hand relishing the memory from the early 1970s when the off spinner opened the bowling attack. With Srivathsan, one never knows. If he has Mohinder Amarnath as one of his favourites, one cannot discount him making a fourth comeback onto the cricket field.

Inspirational Woman

State Champion then in the 1960s, and Now the TATA Mumbai Marathon Champion at 67

Five decades ago, this teenager brought sporting fame to Stella Maris College as she helped the college grab the Inter Collegiate Athletic Champioship trophy from MCC that had dominated all the events in previous years. This year, just prior to the lockdown, the 67 year old Doctor went all the way to Bombay to participate in the ‘Tata Mumbai Marathon’ and came up trumps leading from start to finish as she picked up the Champion’s Medal. Here’s the story.

The 1960s at St Ebbas School

The Physical Director at St. Ebbas School on Radha Krishnan Salai was a sports enthusiast and groomed and mentored young athletes. She spotted the talent in this young school girl, who was in early teens and focused her attention on her. Starting 1966, under the intense training of the PD, Santha picked up all the trophies on offer in the age group tournaments. And then she joined the Science Group in Stella Maris College for her PU. Dr. AL Mudaliar Inter College Annual Sports meet was an important event in the annual sports calendar and Stella Maris had lagged behind in previous years with MCC sweeping the medals tally.

Glory to Stella Maris College

In August 1969, led by Santha, Stella Maris clinched the Championship giving the college a famous victory that they had not previously experienced. Santha won all the events she participated in – the 100 and 200 meters, Long and High Jump and the Relay and bagged the Sportsperson of the Year award. So impressed was the Chief Guest with her performance, that Dr. Sarathy, the Dean of the Madras Medical College announced the allocation of a seat for medical seat for her right after the awards ceremony. And her sporting success story continued into her medical college days as well. Santha broke all athletics records during her teenage years. She also captained the University to a national victory, achievements that secured her the prestigious University scholarship for four years.

And then for four decades, Dr. Santha Narayanan continued to RUN, not on the sporting track but behind the family. As with traditional families from the decades gone by, she focused her attention on her husband and her son, in addition to performing her role as a Pediatrician, giving her sporting ambitions a boot.

Back to Sports at 60

It was only in May 2014 that she made a comeback to competitive running, driven by her fitness freak sister, Radha Krishnaswamy, former Indian Women’s World Cup Team's Fitness Trainer and wife of Tamil Nadu Ranji Cricketer V Krishnaswamy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/08/krishnaswamy-v.html).

In February 2015, she did her first 10km marathon at Auroville. Since then she has participated in the leading Marathon events in Chennai. Last year, she was the runner up in the Airtel Marathon in Hyderabad and came third in the Chennai Marathon.

Till the beginning of the lockdown, her daily morning routine starting at 5.15am over the last 5 years comprised of a run from Woodlands on RK Salai to the Madras University and back. To get her accustomed to uphill runs, she also runs up and down on the flyover.

Lockdown not a Dampener

For many, the lockdown has dampened the mood but not for Santha. For the last three months, the 67 year old has been going through a rigorous fitness schedule with a programme devised on ZOOM by her sister Radha. Every morning through the entire period of the lock down, she has been put through a one hour regime that comprises of warm up, high intensity on the spot running, skipping and squats, this with the objective of strengthening the muscles and core improvements. She has also been doing regular breathing exercises that she says will contribute to the expansion of the lungs. She has also been following a meditation and yoga programme.

As a senior citizen, the body is vulnerable and the immunity tends to be low. She says that following this disciplined fitness programme, she has discovered a never before felt lightness in the body and mind. Dr. Santha has also been holding medical camps in the remote town of Arasalur, near Thottiyam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2014/09/navaneetha-krishnan-temple-arasalur.html?m=0), for the last 15 years. She says that if she has to continue to serve the people in that town, she would have to first keep herself fit. And that this fitness regime helps her in that endeavour as well. Last year, she was presented with the Best Doctor Award for her service to the Rural community.

The Mumbai Marathon - One of her Biggest moments

Just a month prior to the lockdown, she enjoyed one of her biggest moments of her life. She won the renowned international standard Tata Marathon in Bombay beating the best of the runners in the country completing the 10 kms run in 74 minutes.

Dr Santha Narayanan runs for fun and not to win the medal. What has been most pleasing to her in recent years has been the fact that youngsters half her age have taken inspiration from her early morning running routine and have begun to practice alongside her. Also, the next gen feeling the stress of the corporate world have found positive energy doing the morning runs alongside her. Early morning, there are now followers on the Beach Road waiting for this Grandma to take the left turn from the RK Salai. Inspired by her, a police officer decided to run the entire Marathon alongside her at the Auroville Marathon.

At 67, Santha is eagerly looking forward to making her debut at the TCS Marathon in Bangalore and the Delhi Marathon once the lock down restrictions are lifted. Till then, she is all set to continue her on the spot running and skipping at home. Truly Inspiring stuff this!!!

The FIRST non-family Managing Director of a TVS Group Firm

Sundaram Finance and Wheels India Founder TS Santhanam looked up to his Sethupathi High School classmate to manage Madras Auto Service in the 1940s and later on to drive the growth of Auto Components Firm Wheels India Ltd

World War II had arrived and was taking its toll. With TS Santhanam planning to move to Madurai, he was looking for someone to take care of Madras Auto Service (MAS), the subsidiary of TVS Group. And he went up to his Sethupathi High School classmate of the 1920s and asked him to take up an important accounting role at his Madras Trading firm. The 28year old could not refuse his childhood friend’s offer. The year 1942 marked the beginning of Valliyur Ramakrishnan Sivaraman’s long and fruitful association with the TVS Group. Decades later, Sivaraman’s elder son, a banker, was ‘asked’ to quit his bank job and join the TVS Group, an instruction that he quietly followed!!!

This writer met Sivaraman (known to friends and colleagues as VRS) at his Parthasarathy Street residence shortly after he turned 100 in March 2014. It had been a long and glorious journey. In the year leading up to his Centenary, his health condition had dipped a bit and he had become a little immobile but his memory, that he was so renowned for during his hey days, still remained razor sharp. He was able to easily recount in a flash events from his childhood days and the pleasant memories of competing with Santhanam at Sethupathi High School in Madurai.

Santhanam and Sivaraman lived in the same street in Madurai and were close friends. Interestingly, Santhanam’s mother (Lakshmi Ammal) and Sivaraman’s mother were neighbours in Nagercoil until the untimely death of Sivaraman’s mother when he was just nine years old. It was Lakshmi Ammal who provided motherly care to Sivaraman during those pressing times.

The Numbers Man - Gold Medalist in Maths

He was a gold medalist in Maths at College (he graduated from the American College, Madurai) and always has had a special liking for numbers. His family does not remember a single occasion when he used a calculator in his life (though one of his life’s regrets is of not doing medicine). Till well into his 90s, he spent time going through Balance Sheet of several of the Madras based companies and would immediately call the CFO with interesting insights.

In the days of saving phone numbers on the mobile, VRS remembered almost till the very end phone numbers of all his friends and relatives (he never saved the numbers on the mobile!!).

He moved to Madras in the mid 1930s taking up an accounting and audit role with Indian Postal Audit. During World War II, he shifted briefly to Coimbatore when there was large scale evacuation in Madras. Shortly after his stint in Coimbatore came the call from Santhanam.

Forging strong relationship with global manufacturers

Between 1942 and 47, it was Sivaraman who managed Madras Auto Service along with Govindachari and Panchapakesan while Santhanam was away in Madurai (Santhanam would only make fortnightly/monthly trips to Madras to oversee operations). VRS was assigned the important task of ‘cost control’ and managing profitability.

After Govindachari’s retirement, Sivaraman took over as the GM of Madras Auto Service (Vice President and President in the Indian Corporate world is a very recent phenomenon. For decades after independence GM was the most coveted position - next only to the MD). While Santhanam continued as the MD of the company, Sivaraman independently handled Madras Auto Service during the 1950s when it was a major importer of spare parts from Germany, UK and the US. His stint at MAS helped him forge strong relationships with major component manufacturers.

Glorious Years at Wheels India

Later that decade, TVS Group decided to set up a plant to manufacture wheels for Commercial Vehicles (Production commenced in 1962). Wheels India became the first manufacturing company of the TVS Group and marked the move of the group from trading to manufacturing. (Subsequently, TVS Group firms set up several manufacturing plants in the Padi area)

Sivaraman was the first one to be nominated from the Trading Company of the TVS Group to the manufacturing firm. Santhanam, who had roped him into MAS just under two decades ago, now asked him to join Wheels India to help drive growth in the initial phase.

S Ram, son of TS Santhanam and the current Chairman of Wheels India Ltd., took over as the MD from Sivaraman in October 1975 reminisces the entry of VRS into Wheels India and his role in that first decade and a half “Sivaraman had already spent close to two decades at Madras Auto Service and was an integral part of the management team. He had gathered a huge deal of experience in the auto sector during this period. My father called him one day and asked him to move to the new company that was being set up in Padi.'

‘I will find another replacement for you at MAS. You are needed at Wheels India’ Santhanam told VRS.

And thus Sivaraman moved from General Patters Road (his base at MAS) to the Western part of the city to the Padi headquarters of Wheels India. During the first 10years of Wheels India, Sivaraman, as the GM, anchored the acquisition of and building relationship with key customers.

Ram tracks the growth in customer base during those initial years to Sivarman’s strong customer relationship management ‘It was a very competitive phase. We were new entrants in the area of truck wheels. While we were one of the multiple suppliers to Telco and competing with other big players including European manufacturers, Sivaraman’s customer management skills helped us acquire a sizeable business from the truck major. Very quickly, we were able to improve our market share and Sivaraman had a significant role to play in that.’

VRS seen with S Ram and Japanese Delegates

There was a general reluctance on the part of Germans to try new Indian manufacturers but VRS helped build confidence amongst customers that the company was in for the long haul and that, from our base in Madras, we could compete with the best in the world. ‘He also had good relationship with other component manufacturers from South and North alike. During that initial 15year period, it was VRS who drove Wheels India’s growth.’

1st non family MD

Just over three decades after joining Santhanam at the TVS Group came the big moment of his corporate life. Just a few days short of his 60th birthday, Sivaraman was appointed as the Managing Director of Wheels India in February 1974, thus becoming the FIRST non family Managing Director of a TVS Group company. This was truly a significant achievement for a man who had by then established himself as an authority in the auto component sector.

By the end of his stint as the MD of Wheels India a year and a half later, the company had clocked a turnover of over Rs. 10 crores and had established a strong long term customer base that include the biggest of names such as Telco, Mahindra, TAFE and Premier Automobiles, among others, and an employee strength of 250. During his association with the TVS Group, he travelled extensively around the world on business to almost all countries except China and Russia. He also served as the president of ACMA (Auto Component Manufacturers Association) and CII (Confederation of Indian Industry).

He paid a lot of attention to physical and mental fitness. For three decades from the 1970s, Sivaraman walked an hour every day, many times up to Thanithurai Market (on RK Mutt Road) and walked back (with vegetables in hand) to his home on Parthasarathy Street, off Kasturi Rangan Road.

Interest in IPL even in his 90s

His interest in cricket (he was a left hand opening batsman during his college days) did not recede one bit and he was avid follower of the IPL. He also served as the President of Madras Hockey Association. All his life, he had been a voracious reader with a special liking for fiction especially detective stories. He kept track of the global developments especially in the auto sector and would read six newspapers every morning!!! After his retirement from Wheels India, VRS was involved with a number of start ups in Madras in an advisory role helping them see through the tough initial phase of growth. And he went out of the way to help truly deserving candidates with employment in Madras based companies.

It was on the strong foundation laid by Sivaraman in the 1960s and early 70s that Wheels India grew into one of the world’s leading steel wheel manufacturers and now finds itself topping revenues of Rs. 2000 crores with a global customer base and multiple plants across the country.

(Sivaraman passed away in 2015 aged 101)

This story is a version of the Magazine story this writer had written on the occasion of VRS' Centenary in 2014

Just into his teens, TSR spotted a business opportunity in the Devotional Space and launched a range of products that soon became a household name

TS Rajagopalan Iyengar hailed from Thittai ((https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/02/thittai-navaneetha-krishnan-temple.html), a small hamlet about five kms from the renowned Thanjai Maa Mani Divya Desam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/08/thanjai-maa-mani-divya-desam.html) on the outskirts of Thanjavur. Born in 1894, he was a child prodigy. Driven by entrepreneurial instincts, he made his way to Kumbakonam and began his family’s diversification into manufacturing.

The Thanjavur – Kumbakonam belt either side of the Cauvery was home to a large number of temples – Vaishnavite Divya Desams and Saivite Paadal Petra Sthalams. While agriculture was the main occupation, devotion was integral to the daily lives of people in the region. Not a day passed without them invoking the blessings of the Lord.

Devotional Products

Set against this backdrop of devotion, the enterprising Rajagopalan Iyengar just into his teens began working on products that would cater to this devotional audience. He was just 15 years old when he rolled out his offerings in 1909. He started out in Moorthy Chetty Street and then moved to a shop on Bazaar Street, West of Sarngapani Koil(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/06/sarangapani-koil-thiru-kudanthai.html). Once the business came to scale, he built a factory on Nageswaran Thirumanjanam Veethi from where a range of products that included Chandan (used for Thirumanjanam and Abhisekam), Panneer, Agarbathi, scented Chunnam, Gulkand and Thailam were manufactured.

He launched the products under the brand name of TSR & Co and soon TSR, as he came to be lovingly called by the residents of Kumbakonam, became a household name. Everlasting fragrance was a hall mark of his pooja items. He also created the trademark ‘Aalilai Kannan’ logo of child Krishna on plantain leaf.

Personally, he was deft in making sweet paan and had this special knack of finding the right mix. The customers simply loved it from his hands and they would queue up to pick up the tasty paan. He later sold the betel nuts products business and focused on pooja products.

87 year old Kalyani Krishnaswamy, a distant relative of TSR who has lived the last 40 years in a remote village near Therazhundur(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/therazhundur-divya-desam.html), stayed in TSR's house in Kumbakonam for a whole year during her childhood. She remembers sandalwood being brought from Mysore, and physically well built workers ground these into Chandan powder by hand. She says that by the 1930s, the products were much sought after by the people in the region. One could sense the fragrance even as one entered the street such was the quality of the product. He always told his workers that the product had to be of the highest class. She also recalls the presence of TSR at her wedding in the mid 1940s “He brought a huge box of TSR products and presented it to me as his gift.”

Promotion of products at Temple Festivals

In addition to his entrepreneurial skills in creating products, he was also deft at marketing. He promoted the pooja products at the famous Chitrai Festival in Madurai (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/07/azhagar-koil-thiru-maliruncholai.html) and would display his range of products at the festival. He also promoted it at the popular Brahmotsavam in Mannargudi (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/05/mannargudi-rajagopalaswamy-temple.html).

The Next Big Product – Talcum Powder

Late VK Rajagopalan (VKR) Iyengar, a Central Bank auditor and first cousin of TSR was to play a key role in the roll out of the next big product. His son 74 year old R Sampath says that the elder of TSR’s two sons TR Kannan was inclined towards expanding the product range and began to do some early experiments and that it was his father VKR Iyengar who gave Kannan the space and freedom in his house on Pachaiappa Street in Kumbakonam and motivated him to carry out the experiments.

“Kannan came to my father’s house to conduct his experiments. Each day, he would sit on the terrace of our house and try out different combinations. It was a very tedious process and required a lot of patience and perseverance but Kannan was relentless in his pursuit” remembers Sampath of those times around seven decades ago.

The terrace invented talcum powder is now popular across the country as TSR Gokul Santol. The elder son Kannan moved to Madras and opened the talcum powder factory in Ramapuram in 1965. And thus TSR & Co diversified into two separate firms – TSR & Co Home Needs manufacturing pooja products in Kumbakonam (headed by his 2nd son TR Raghavan) and TSR & Co Madras ( launched by his 1st son TR Kannan - he passed away in 1970) that is into Gokul Santol talcum powder and soap, among other cosmetic products.

TSR – A Household Name

The products had become so popular that there was a time when the demand for agarbathis outshot the

supply. There were several 100s of workers at the factory in Gokul Gardens and the business had grown manifold. 84 year old Chartered Accountant G. Kunchithapatham worked in the firm that audited the accounts of TSR & Co and remembers him from his childhood days “TSR & Co had started small but by the time I was growing up in Kumbakonam, TSR had already built a brand. The factory had been mechanized and the shop had become much bigger. TSR was top of mind recall for anyone interested in Panneer, Chandan and other pooja products.”

He says that the big growth of TSR could also be seen from the fact that he and his firm had become big income tax assessees “They had already started exporting the products. TSR would often go to Ceylon on business trips.”

His devotional association with temples

TSR was also an ardent devotee and would often be seen at the temples in Thiru Kudanthai. He was also the trustee at Sarngapani and Chakrapani temples. He was also on the board of the renowned Banadurai School in Kumbakonam, one where the famous Tamil Nadu fast bowler B Kalyanasundaram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2011/08/kalli-b-kalyanasundaram.html?m=1) studied in the 1950s.

81 year old Seshadri Bhattar of Parthanpalli Divya Desam, who spent his entire childhood in Kumbakonam and performed archaka service at Thiru Kudanthai temples for several decades, remembers the mega arrangements made by TSR ahead of Mysore Maharaja’s trip to the Sarngapani Koil. “’Pushpa Pandhal’ - a grand flower decoration was organised along the entire path from Moolavar to Desikar Sannidhi. And the King of Mysore was accorded a grand welcome into the temple.”

Till his death in 1961, TSR’s ubayam on Desikar Satrumurai at the Sarngapani temple was one that everyone looked forward to as it was one of the biggest festival days at the temple with a vibrant Prabhandham Ghosti. The entire temple wore a grand festive look that day.

Exquisite Attire

TSR was also known for his exquisite attire and was always seen in a Panchakacham and a white shirt with a bright Thiruman on his forehead. Everyone at the Sarngapani temple would line up as he made an impressive entry into the temple in his majestic walk on the Desikar Satrumurai day.

Till his final days, he provided Dasankam, Santhanathi Thailam and other pooja items in sufficient quantities to the Thiru Kudanthai temples. At the Chakrapani temple(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2009/02/kudanthai-chakrapani-koil.html), his was the Ubayam on the third day of the Brahmotsavam, when the Lord goes around the streets on a Sesha Vahanam, one that continues to this day.

Significant contribution to temples

Just prior to his death, he made a significant contribution to the renovation exercise at the Sarngapani temple and was an integral part of the committee that planned the renovation. At the over 1000 years old Varadaraja Perumal temple on the banks of the Cauvery, TSR restored the temple by contributing in big measure. 100 years ago, he began supporting the Navarathri Utsavam at the temple that has continued to this day. He also supported the grand conduct of the Vaikasi Utsavam.

85 year old V Seshadri, an adyapaka at the Therazhudur Divya Desam for over three decades remembers TSR participating in and supporting the Brahmotsavam at this temple “He would present the temple with large quantities of pooja items that were required for the daily poojas. The entire temple would be transformed with beautiful fragrance emanating from his products. His very presence brought positive energy among the service personnel at the temple.”

Municipality Chairman and Underground Drainage System

In light of the background of him having built a trusted brand as well as him having become a well respected personality in Kumbakonam, VK Rajagopalan Iyengar suggested to TSR to contest the election and try for the Municipal Chairman’s post in Kumbakonam. VKR Iyengar was confident that as the Municipal Chairman TSR could do a lot of good to the temple town. Though initially reluctant, TSR heeded to the advice of his cousin brother and became the Municipal Chairman in 1958. In the period that he was at the helm, he created a modern underground drainage system in Kumbakonam.

89 year old former District Revenue Officer (Thanjavur), K Ramanarayanan has seen TSR from close quarters “From small beginnings, he built a brand that has stood the test of time. A stout man with a tuft, he was one with progressive views. At a time when we were still reeling under the British rule, he brought a name for indigenous products and created a brand that remained entrenched in the minds of the people. TSR Panneer and Agarbathi were unmatched at that time. To him goes the credit for creating an identity for Kumbakonam. He was also a big philanthropist and did a lot for the society.”

Soon after TSR’s death, it was VKR Iyengar who was instrumental in getting TSR’s second son TR Raghavan to talk to the officials at the Municipality to have the Big Street in Kumbakonam named after the legendary manufacturer and philanthropist. And soon, the street was named as the ‘TSR’ Big Street.

Since then, his sons, grandsons and now the great grandsons have been taking forward the great legacy of TSR. Over the last six decades, his birthday has been celebrated with the TSR family feeding 2000 people at the factory in Gokul Gardens, Kumbakonam which was also his home till his death.

Genius at work

It was a truly pioneering initiative for a young teenager to get into manufacturing by creating a labour pool and to run a business away from the family’s stronghold in agriculture. More interesting was the way he spotted an enterprise opportunity in the devotional space. To roll out pooja products catering to the devotees was out of the box thinking for one not yet 15.

TSR was truly a child genius who broke away from the shackles of centuries old tradition of being an agricultural family. By the time he passed away at the age of 67, having handed the baton to his two sons, Quality and Trust in Pooja Products had become synonymous with TSR. And he had left behind a great legacy of a remote village boy having built an enduring and a trusted indigenous brand.

UNPRECEDENTED

The most graceful retirement in the State’s cricket history

We are in the year of the Pandemic, and over the last three months UNPRECEDENTED has been the most oft used word in all walks of life. Way back in March 1988, a Tamil Nadu Ranji cricketer made an UNPRECEDENTED announcement within minutes of lifting the Ranji Trophy. At the presentation ceremony, left arm spinner S Vasudevan announced that he had played his last Ranji Trophy match. He had just picked up seven wickets in the Railways’ innings and had led TN to a Ranji Triumph that had come after three decades. It took everyone by surprise, most did not seem to take it seriously at that time with Doordarshan that telecast the finals editing his retirement comment. Probably, they had a justification. He was just 33 years then and the legendary TN spinners who preceded him had played on for a long time. Exactly a decade ago, VV Kumar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/07/cricket-tales-exclusive-with-vv-kumar.html) then past 40 had heard the news of his non selection in the Ranji Squad from a newspaper report. His state spin partner for almost close to a decade S Venkataraghavan too played for TN till he was close to 40. In the form that he was in and as the Ranji Trophy winning captain, Vasudevan could easily have gone on for at least another 5 years.

His First and Only year as TN Captain

His appointment in 1987-88 to the TN captaincy itself came as a surprise to him for he was not even captaining his club side at that time (SPIC was captained by V Sivaramakrishnan). It was his first knock at captaincy. It was a young side that year and jelled well under Vasudevan. Sivaramakrishnan had announced his Ranji retirement at the start of the 87-88 Season but came out of it later that season and played a critical role for TN in the knock outs. Off spinner M Venkataramana (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/06/venkatramana-m_97.html) had just had a fabulous year in 87-88 that earned him an immediate test cap. The Golden leggie of the decade L Sivaramakrishnan(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/04/l-sivaramakrishnan.html) was trying to make a comeback after having been on top of the world in March 1985 with his performance in WCC and Aashish Kapoor too was knocking on the doors. VB Chadrasekar and Robin Singh had big years with the bat that earned them a national call over the next 12 months.

At the start of that season, Vasudevan did not have any inclination to hang up his boots and not in his wildest dream did he visualize quitting Ranji cricket at the end of the season for he was greatly enjoying cricket and the responsibility deposed on him by the TNCA to lead and mentor a bunch of young upcoming cricketers the likes of Robin Singh, VB Chandrasekar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/vb-chandrasekar.html), PC Prakash, K Arun Kumar, D Girish and Venkatramana was something he looked forward to.

Cricket had been his passion since the time he started playing at the age of 8 and like all cricketers from that generation the general expectation was that he would continue to play till the time he contributed in good measure to the team's fortunes.

Into Software at LUCAS TVS

Exactly ten years ago, he had joined LUCAS TVS, a firm headed at that time by cricket enthusiast R Ratnam. Vasudevan's close friend Crazy Mohan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/08/crazy-mohan.html), who passed away last year had joined Brakes India, another TVS Firm in Padi. As one in his early 20s who had made his Ranji entry just then, he was asked what he wanted to do at the corporate. His childhood friend Raghu (who later became a CEO) had asked him to explore software that was still very much in its infancy in India. When Vasudevan expressed his interest in software, he was put through a rigorous training programme in IBM in 1977 and took up software as a career in the software world. He found the software job both exciting and challenging and he thoroughly enjoyed his corporate stint at Lucas TVS.

Rejects a Stable Bank Job

During that period, he also received a lucrative offer from former TN Opener V Krishnaswamy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/08/krishnaswamy-v.html) to join IOB that would have provided him with a stable job for the next four decades but Vasudevan’s interest in Software had gathered steam and he rejected Kicha’s offer. When he joined SPIC in the early 1980s, they bought Main Frame Computers and he continued to pursue software as an interest area. Through the 1980s, his interest in software moved up alongside his great passion for cricket.

Winning the Ranji Trophy

Vasudevan lifted the Prestigious Ranji Trophy in the first and what turned out to be his only year of his state captaincy. It had been a long over three decades wait for TN and Vasudevan played a great role both as a captain and a spinner in TN’s title triumph. He has happy memories from that season ‘Cricket had been my life for a large part of my life till that point. For any Ranji Cricketer, it is always a great honour to captain the state. It was a great first year as captain for me. I felt contended at the end of the campaign. It was a fulfilling experience. You play for the state to try and win the Ranji Trophy. And I managed to do that in my very first year. I thought it would be good to go out on a high.”

Rejects teammate’s request

Among all the cricketers who heard of his decision, SPIC captain and his team mate from the late 1970s V Sivaramakrishnan was the most vocal. Vasudevan remembers that morning when Shiv came to him and tried to persuade him to continue “Shiv himself had come back from his retirement and he was keen that I play for the next couple of years given my rich vein of form in 87-88. He was upset that I stuck to my decision and did not listen to him. He simply could not digest my refusal to accept his request.”

Venkat’s Order – Play a couple of matches more

Venkataraghavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/venkataraghavan75.html), his state spin partner for over 5 years, was the Secretary of the TNCA that year and he too was not happy with Vasudevan’s decision. Venkataraghavan expressed his displeasure at this unexpected decision when he was in prime form with the ball and at a time when he was playing the role of a mentor for many youngsters in the TN team. In his typical ‘orderly’ direction, Venkataraghavan asked him to play the Irani Trophy and make the trip to Australia with the TN team for the match against Western Australia, hoping that Vasudevan would change his mind as his association with his young team members grew. As per Venkat’s orders, Vasudevan captained the Irani Trophy match and he picked up another 7 wicket haul in the innings endorsing the former captain’s view that he was in great form. Even without the form as a bowler, Vasudevan would have been an automatic choice for at least another two years on the back of him having led the state to the Ranji Trophy.

Shocks his Father

Vasudevan’s father Santhanaraman (who passed away in February this year at the age of 90) was a spinner of repute in the local league and also ran a couple of clubs in the city. He had been Vasudevan’s Acharya and his cricket mentor and spent a lot of time at the city grounds watching his son play through his early cricketing career. At their independent house on Sundararajan Street in Abhiramapuram, his father initiated him into cricket guiding him on spin bowling. Thus Vasudevan looked up to this father all through his life. But that day in 1988, Vasudevan sprung a surprise even on his father by announcing his retirement even without consulting /informing him. Angered at this sudden decision, his father shouted at him, one of the very few times that he had received a belting from his father.

Makes way for Sunil Subramaniam

Vasudevan was clear that he wanted to leave cricket on a high and the decision had been made. If Vasudevan had gone on like the legendary VVK or Venkat, it is likely that Sunil Subramaniam’s entry into TN cricket would have been delayed by a year or two. Sunil Subramaniam held great potential and he spent a good number of hours each day at Vasudevan’s home discussing the art of spin bowling (this writer too bowled alongside Sunil at the SPIC nets. Often the lanky Sunil would ask this writer if he saw (Ravi) Shastri in him. That’s how Sunil saw himself as a left arm spinner). In the long sessions at home, Vasudevan found him to be a good listener and an intelligent bowler and credits him for using the opportunity to become a great bowler for Tamil Nadu.

Lets go the prospects of a Zonal Debut

Vasudevan had played 61 matches for Tamil Nadu at that time and in the next few years could have easily played another 20 or so. A phenomenal performance in the Ranji Final and the Irani Trophy should have brought him into contention for the Duleep Trophy the next season even though he was in his 30s at that time (He had played one season of Deodhar but was largely over looked for Duleep in his 20s). He let go that possibility as well. But really he was not a man for the records and neither did the statistical highlights inspire him to play more. Right from his childhood, he played for the love of the game and records and statistics were merely an outcome of that passion.

In the decades since his retirement from Ranji Cricket, his fortunes have swung to extremes. In the 1990s, SPIC took care of him financially as he made his mark in the Software Arena. . He was a State Selector for a full term in the 1990s. In the mid 2000s, he started his own IT firm and forayed into Oracle ERP that was well received by overseas customers.

Tragedy Strikes

Four years after the launch of his firm, he faced the biggest tragedy of his life. His 17 year old son passed away within a month of completing his Class XII exam (and after he had secured admission in Venkateswara Engineering College) struck by a sudden and unknown illness that sealed his life in a matter of months. Just after completing his board exam, his son made a trip with the family to Oppiliappan temple in Kumbakonam where he specifically asked for Nilai Maalai for the Lord. As his last wish, he held his father’s hand and took a promise that he would continue to engage in cricket. During the last 24 hours of his life, a big eagle stayed inside his home complex almost as if watching over him. As soon as his life departed, the eagle too died!!!

Soon after the passing away of his son, Vasudevan shut down his Oracle firm and has since been coaching at the Gandhi Nagar Sports Club academy. Life was tumultuous financially for a few years earlier this decade. But he has stuck to his son’s final wish of associating himself with cricket for the rest of his life. Late last year, the TNCA invited him to be the Talent Hunting Head of Tamil Nadu, a paid engagement that was to have started this new season, one that COVID 19 has ensured would take some more time to fructify.

Contended with No Regrets in Life

Just over three decades later, he has no regrets whatsoever on his sudden and surprising decision to retire at the peak of his cricketing career, one that paved the way for Sunil Subramaniam’s entry into Tamil Nadu. Had he played over 75 matches, he would have been eligible for the One Time Financial Benefit and a higher pension as well. Even during the times of financial difficulty that he encountered earlier this decade, he had no second thoughts even in hindsight, on his decision to quit Ranji Cricket.

He continued to play local league cricket for almost another two decades (this writer umpired the final TNCA league match that Vasudevan played just under 15 years ago).

For a man who lifted the Ranji Trophy in 1988, the three decades since have been one of ups and downs as he went back and forth between cricket and software. But unmindful of the challenges, he has led a contended life and without regrets. Finally, this decade, he has decided to let go of his software interest and taken a call to be associated with ‘Cricket’, his first and biggest passion of his life as per his son’s wish. Vasudevan had form, passion and age on his side and these two combined with the Ranji Trophy triumph could have ensured that he continued to play till he was 40. This story is a reminder of the UNPRECEDENTED decision of the unassuming Vasudevan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2011/12/vasudevan-hats-off-to-you.html) quitting cricket on that Ranji Trophy Winning day at the peak of his career and with age still on his side, giving way his space to another left arm spinner, who much to the delight of Vasudevan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/10/s-vasudevan-tn-ranji-winning-captain.html) made a thumping mark on TN cricket over the next decade.

He took the call when people asked ‘Why now’ when historically in TN players had continued till the time the question of ‘Why not’ was asked of them. To date, his retirement remains as the most graceful in Tamil Nadu’s Ranji Trophy history.

The Torch Bearer of Devotees’ Faith in close to 100 Temples has revived the Thanjavur Palace to its historical glory

1984 and 85 were two tragic years for the Thanjavur Palace. The current Prince S. Babaji Rajah Bhonsle was then in his teens. He first lost his father, and then the very next year his grandfather Rajaram Rajah Saheb, who had been the Prince for over five decades throwing the teenager into the deep end and with the onerous task of managing 88 temples under the Palace’s fold. Unfortunately, for the new Prince, this takeover came during terrible phase for temples in TN, one when original inhabitants of agraharams in various temple towns had begun leaving their hereditary locations seeking greener pastures in cities. The situation at the 88 temples for which he was the hereditary trustee was grim. This story explores as to how a young prince orchestrated a positive turnaround in these temples in and around Thanjavur.

The Grim Scenario in the 1980s

When he took over the reins, the overall mood among the priests and service personnel was extremely negative. They had not been paid their salary for 14 months. Padithurai (contribution for Neivedyam) too was pending for a similar period. The devotee crowd at the temples had come down drastically. The overall financial situation at all the temples was poor. The total assessable income of the 88 temples put together was only Rs. 6Lakhs while the outflow far exceeded that. The man at the helm who was to manage all of these temples had just turned 18.

A feeling of 'Tsunami hit temples'

Unbelievable it may seem now there was a time in the history of the Thanjavur Palace when the temple staff used to get salary 15 months ahead of time. There was also a period when there was no place to store rice, the availability was in such abundance. And then, in the mid 1980s, the scenario had turned so bad that the Palace had to take provisions on loan from local shops but found it difficult to repay. Musical instruments had become a thing of the past. Both age and finances were against him when he took over the Palace after the sudden passing away of his father and grandfather in successive years “When I took over, it felt like I had taken charge immediately after a Tsunami. Everything seemed so bleak. For a long time, I spent money from my pocket to keep the temples active” says Babaji Rajah Bhonsle looking at those initial years in the 1980s.

The Big Temple- Bats Aplenty

The now world renowned Big Temple was dark and inhabited by bats. There was no ghee available to light the lamps in the Sannidhis. Thus in the decades leading to the 1980s, situation at the temples had turned grim. Given the financial scenario of the biggest temples under his management, it had become almost impossible to manage the large number of temples. There was severe pressure from the archakas to pay their salaries. So frustrated were the priests that they asked their children to focus on academics as against the traditional agamas and vedic learning. Many in the new gen moved away from the traditional service. With the existing priests at the Big Temple finding it financially challenging, no new priests were ready to join and there emerged a shortage of service personnel. Following the protests of priests on non-payment of salary, the Big Temple had to even close for a few hours.

Rajaram Saheb at the Thiru Mandangudi Samprokshanam in 1960

Around 75 of 88 temples were in financial deficit. The physical infrastructure too was in a dilapidated state in most temples. Consecration had not taken place for over 75 years in most of these temples. Babaji Bhonsle vividly remembers the day when an archaka from Thanjai Maa Mani Koil (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/08/thanjai-maa-mani-divya-desam.html) came on the eve of Vaikunta Ekadasi and placed the key in the palace announcing his decision to not open the temple on that most important day in the year without the settlement of the pending salary.

Despite the financially challenging situation, there were those who continued to serve the Lord with great devotion. 85 year old TK Ramanadha Gurukal was one such. He performed pooja at the Big Temple for over four decades in the most challenging of phases “Very few devotees visited the temple. There was minimal Thattu Kaasu. Our salary was in the hundreds. In the 1970s, we were only three of us to manage the pooja in all the sannidhis. But the Palace always stood by us. They were keen on our welfare and tried their best to support us in every possible way. Not once did it cross my mind to go away from the temple.”

Erudite Scholar and Teacher of Saiva Siddhantha, Octogenarian, 86 year old, T.N. Ramachandran went to the Big Temple quite frequently through the 1940s making the trip across the Cauvery from Thiruvayaru settled down there from the 1960s after his graduation. He delightfully recalls the contented mindset of the Gurukals of the Big Temple in the 1960s and 70s “Despite the low salary, the Gurukals were a totally contented and devoted lot. They saw it as a great blessing to be able to perform daily pooja at such a historic temple and dutifully undertook this service. At no point, did the financial challenges swerve them away from the service to the Lord.”

The 1800s - Managed to hold on to temples

Just under two centuries ago, the Marathas had established supremacy in the region that led to the British targeting them “We were so dominant that the British targeted us aggressively and seized power from us. We managed to retain the religious properties that included the 88 temples and the lands belonging to these temples” says Babaji Rajah Bhonsle looking back at how they found against the British Tyranny and held on the temple properties in the Thanjavur region.

A differentiating feature of Babaji Rajah Bhonsle that stood in good stead when he took over was his fearlessness from a very young age, a possible Maratha Warriors’ personality trait. Despite the financial challenges facing the temples, he was confident of a positive turnaround. Not once did frustration get to him. He believed that being surrounded by devotionally energetic people was important. He led a contended life and his wife was a source of great strength for she adapted very well to the challenging times at the Palace.

Refuses TN CM’s offer in the 1950s

After independence, the then CM of Madras C Rajagopalachari offered a top Government post to Rajaram Rajah Saheb. Given the unfavourable financial situation at the Palace, an acceptance at that time may have led to a faster recovery of the Palace. Had he accepted the offer, there could have been an immediate turnaround of the Palace. But Maha Periyava, the Raja Guru of the Palace, directed the Prince to not move away from the princely status to a Government job. The Palace followed Periyava’s instructions and rejected the CM’s offer. Soon, with the land ceiling act coming into force, the Palace faced even more of a financial struggle in the 1960s and 70s. Income from temple lands reduced drastically leading to more financial strain on the Palace.

Scenario Then in the mid 1980s

14 months pending salary to priests
75 of the 88 temples were in deficit
Most temples in dilapidated state
Total Assessable income of all the temples was far less than the dues payable
Padithurai (provisions to Madaipalli) was pending for 15months

Orchestrating a Dramatic Turnaround

What one has seen in the last three decades has been one of the most dramatic turnarounds of temples in Tamil Nadu. So how did the new Prince achieve this?

As a young boy, Babaji Bhonsle had watched closely the conduct of his grandfather, who was a great influence on him, both in administration as well in human relationships “32 of us lived together in the Palace as a joint family. We knew of no competition either within our family or outside. My grandfather often said that we were seen by the People as Dharma Raja and our foremost role was to take care of the people and serve them.”

Chalking out a Vision

Soon after taking charge, he began chalking out the vision for each of these temples and was personally involved in overseeing the operations work. As a first step, he made a detailed analysis of the financial status of all the temples. He constructed a model that would help the temples regain their lost glory. He wanted to ensure that the people connect is back in the temples and thus solicited their active involvement. Right from the beginning he was clear that he wanted to be surrounded by devotional people He held the view that for temples to survive it had to have support from the local community and hence actively engaged with them to help revive the historical festivals.

In his typically modest way, Babaji Bhonsle credits the success of resurrection to the community “I only sowed the seeds but it was the people who helped it sprout and grow."

Same Fixed Salary for Priests in all 88 temples

One of the most revolutionary steps was to pay equal salary to priests at all temples irrespective of their size and income. This delighted the priests and madaipalli personnel in the smaller temples. Cleanliness at temples was given utmost importance. He forged a strong relationship with the HR & CE and worked in close partnership with them by creating an open and transparent channel of communication.

As devotional wave began hitting the TN temples, he performed Consecration in all the 88 temples with the support of the community, something that had been unthinkable at the time he took over in the mid 1980s. When the first set of temples were consecrated after several decades, he took the prasadam and presented to the patients in the Government hospital and prayed for their recovery. This decade he has successfully completed a 2nd round of Consecration in most of the temples under his management.

Health Insurance Cover for Priests

He has also recently launched a one of its kind comprehensive health insurance cover for the service personnel in all the 88temples that has been a great confidence booster especially for the priests’ families.

Unchanged Conduct in Good and Bad Times

88 year old Ramnarayanan, who was in Revenue Department in Thanjavur, has had a close association with the Prince’s family for over six decades. He is full of praise for the way the Palace has managed the temples both in good and bad times “Rajaram Rajah Saheb moved well with the common man on the street and that has been the greatest quality of this Princely family. Babaji Bhonsle is an unassuming personality and has been very efficient in managing these temples. Not once in the last 80 years have I seen anyone in the family misplace the trust of the people especially of the temple service personnel. Many times you would not be able to differentiate the family in a crowd, such has been their simplicity.”

Pichai Bhattar served at the Thanjai Maa Mani Divya Desam for over 50 years from the 1960s till his death a couple of years back, while Sampath Paricharakar served for four decades at the Madaipalli. Have seen them selflessly serve the Lord, their sons are now continuing the service. 25 year old Sridhar Paricharakar graduated in Commerce and could have taken up a corporate job but he resisted the temptation to move away from temple service and joined the Madaipalli at the Thanjai Maa Mani temple “The Prince takes care of us really well with the salaries across the temples being a fair reward for our service. Our overall family welfare is also taken care of by the Prince.”

From Crisis Management to Now, Crowd Management

These days huge crowd throngs the Big Temple and Punnai Nallur Mariamman temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2012/03/punnai-nallur-mariamman-temple.html) so much that from his early days of focusing his efforts on getting devotees into the temple, Babaji Bhonsle now focuses on crowd management. There is a devotional wave that has hit temples in TN but the Prince strikes a note of caution reminding us that temples are not to be seen just from an architectural view point “We need to remember that this is a place of worship and one of surrendering ourselves to the Lord. It is important to ensure that some of the basic rules of worship are not violated inside the sannidhis.”

Ramnarayanan finds a mega turnaround from the troubles ahead of the 1980 Kumbabhisekam “Back then, there was a struggle to put together the requisite finances for the Kumbabhisekam. There was uncertainty all around. People were generally anxious about the successful completion of the event. 40 years on, the devotees competed with each other to support this year’s consecration of The Big Temple a testimony to the tireless work of Prince Babaji Bhonsle.”

From an Architectural wonder to a Devotional destination

For a long time, the Big Temple was seen just as an architectural wonder. Prince Babaji Bhonsle has ensured the revival of the devotional flavor at the temple. Every month, Pradhosham now attracts tens of thousands of devotees. Decades ago, it was with the income from the Punnai Nallur Mariamman temple that salaries to the Gurukals at the Big Temple were paid. Today, with the efforts of the Prince, the Big Temple has become hugely self sufficient. Ramanadhan Gurukal is delighted at this financial transformation of the Gurukals ‘They are paid reasonably well by the Palace and are now a happy lot and stand financially transformed.’

The outcome

All the temples are now thriving. With a renaissance of sorts in the bhakthi movement, the total assessable income of these temples has risen to over Rs.6crores, end of last year from around Rs. 5Lakhs in the mid 1980s. Historical festivals have been revived in most of all the temples under the Palace’s management. One of the features of his model has been that there have been no ticket sales in any of these temples. There are also no special entrances.

It is largely due to the three decades effort of the Prince to bring the community together that one witnessed such spontaneous response from devotees in terms of voluntary service to ensure the successful management of the mega event at the Big Temple this year. Babaji Rajah Bhonsle involved them actively in every way possible including in Hundial counting. He always moves around with them and is seen by everyone as being one among them. He has received unconditional support from the society at large. And that’s been one of the key reasons for his success in managing and turning around close to 100 temples. The Prince continues his efforts to secure income from the temple lands that has dwindled in recent decades and he is hopeful that the income will start accruing sooner than later. With the temples now in a happy state, his vision is to bring state of the art administration in these temples using technology.

He is of the view that it is important to get the next gen to see it as their duty to protect these heritage and historical structures and that one needs to continuously instill this mindset into them.

Transformed Scenario 3 decades later

Revolutionary step of equal salary for priests in all temples irrespective of size and income

Consecration done for all the temples – twice in most cases

Most of the historical utsavams revived

First of its kind Health Insurance Cover for all Service Personnel including priests

Active participation from the local community

Looking to implement state of the art technology to administer

Even during the period of the lockdown, Prince Babaji Bhonsle has ensured the payment of the salary to the service personnel in all the 88 temples thus taking care of their financial security.

Prince Babaji Rajah Bhonsle, the real man behind the success of the turnaround, has remained behind the scene, orchestrating the success story without any limelight whatsoever on himself. His demeanour has always been self effacing. His forefathers had undertaken Dharmic activities encouraging and spreading music, art and culture, building chatrams from Grand Anaicut to Rameswaram and taking care of the health of the people in the region through the setting up of hospitals.

He continues that legacy and has brought back the role of the Thanjavur Palace to its historical glory. When he took over the reigns as a teenager, he saw it as a long rally. Three and a half decades later, he continues to see it as his duty to safeguard, protect and develop these 88 temples. This year’s Kumbabhishekam of The Big Temple, one of the grandest the state has seen, was the culmination of over three decades of hard work by the Prince in bringing the community together in Thanjavur in preserving the rich heritage of the temples.

Impressed with his swing bowling, Legendary Indian Cricketer Lala Amarnath saw him as a great prospect

The Prodigious in-swing bowler gave up an opportunity to be coached at the Alf Gower Academy in the UK in the 1950s to focus on academics and a brewing Corporate Career

“If you are taking up cricket with an eye on playing for the State and higher, you may have to start from scratch in the industry after your cricketing days and the possibility of your success in the industry will be delayed to that extent” - Legendary Industrialist TS Santhanam told his son Ram in the 1950s

For a few years in the 1950s, this young boy looked like he would be the next fast bowling prospect for Tamil Nadu. After spending the early years of his life in Madurai - World War II had taken the legendary industrialist and his father TS Santhanam back to Madurai (from Madras), the boy came back to Madras in 1947 and enjoyed the best phase of his sporting life. But his father’s strong message and a shoulder injury put paid to his sporting interests and he went on to lead a global auto components firm. Here’s the cricketing story of the 80 year old S Ram, Chairman, Wheels India Ltd., and Director, Sundaram Finance Ltd.

Playing alongside Nasser Hussain’s Father

After returning from Madurai a couple of years after the Second World War ended, Ram joined MCC High School in Chetput. Along with PS High School, MCC was in the forefront of cricket in the city largely driven by the Headmaster, Kuruvilla Jacob, who believed that Sports was just as important as Studies in building and shaping one’s personality. He encouraged the students to indulge themselves in sporting activity and laid the basic foundation for many budding cricketers. Jawad Hussain, father of former England Captain and now a renowned commentator Nasser Hussain, was the school captain when Ram joined the school (Jawad went on to play one Ranji Trophy match for TN). PK Belliappa who too went on to play for Tamil Nadu was also Ram’s team mate at MCC High School (It was only from the 1970s and 80s that schools such as St. Bedes, Santhome and Don Bosco took over cricket domination in the city that has continued to this day).

Practicing on Mud Wicket at D’Silva Road home

It was on the mud wicket at Santhanam’s house on D’Silva Road in Mylapore (now it’s renowned for a tennis court where Ramanathan Krishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/03/ramanathan-krishnan.html) and his son Ramesh coach the TVS family) that Ram’s emergence as a fast bowler began. He would practice there with his new ball bowling partner KP Geethakrishnan (who later went on to become an IAS officer). Santhanam was a sporting enthusiast and as early as the 1940s, he ran a football team in Madurai called the ‘Madurai Greens’ that gave the best in the business a run for their money in domestic football league. And his interest in Tennis is well known. He was excited about a Tirunelveli districts boy doing well and encouraged Ramanathan Krishnan (from Tenkasi) all the way to his success at Wimbledon.

Ramanathan Krishnan remembers those moments “Santhanam would always cheer me from the stands and that boosted my confidence and my performance at Wimbledon. He also supported me financially and helped build my career in Tennis.”

Cricket probably was a distant third in Santhanam’s sporting interests but he did not dissuade this talented fast bowler from taking to cricket. Ram’s younger brother S Viji (Chairman of Sundaram Finance Ltd.,) too was more interested in Tennis ( though he did play cricket alongside Sanmar’s N Sankar) and continues to play to this day at the tennis court on D’Silva Road. It was Ram and his other brother Rangarajan who took to cricket in a serious way. Santhanam also handed Ram a season ticket for the test match in Madras against the West Indies soon after they had returned to Madras.

In-Swingers/Leg Cutters a nightmare for Openers

In the hot and humid conditions in Madras, the curd rice eating Ram surprisingly turned out to be a big in-swing bowler. Often he spearheaded the MCC school to victory with this difficult to trace inswingers that either bowled the batsmen or trapped them LBW. He was not one of those run of the mill fast bowlers who would be used to just remove the shine of the ball. He also bowled leg cutters. In his very first match for the school, Ram took 6 wickets for three runs that catapulted him into instant limelight and everyone took notice of this swing bowler in Madras.

80 year old former State Selector SVS Mani (TN won the Ranji Trophy in 1988 when he was a selector) played many matches for PS High School against Ram in those school days in the 1950s and has everlasting memories of those years especially the two finals played in front of a big crowd “MCC school had a strong team in cricket in those years and Ram was the opening bowler, whose in-swing the opposition openers feared. He had a very different action (bowling around the head) similar to that of Surendranath (he played for Services and alongside Ramakant 'Tiny' Desai for India) and could not be easily found out by the batsmen. Most often in those years, MCC and PS High School would feature in the inter schools final. In the first year, they beat us with Ram doing well with the ball. The next year we had our revenge beating a strong MCC at the RKM ground in T Nagar. Difficult it may be for the new generation to believe, a huge crowd watched us contest the competitive final at RKM and it was a great experience for all of us to play in front of such of a big crowd.”

Impresses Lala Amarnath

Ram also captained MCC in his last year at school. Buoyed by his performance at school, he began bowling at the BS Nets (at the North end of Chepauk). It was there during one of his bowling sessions that Ram encountered one of his biggest moments in Cricket. The legendary Lala Amarnath who was coaching at that time in Madras was mightily impressed with the swing that this teenager produced and taught him some of the nuances of swing to build on his inherent talent. He saw Ram as a good fast bowling prospect“I count those moments of praise and receiving fast bowling tips from this legend of Indian Cricket as one of my greatest in my cricketing life.”

In those years at school, one of the greats of TN cricket V Pattabhiraman (for decades, in both Ranji and Test Matches played at Chepauk, commentators referred to bowlers coming to bowl from the North end as running from the ‘Pattabhiraman’ Gate End) watched him bowl against Mysore and Hyderabad and was impressed. He spotted the ‘swinging’ talent in Ram and motivated him to work hard in cricket.

Against Kundaren for the South Zone Schools Team

After sterling performances in school cricket, Ram was chosen alongside SVS Mani and JR Maruthi as the three cricketers from Madras to represent the South Zone schools in the all India Tournament in 1956 and they made their way to Pune to play in the tournament. SVS Mani recounts memories from that trip “We were excited to be selected for an all India tournament. After winning the first match, we came up against B Kundaren (West Zone- he later went on to play for India) in the second. He scored a century against us. Ram was an exciting prospect that year and could have easily gone on to a higher level but he decided to focus on education and went into his father’s business later on. His exit was a loss for TN cricket.”

Two decades later Barath Reddy captained the Indian Schools to the UK. (

A Prestigious Opportunity - Fast Bowling Training in the UK

Pattabhiraman was keen to tap into Ram’s talent and suggested his name for being coached at the Alfred Gower fast bowling coaching in the UK, a MRF Pace Foundation (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/08/ta-sekar-architect-behind-worlds-best.html?m=1) equivalent from those days. It would have been a life transforming stint in the UK and could have pushed Ram into the next grade in cricket, possibly a move up into the state level. Those in South Zone schools were the ones who were monitored closely and their performances tracked for consideration at the next level.

A strong message from his Father

He was 16 at that time. The academic space was quite competitive and getting into the best engineering college was not a given thing.It was at that crucial moment as a teenager when he was on the verge of entering college that Ram encountered this strong message, almost as a warning, from the Auto Legend of Indian Industry ‘Cricket is a serious matter. I am not saying NO. You are going to get into college soon. If you are taking up cricket with an eye on playing for the State and higher, you may have to start from scratch in the industry after your cricketing days and the possibility of your success in the industry will be delayed to that extent” Santhanam told his son Ram at his house in Mylapore.

A Shoulder Injury -D'Silva Road Tennis Court

Like all youngsters who face this predicament, Ram had to choose between Cricket and a prospective career in the Auto Industry. And he decided on the latter. This phase also coincided with Ram encountering a serious shoulder injury. While playing Tennis with his brother Rangarajan on that court on D’Silva Road next to Alladi Krishnamurthy’s house, he banged his shoulder against the wall in an attempt to return a volley. That along with his father’s message put paid to the prospective cricketing career of Ram.

It was a difficult decision to make at that time to give up a sport that he had enjoyed so much in the previous few years and at a time when he was on the top of his game. The young boy gathered all the courage that he could muster and went up to the great Pattabhiraman to inform him of his inability to make it to the UK and about his decision to give up cricket. It was a decision that Pattabhiraman could not easily digest for he was of the view that Ram had it in him to make it big in cricket, especially since swing bowlers were a rarity in state cricket (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/05/promodh-sharma-cricketer-turned.html).

Prodigious Swing in Birmingham

Ram joined Guindy Engineering College and played cricket for fun for three years at college. But he gave up on TNCA league cricket. In the early 1960s, he went to the Birmingham University, a few kms from that beautiful Test Ground at Edgbaston, to do his Masters in Production Engineering. In the two years that he was there, he played summer cricket in the beautiful green grounds in Birmingham and he relived cricket once again in much more favourable bowling conditions “I was able to swing the ball prodigiously and most of the players were surprised that this bowler from India could swing the ball so much. But my cricket stint there in the UK was more as a social gathering for I had given up serious cricketing interest long back.”

Looking back on that decision of Ram, SVS Mani is disappointed that the swing bowler gave up cricket very early in his life but is pragmatic about it being the right decision“He was in good form and the fact that he was a natural swing bowler gave him an edge. But there was a business to take care of in the future and Ram decided against cricket.”

In his later years, he played a few matches for Sundaram Motors in the Sports and Pastime Tourney alongside NV Seshadri, M Subramaniam and the late Sridhar.

His father Santhanam told him very early on in his school days, a message that he remember almost seven decades later ‘Sports teaches you to work closely with others and helps you win as a team.” The few years in cricket taught Ram a great deal and helped build his personality that has held him in good stead all through his life. For starters, he made a lot of friends through cricket “One can win a few matches on his own but for the large part one has to play as a team to win the Trophy. The same philosophy of building a strong team holds good in the corporate world as well” says Ram looking back at the learning from those cricketing years.

The soft spoken Ram used his early cricketing experience in building a strong team spirit and bonding among the workers and colleagues over the last five decades at the Padi, Madras headquartered auto components firm Wheels India (Revenues of over Rs. 3000 cr in 2019), where he was the Managing Director for almost three decades from the mid 1970s before handing it to his son Srivats, who has been running the firm over the last decade or so. Had he taken a cricketing call in the late 1950s, Ram may have gone on to play for the State and carved a name for himself in the state’s cricketing history. But he decided otherwise leaving us to ponder on what might have been!!!

‘Chellapillai’ of Mylapore Passes away after 70 years of Service

It was the Gandhi Jayanthi day in 2013 that I had a long chat with the then 77 year old K Veera Raghava Bhattar at his home adjacent to the Adhi Kesava Perumal Temple in Mylapore. He belonged to the 11^thgeneration of his clan who performed Thiru Aradhanam at the Kesava Perumal Temple. He was an expert in Vaikanasa Agamas and was also initiated into Sanskrit Kaavyams at a very young age. At that time in 2013, he had spent over six decades of continuous service performing Thiru Aradhanam for Lord Adhi Kesavan having joined the temple in Panguni of 1950 as a 14 year old. He had seen many ups and downs during his long service at the temple but he had decided very early on in his life that he would not leave the temple even under trying circumstances.

His grandma called him as Chellapillai after the Lord of Thiru Narayanapuram, Melkote (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2012/04/vaira-mudi-utsavam-melkote.html?m=0) and that name stuck to him till the very end.

As I sat down with him at the first floor of his house, his devotion to this Lord and the Saint Poet Pey Azhvaar was immediately visible. It was the week of Pey Azhvaar’s annual trip to Parthasarathy temple in Thiruvallikeni and it was his favourite trip of the year (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/10/pey-azhvaar-parthasarathy-koil-annual.html). He was devotionally attached to Lord Parthasarathy and would often walk to Thiruvallikeni. Another favourite of his was the Avathara Utsavam of Pey Azhvaar.

He went on to explain the special powers of Mayuravalli Thayar and how seeking her blessings on Friday would fulfill one’s wishes. Over the last decade or so, devotees have swarmed the Thayar Sannidhi on Friday evenings at this temple much to his delight.

Recognition for his Service

As he turned 80, he was anointed with the ‘Kainkarya Sriman’ crown by Velukudi Krishnan of Kinchitkaram Trust.

Service even during Lockdown

And past 80, he was one of the oldest priests in the state to perform service. Even when others were away, he was always seen at the temple performing Thiru Aradhanam. To all in the temple circles, he was their favourite ‘Chellapillai’ of Mylapore. Right till the end, he remained an integral part of the grand Brahmotsavam celebrations at the temple.

Even during the lockdown this year when the devotees have been kept away from the temple, Veera Raghava ‘Chellapillai’ Bhattachar continued to perform Thiru Aradhanam and was present every day at the temple.

When the lockdown seemed to extend beyond the initial period, his relatives suggested to him to spend the period of the lockdown in a remote village near Chengalpet where their relatives lived. But he rejected the idea reasoning out that he could not stay away from performing service at the Adhi Kesava Perumal temple and thus he was seen at the temple even this month at the age of 84.

Pey Azhvaar in 2013

However, the death of his nephew the 64 year old Kumar Bhattar, just under a fortnight ago left him in a shocked state. It was an event that was difficult for him to digest.

He was admitted at the Ramachandra Medical College Hospital last week. On Saturday evening, he spoke to his grandson Srinivasa Raghavan in a cheerful tone and chanted slokas of Lord Rama. Since the age of 19, he has been reciting the entire Ramayana and he completed one such reading of the entire Ramayana last year as well.

He had been a diabetic for a while and during the early hours of Sunday, the pulse gave away and much to the shock of the entire family, he passed away on Sunday (June 28) morning aged 84 after having performed service at the Adhi Kesava Perumal Temple for seven decades.

Celebrating 25 years of Temple Restoration Service

225 historical temples restored in South India - Monthly Sambhavanai to 1235 service personnel

The 'Aani Anusham' day, this Thursday, took one back in time to the mid 1990s to one of the most satisfying temple restoration efforts of Venu Srinivasan at Erettai Tirupathi’s Devapiran Temple

Decades of 1960s-80s marked a moving away of devotees from temples. While industrialists focused on driving their companies into a growth mode setting up manufacturing plants in cities, traditional residents belonging to historical temple towns moved to these cities in search of jobs and to earn their livelihood. In both case, it meant a life away from temples. This mass exodus had a disastrous impact on the state of the temples and consequently on the lives of the priests and the service personnel. By the 1980s, many 1000 year old temples, praised by the Saint Poets were in dilapidated state and a few went into ruins. The presentation of sacred food to the Lord reduced drastically. The long serving priests at these temples were in financial turmoil and the dilapidated state of the temples also had a negative impact on the larger society in the remote locations. The positive vibration emanating from the Vedic Recital and the Sacred Verses of the Saint Poets had become a thing of the past in most of these temple towns. Overall, temples looked deserted and the scenario presented a grim picture.

It is in light of this background that the 25 years of restoration efforts of industrialist Venu Srinivasan assumes significance. He started off his temple restoration initiative in the mid 1990s during a challenging phase for TVS Motors (then TVS Suzuki) and his work at Erettai Tirupathi that started in 1994-95 ranks even today as one of his most satisfying. Yesterday - Aani Anusham ( July 2, 2020)- marked the completion of 22 years since the Consecration of Devapiran Temple in Erettai Tirupathi.

The early 1990s scenario at Nava Tirupathi

His debut project at Padai Veedu, Namakkal District, transforming it from one in ruins to a thriving village led the Collector of Tirunelveli to engage with Venu Srinivasan and initiate in him the thought of reviving Nava Tirupathi, a set of nine Azhvaars praised temples either side of Tamaraibarani.

30 years ago, these temples were heading towards ruins - in fact Rajapathy(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/09/rajapathy-nava-kailayam.html), one of the Nava Kailayam temples near Thenthiruperai actually went into ruins and into a non-existent state. In those years in the early 1990s, these temples were deserted with absolutely no ‘outside’ devotees, priests lived with meager income wearing the same dhoti through the year and there was no 'economic activity.

While the effort in Padai Veedu was to ‘rebuild’ a temple in ruins, in Nava Tirupathi the challenge was to rebuild and revive the entire region. Poverty was rife when he visited the region in the 1990s and one of the first decisions he made on that trip was to ensure that ‘Temple Restoration goes hand in hand with Social Rehabilitation.’

Venu Srinivasan was in his early 40s and a devotional wave struck him as headed towards a set of temples he had not visited often in the previous two decades. His first ‘Port of Call’ was the twin temples at Erettai Tirupathi on the Northern banks of Tamaraibarani given that these two were the most dilapidated among the Nava Tirupathi temples and lay in a state of ruin.

Everything that could go wrong at a temple had gone wrong there. For a salary of around rupees hundred the priest, Seshamani Bhattar, then in his 30s, staked his life having to wade through the high tides in the Tamaraibarani to reach the temple and encountering venomous reptiles on entry into the temple. There was no money even to light a lamp for the lamp. There was darkness all around. The walls were falling. The roof was hanging on a tender edge. There was no economic activity of any kind in the region.

His First Big Experience in Temple Restoration

Among all the temples that he has restored in the last 25 years, this one at Erettain Tirupathi ranked one of the toughest for Venu Srinivasan. In the previous 75 years there had been no large scale restoration of any temple in Tamil Nadu that would have served as a precedent to follow. Almost as a divine blessing, Venu found a man to anchor the architectural restoration. Among the people he has worked with on temple restoration, he counts Ganapathi Sthapathy as one of the most outstanding “He was a expert of the real kind in agamas, sastras and dhyana slokas” says Venu with great delight at those days in 1994-95.

Given the extent of damage that had been caused in the earlier decades and the many challenges that came up during the restoration work, it took much longer than expected to complete the restoration. In fact, before the samprokshanam at Erettai Tirupathi, he took up smaller exercises at Thiru Pulingudi, Varagunamangai and Sri Vaikuntam and completed those ahead of Erettai Tirupathi. It was 22 years ago this week on Aani Anusham in 1998 that finally the Samprokshanam was performed at Erettai Tirupathi for the first time in the 20th Century after a remarkable restoration of the twin temples. Earlier that week, on Aani Uthiram the Samprokshanam was performed at Aravinda Lochanar Temple.

Through the 2nd half of the 1990s, he took up and completed restoring the rest of the Nava Tirupathi temples. By the end of that decade, the entire Nava Tirupathi wore a transformed look. As part of this exercise, he ensured that historical festivals including the Brahmotsavam were revived. With the early 2000s also marking the return of the devotees to the Divya Desams, this new look at the nine Nam Azhvaar praised temples proved to be devotionally inspiring to the visitors.

Driving Economic Revival

While restoring the temples to its historical architectural grandeur was one important facet, Venu considered it equally important to restore and revive the society around the temples. He laid focus on economic revival and the rehabilitation of the society and this he did through the creation of Self Help Groups that led to a new found vibrancy that one witnesses to this day well over two decades later.

As part of this philosophy, he also ensured that the priests and service personnel were 'financially' happy and created a monthly Sambhavanai for all of them. It was his view that if the priests were financially weak and daily sustenance became a challenge, it was likely they would continue to lead a frustrated life and that could come in the way of them discharging their duties.

Today, 25 years after the commencement of that restoration exercise, the entire Nava Tiruapthi region is flourishing with the service personnel at the temple as well as the community around having seen a revival in their fortunes. Devotees who now visit Nava Tirupathi still talk about the restoration and the transformation of this region from the late 1990s. Venu Srinivasan looks back at this whole exercise of restoration as one of the biggest blessings from the Lord. ‘It has been a highly fulfilling experience to be involved in the restoration of Divya Desams in the Tirunelveli region and to be able to revive heritage structures from a state of dilapidation.”

As he looks back at those early days of his association in temple service, he sees the work at Nava Tirupathi as having been his training ground for it was there that he learnt to understand the societal challenges and began devising workable solutions for the community at large. Every time he engaged in a new restoration initiative, his thoughts went back to the lessons that Nava Tirupathi taught.

Temple Restoration in Karnataka – 1998

Even as he was completing the exercise at Nava Tirupathi, he expanded his services to Karnataka and began a 15 month restoration effort at the Hoysala Styled Lakshmi Kantha Swami Temple in Hedathale, about 35 kms from Mysore, in March 1998 followed by another 15 month exercise at the Rama and Mariamman Temples in Kembal in 1999.

Back to South TN

After restoration of the Nava Tirupathi temples, he moved on to Thiru Kurungudi Divya Desam, a temple managed by the Jeer. In the decades prior to the independence, the temple ‘competed’ with Srirangam and Thiruvallikeni in the recital of the sacred verses. Chariot Festival was one of the biggest days of the years in terms of devotee presence. People came from 50 nearby villages for the popular Chariot festival. There would be at least 10000 people on that day with food served through the day from the time the Chariot started its trip early morning but there too, one witnessed the impact of the mass exodus of people in the 1960s and 70s.

Thiru Kurungudi - A Black Mark in his Restoration Efforts

The residents of the temple town consider the entry of Venu Srinivasan, his adoption of the temple town and nearby villages and the welfare initiatives as a turning point in the fortunes of this historical Divya Desam. However, it was also marred by an event that led to a court case, one that has prolonged for well over a decade and is still pending in the Supreme Court.

The Shiva Sannidhi that till then lay adjacent to the Perumal Sannidhi was shifted to a newly constructed Sannidhi North East of the temple, 15 years ago in Vaikasi.The Jeer of the temple told this writer a few years ago that the ‘Deva Prashnam’ pointed to the Veetriruntha Perumal being blocked by Shiva and there was the suggestion that it should not be blocked. And that was the reason for the shifting to another location within the temple complex. In the 25 years of his temple restoration efforts, this episode of moving the Sannidhi remains a black mark.

Through the 2000s, he continued his efforts to restore temples in Karnataka such as the ones at Chamundi, Goddanapura and Chikkakanya and of big and popular temples such as the Chamundeeswarar and Mahabaleswarar temples in Chamundi.

And then the call from TN CM

For long after his involvement with the restoration of Nava Tirupathi, he was focused on restoration work south of the Vaigai and in Karnataka until one day earlier this decade he got a call that truly stunned him. The former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Late Mrs. J Jayalalitha was on a mission to restore the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam to its ancient glory. She had heard of the outstanding work Venu Srinivasan had undertaken in Nava Tirupathi. And as he picked the call from her office, he was told that the then CM was keen to have him lead the restoration exercise at the Srirangam Temple.

The Biggest and The Best

He experienced the biggest of challenges in Srirangam. When he visited Srirangam as part of his pre restoration exercise inspection, he found several new structures inside the temple that had been built in the last 100 years for no good reasons and posed as an obstruction to free movement. It also prevented natural light from entering the temple. Many areas inside the temple were completely dark. Many of the sub shrines had remained locked for decades. Sacred pathways had been blocked resulting in the growth of huge bushes. Toilets had been built in different corners of the temple.

There were the human conflicts too. Expert opinions with multiple views came from all corners, free and at great speed!!! The restoration experience he had had at Nava Tirupathi came in handy in managing and tackling a number of the challenges he faced during this huge exercise in Srirangam. A large part of the restoration exercise involved removing unwanted structures which were neither historical nor architecturally proper.

Living Structures not Just Monuments

He has always held the view that temples are living structures but were not designed for 50000 devotees to visit at a time. His challenge in Srirangam was to ensure that the devotees were put to the least inconvenience during the 18 months of the restoration activity. While he applied ASI’s norms in ensuring architectural beauty and bringing it as close to antiquity as possible, he also looked at temple as a place of worship for devotees.

In terms of encountering human challenges to his restoration work, Srirangam proved the toughest but he remains unfazed and says that one has to have forbearance in public places, especially in temples "If one is not prepared for bricks, mud and stones, one cannot do public service"is a strong message he has had for himself ever since he began engaging in temple restoration activities. “It is a thankless job but the devotees are my masters” he told this writer in 2017.

The final leg of 11 Divya Desams around Tirunelveli

Till the mid 1950s, the long agraharam at the Thothadri Nathan Divya Desam in Nanguneri lined up with over 300 families welcoming the Lord during the street processions. Led by Theevatti lamps, the Lord was carried by the Sri Patham under the big Kudai. The Konars and Pillais lived in the street next to the Mada Street and they too performed Kainkaryam and carried the Lord on the Thanga Chapram on the 7th day of the Brahmotsavam. Ghosti in those decades was 100 strong and vibrant. The 1960s turned out to be a very difficult period as famine led to a financial instability. And the financial struggle led them away from kainkaryam.

At the turn of the decade gone by, the temple felt a dire need for restoration and began an effort but it did not progress in the right direction and was stopped mid way. Soon after the completion of the 18 month exercise at the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, Venu Srinivasan was called on by the Vanamaamalai Jeer to take up a full scale restoration, the first such repairs work in almost a century. It was the final leg of his 11 Divya Desams restoration initiative around Tirunelveli that he began way back in the 1994-95 with Erettai Tirupathi. While he has successfully completed ten of them, the one at Thiru Kurungudi is to be seen through to its logical conclusion.

In Tamil Nadu alone, Venue Srinivasan has performed restoration exercises in close to 200 historical temples.

His experience as the chief of a corporate auto major clearly helped in his restoration initiatives with the administrative principles applicable to organizations being relevant to this as well. Principles of Quality, Management, House Keeping, Time Keeping, Punctuality, Processes and Systems have been applied in his restoration initiatives.

Sambhavanai during Lockdown

Over the last 25 years, he has been providing monthly Sambhavanai to the service personnel of all the temples where he has been involved in restoration. In most temples, the Sambhavanai continues to exceed the salary paid by the HR & CE. On last count, 1235 service personnel of temples are being financially supported month on month by Venu Srinivasan. Even in the period of the lockdown and during times of huge stress in the corporate world, he initiated a special ‘Lockdown’ Sambhavanai to the service personnel in the remote temple towns.

Mookambigai, Ahobilam and more

To date, Venu Srinivasan has been associated with the restoration of around 225 temples across South India including over 40 historical temples in Karnataka and AP. In February this year, restoration efforts were completed in one of the few temples for Parasurama in South India, this one at Nanjungad in Karnataka. Soon after the lock down, he is hoping to start work at another popular temple on the west coast of Karnataka in Mookambigai.

Earlier this decade, he also expanded his temple restoration work to Andhra Pradesh. Soon after the lock down is lifted, plans are to continue with the big exercise across the nine temples in Ahobilam Divya Desam that had begun last year.

Two of his large scale exercises – Vadakkunathan in Trissur and Ranganathaswamy in Srirangam- won the temples the UNESCO award for restoration. The restoration efforts in many of these temples are likely to act as a model for those taking restoration exercises in the future.

Not only did Venu Srinivasan restore dilapidated temples and bring them back to life, he also acted as a catalyst for economic revival in villages. His determination to succeed is seen not just in the corporate world (where he brought TVS Motors from a BIFR firm to be a globally successful company) but in his temple restoration exercises as well. And the philosophy of ‘Saranagathi’ that had been initiated into him at the age of 16 has been put into practice at all times over the last 25 years, especially when he has faced big challenges in his temple restoration initiatives.

To him the feedback from the devotees is the biggest blessing. For all his untiring work over the last 25 years, Venu Srinivasan looks back at this entire experience as one carrying out the wishes of the devotees ‘I have been appointed as a servant of the devotees and have tried to carry out my duty to the best of my ability and as sincerely as possible. Ultimate satisfaction comes from the fact that devotees have found a positive vibration from these temples and are going back happy after the darshan.’

This Curd Rice eating teenager wants to don the Arsenal Colours one day

Played in the competitive iLeague last year

Raja Baradwaj Rajagopalan (RBR as he calls himself in the historical stories that he writes online in Tamil) was a fiery character on and off the field at advertising agency O & M. One simply could not tie him down and he would stick to his guns like a typical Maduraiite. In a cricket match at the RKM Ground over 15 years ago, when he was pulled up for not gathering a difficult take (he was a wicket keeper), he threw down the gloves and asked that player to try his hand at keeping. Well over a decade later, his elder son too was into keeping but this time not in the game that Raja liked for long but in football as a ‘goal keeper’.

A sportsman himself who played for the TVS school and the Madura College in the 1990s, Raja Baradwaj encouraged Anirudhha to get into sports at a very young age while they were in Dubai, where the father was a CRM consultant in the automobile space. Even as a one year old, Anirudhha would identify every car model that was out on sale. He was not yet 5 when he held a tennis and squash racquet and a golf club. Like his father he also held a cricket bat. But very soon, they were all dumped for the sport that has remained his passion for a large part of the last 10 years. He saw this game as one that kept your adrenalin flowing through the entire 90 minutes.

Raja Baradwaj

He took to football as a puny boy (seen with his brother in the photo below) when his father put him on to the Arsenal Soccer School under the guidance of coach Gareth Hamilton soon after it was launched in Dubai. Anirudhha decided when he was 7 years old that Football was his future and since then, he has breathed football every minute of his life. He began watching the English Premier League and wanted to be one among them some day playing and scoring goals for his favourite club Arsenal.

His younger brother Anantaa, who loves Rasam, too joined in Anirudhha’s footsteps into the football academy in Dubai. Since the younger brother's classes were 90 minutes ahead of his, Anirudhha too went along with him and used the free time to practice and be trained by his coach. Thus at every football session, he was practising 90 minutes more than the other boys in his group.

Leading Scorer in the Middle East Cup

He was around 10 when he played in the Middle East Cup against boys from the Middle East who were physically taller and stronger but tiny little Aniruddha beat them for speed and surprised everyone with the goals he scored. The curd rice eating boy (Yes, that continues to be the favourite dish for this budding footballer!!!) became the tournaments 2nd highest goal scorer.

Soon he was selected in the development squad that played against the Barcelona Soccer School.

His coach, Ian Selley, the former Arsenal and England Lions Player, was impressed with his performance and pushed him into the U13 category but this time as a defender to block the stronger forwards of the opponents. And when the school ran short of a goal keeper, he was asked to be the goalie in one of the tournaments. Unfortunately, it was there that he experienced the first football injury as he fractured his hand trying to save a goal and was out of action for three months in 2017. He continued to be a goal keeper at the Goa Super Cup, the first time he played in India. His personal favourite as a coach has been Gary D’Souza, who now runs Kopana Soccer School, a well known academy in Mumbai.

Unexpected Move to India

While he was expecting to continue his football in Dubai, the sudden deterioration in his grandmother's health led to his father returning to India after almost 15 years in the Middle East. For a few months, Anirudhha had to make do with the football practice at his maternal uncle’s house where he began knocking the ball once again with his cousin brother as the goal keeper guarding the house gate which served as the goal post.

Joins Great Goals Academy in Chennai

It was through the football coach (Bhaskara Ryan) that his father found Great Goals, a leading football academy in Chennai run by two enterprising women, Priya and Sandhya.

In the first few months of his football in Chennai, the then 12 year old Anirudhha found the physical methods of tackles quite intimidating. But when the coach saw his dribbling technique, he picked him in the developmental squad.

Goal Scoring Spree

In his first tournament in Chennai in 2018, Anirudhha, who was back to his favourite forward position, impressed everyone with his goal scoring ability. Just when things were looking up, he encountered the 2nd big injury of his football career. He twisted his ankle and was once again out of action for three months. He came back just in time to be included in the team for the iLeague in the U13 category. Coming back from injury, his coach asked him to don the role of a left back. While his left leg is dominant, Anirudhha has the advantage of being strong on both legs, a special feature for a footballer.

He did well in the iLeague and was looking forward to playing a key role in the U15 category this year when the announcement came that the age group categories were being moved to U12 and U14 from the previous U13 and U15.

The 14 year old Anirudhha would have been in his final year in the U15 group and one as a senior boy in that age group. The decision of the league to change the age groups has shattered his confidence a bit for it came at the wrong time.

And then to make matters worse, the COVID struck restricting football activities to the confines of his home. Over the last four months, he has stuck to following the online fitness regime handed out by his academy and improving his dribbling skills and techniques. But playing together physically as a team has been something he has missed sorely during the period of the lock down.

This period has also coincided with his moving into Class X, the phase in life when parents typically move their children away from all sporting activities to focus on academics. Having played sports through his school and college, Raja Baradwaj has given Anirudhha all the freedom to continue with football on the condition that he should simultaneously work hard in his studies and balance the time between sport and academics.

As a 14 year old, Anirudhha, for whom Science is of special interest, is grateful that his parents have given him that freedom to do what he likes best in life. And that’s football. He is hoping to register for a club in the U18 category as soon as the lock down is lifted for sporting activities and to play with 2-3 years his senior. He is confident that by the time he is 17, he will be ‘one among the best’ in the U18s.

As any budding sports talent, Anirudhha too dreams of playing for the country one day. His legs are itching to get back to the football ground but for the moment he is stuck to watching the end of season battle in the English Premier League, where unfortunately his favourites the Gunners are out of the top five this season.

The joyous moment of scoring a goal and the celebration immediately after is what gives him the ‘real kick’ in life. And that remains the only passion for this 14 year old. Scoring lots of goals and helping Arsenal win is what this teenager is dreaming, each day of his life.

This section will track the progress of this footballer

In his 25th year in service, this 7th Generation priest is committed to performing a life time of devotional service to Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal

Financially, the lockdown has thrown up a big challenge, but for Old World Priests like Jayakanthan Shivachariar, this is an opportunity for a close devotional connect with God, sans devotees

The Head Priest of the Kapaleesawar temple E Venkatsubramaniam Shivachariar (popularly referred to as Jayakanthan) belongs to the 7th generation of priests to have performed service at this historical Saint Poets praised temple. He had been supporting his father from 1982 as a young boy and officially began his service as a priest at the temple in 1996.

Rejects a Lucrative Offer from a UK Temple

In his very first year, an overseas devotee was so moved by the devotional commitment of Jayakanthan Shivachariar that he captured a photo of his service during a procession. The next day he came back with a form with his photo pasted on that. It was for a long term extremely lucrative engagement as a priest for a temple in the UK. At that time, in the 1990s, the financial offer for his service would have been higher than what any priest in India would have made. The offer also allowed him to take his wife along and for them to be positioned for long at that temple in the UK. It was a lifetime kind of engagement with the temple.

So lucrative was the offer that anyone would have been happy to take. But Jayakanthan Shivachariar could not think of letting go his service to Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal at a temple where his forefathers had performed service for centuries.

The devotee, who was so impressed with the Shivachariar’s devotion, tried to convince him citing the financial opportunity and the long term stability. But Jayakanthan Shivachariar was clear that his service lay at the Kapali Temple. The devotee went away but came back ten years later for a recheck on the mindset and with an offer that was even more lucrative than before. But he saw in the Shivachariar’s eyes the same devotion that he had in 1996 and he quietly went away and has not returned since.

Jayakanthan Shivachariar does not talk much, and regular devotees to the Kapali Temple often find him lost in thoughts of the Lord. For many years, it had been his devotional way to sit near the Kapaleeswarar Sannidhi after the early morning pooja for Japam. But the devotional wave that has hit temples over the last decade or so has meant huge crowds at the Kapali temple that has made it difficult for him to follow the devotional processes that are close to his heart such as the Japam.

Lockdown’s Positive impact

In Panguni, following the cancellation of the Brahmotsavam he, like many others had hoped that the lockdown would be short lived as the temple was to be closed only till March 31. However as time went by, he came to terms with the fact that the lockdown in temples for devotees was going to be much longer than what had been originally thought of. While the lockdown has resulted in devotees not being allowed into the temple for an indefinite period of time and it is not yet known when the temples are likely to reopen, it has in a way proved to be a blessing in disguise for old world priests such as Jayakanthan Shivachariar.

In the fourth months of the lockdown, he has followed processes that he had devotionally dreamt for long but was not able to implement because of the huge crowd that has swarmed the temple. While he is saddened at the absence of devotees from the temple and the processions that have had to be cancelled, the lockdown has meant that the priests have been taken back in time to the days when they quietly and peacefully performed service with the Lord in ‘Ekantham’. In his period of service at the Kapali Temple, he has never brought a mobile phone into the temple.

And to his delight, in the last few months, he has not heard a phone ring inside the temple, a regular and disturbing feature in the pre lockdown days. There have been no external distractions of devotees talking loudly to each other inside the sannidhi, no raising of the hand to take photos of the Lord, no pushing by the devotees to get the best view of the abhisekam darshan at 9pm. This phase has taken him back to the experience he had as a school boy several decades ago when his father Ekambareswar performed pooja at this temple.

Saint Poets’ Utsavams

In the months gone by, there have been three important annual utsavams dedicated to the Saint Poets – Appar Utsavam on Chitrai Sadhayam, Thiru Gnana Sambandar’s ten day utsavam culminating with his Mukthi on Vaikasi Moolam and Manikavachakar’s Utsavam on Aani Magam. Abhisekam and Alankaram were performed on these days in a peaceful scenario with Othuvar presenting the verses of the respective Saint Poets during these Utsavams. It also seemed that the Lord was enjoying listening to these verses in a quiet peace without the over powering noise of the people that has been a distinguishing feature of Utsavam in recent times.

Following the announcement of the lockdown that led to the cancellation of the Brahmotsavam in Panguni, Jayakanthan Shivachariar has had several other one to one experiences with the Lord. The full moon day in Vaikasi is the only day in the year when Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal are anointed with Sandalwood Paste. 4pm on Vaikasi day every month is the time for the abhisekam for Arumugam, seen in the inner prakara of the Swami Sannidhi. Earlier this month (Aani), a three day Pavitrotsavam was performed.

While in many of the temples in Tamil Nadu including the big ones, the pooja, sans the devotees, for the evening has been completed by 8pm, at the Kapaleeswarar temple there has been no change in the pooja process which have been exactly the same way as it was performed prior to the lockdown. The 9pm Abhisekam has remained so and there has been no bringing forward of the pooja timings.

Disease Relief Homam

In early June, a ‘Vyaathi Sakata Homam’ was performed inside the temple invoking the blessings of the Lord for relief from the Virus. And then for 16 days in the 2nd half of June, a Pancha Kaavya Pooja was performed each day for 1 ½ hours with Homam, Abhisekam and Nivedhanam and recital of Santhi Mantras for relief from big diseases forming part of the daily process.

Financial Challenges but focusing on Devotion

Jayakanthan Shivachariar has had queries from across the world on the future, some on the education of their children, a few on the job prospects in the current scenario. His message, as always, has been to place the trust on the Lord of Mylapore. To those longing to have darshan, his message has been that the priests have all been invoking the Lord’s blessing for an early end to the Pandemic and for the devotees to come back to the temples.

Being with God in an Ekantham state without noise from the external world is an experience that he has not had in his 2 ½ decades at the temple. And being able to do that has been a richly fulfilling experience over the last four months.

The priests of Kapaleeswarar temple do not get a salary from the temple and the ‘Thattu Kaasu’ is their main source of income. Financially, the current scenario without the Thattu Kaasu would pose a big challenge for them but for those like Jayakanthan Shivachariar no amount of money can equal the joy of performing, in peace, an Abishekam for the Lord or decorating Ambal in a grand alankaram on Friday.

As a young school boy, he used to throw a small stone targeting the lamp post on the Appar Swami Koil Street in Mylapore to improve the direct hits – He turned out to be one of the best fielders for the state in the 1960s

In early 1964 - his best phase in cricket - he scored two classy first class centuries in a period of three months, a period when he was also in the Test Reserve at Chepauk, on Pataudi’s insistence, as a fielder

This is a story of a Mylaporean, who went through a financially challenging phase in the 1950s and yet, made it to the South Zone squad in the 1960s. Much later, in his first year as the selector of the state team, Tamil Nadu won the Ranji Trophy in 1988. He was the coach of the India Cements team till he was 70 years, a golden period for the club side. The unassuming SVS Mani, who will be completing his 81st birthday next Wednesday, has just twisted his ankle on a walk in the terrace at his home in Adyar and is stuck in his room, with the doctor advising a month’s rest leaving him to track the first international match in 4 months, the one involving England at Southampton, that brought back unforgettable memories of the knock he played against them way back in 1962 in Bangalore figuring alongside legends such as ML Jaisimha, EAS Prasanna and his mentor AG Milkha Singh. It also brought back memories of the Pongal test match at Chepauk in 1964 when he was a test reserve (as the best fielder at that time in Tamil Nadu) on a specific request from MAK Pataudi.

Here’s the tale.

It was on Appar Swami Koil Street in Mylapore that SVS Mani learnt his early cricketing lessons. He began playing tennis ball cricket with a bunch of boys who were his neighbours and challenged them to get him out. In return, those boys threw up a couple of unique challenges at Mani that was to later turn him into one of the best fielders for Tamil Nadu. Handing him a small stone, they asked if Mani could pick up the lamp post that was at a distance. And then the boys would point to a specific mango on a tree and ask him to get that for them with a direct hit. He was also the one to always go for the catch in ‘Gilli Dhanda’. He relentlessly focused his efforts on these exercises.

Innocuous Exercise results in 'Best Fielder'

While the boys were delighted at enjoying the mango, this seemingly innocuous exercise helped Mani improve his fielding skills. A decade later, another seemingly innocuous exercise of a young boy swimming in the Cauvery in Kumbakonam led to stronger shoulders that contributed to him becoming one of the best fast bowlers for Tamil Nadu - the hat trick man of TN cricket (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2011/08/kalli-b-kalyanasundaram.html).

As a 9 year old boy, Mani remembers watching the legendary West Indian Everton Weekes (who passed away last week) nearing a record 5th century in Madras in 1948 before he was run out.

For South Zone Schools alongside TVS’s Ram

By the time he was in his teens, he was already seen as a compact batsman in the school circles. He had also begun playing in the lower division league in the city. He was so prolific that he was selected for the state juniors where he scored a century against Mysore, an attack that comprised of EAS Prasanna. That innings led him to a place in the South Zone Schools that went to Pune for the all India tournament. Current Chairman of Wheels India Ltd, S Ram was part of that team (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/tvs-ram-s-cricketer.html).

Legendary leg spinner VV Kumar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/07/cricket-tales-exclusive-with-vv-kumar.html) was a few years senior to SVS Mani at PS High School and watched him closely right from the early 1950s and remembers him as someone who was ‘abnormally good’ for his age “He exhibited a maturity and finesse far beyond his age. As a batsman, he was a predominantly an onside player with a funny back lift and a peculiar swing of the bat and was good against both fast and spin bowling. He was an excellent fielder and had safe hands.”

Financial Challenges - Quits Academics

But it was around this time, that his father, Kothamangalam Seenu, went through a severe financial crunch. He had acted in movies for 15 years from 1932 but the opportunities dried up in the early 1950s and he spent that decade acting in dramas that were not remunerative. Mani did his PUC at Vivekananda College, a year in which the team won all the four tournaments. If his batch mate S Ram quit cricket for academics soon after his schooling, Mani quit academics to earn the daily bread for his family. He joined Madras Motors Company while he was still in his teens at a monthly salary of Rs.70. He was the only earning member of the family and his attention, unfortunately at an important phase in life, turned from playing college cricket for three years to working hard at Madras Motors and subsequently at William Jacks and Co to keep the family running. He had many sisters and their weddings to take care of and it fell on him to financially sustain his family in that phase.

No College Cricket but TNCA leagues gets him into Ranji

The fact that he could not pursue his degree and play college cricket did not diminish his passion for the game and he continued to play in the TNCA league. In that phase, it was the Secretary of Milky Way Cricket Club, Devarajan, who encouraged him and kept him going in cricket. Also, Viswanathan of Enfield saw the cricketing talent in him and motivated him to continue playing. If not for them, he could have easily let go of cricket in that phase such was the scenario in the family. It was this early encouragement that led him to perform well in the lower division league and by the early 1960s he had moved on to play in the first division for BRC for whom he scored consistent runs.

SVS Mani sitting in the far right with his pads on

Ranji Debut at 22, stars for South Zone

On the back of having played for South Zone schools earlier and the runs he scored for BRC, he was selected for the state team and made his Ranji Trophy debut in August 1961 against Kerala at the age of 21 but did not get to bat in that innings even though Tamil Nadu lost 7 wickets. He made useful contributions against South Zone’s Top teams – Mysore (Karnataka) and Hyderabad - in the next two matches against top notch bowling attacks. This earned him a place in the South Zone team for the newly introduced Duleep Trophy. He scored 40 against North Zone in the Semi Final, a match in which another of VV Kumar’s magic spell helped South bundle out North for less than 100 and Mani followed it up with ‘some’ runs in both the innings in the final against the West Zone in Bombay.

A 30s and 40s batsman

Legendary Indian batsman Vijay Hazare who watched that match was impressed with his performance and picked him for the Board Presidents XI against the Ted Dexter’s English side that was touring India that winter. While he did not get to play in the XI in Hyderabad, he did play for South Zone against England in January 1962 in Bangalore where he once again got a start before giving it a way, an attribute that was to become a feature of his batting all through that decade in Ranji Trophy cricket. He was always a ‘30s and 40s’ man and that may have stifled his progress in cricket.

His fielding abilities came to the fore at the national level when he held a brilliant one handed catch to get rid of Surendranath in the Semi Final against North Zone. His Ranji team mate and captain at SBI VV Kumar has vivid memories of those two matches “He was compact and impressive against two strong bowling attacks. But once again, he did not go on to play a big innings. His fielding was always exceptional and in his career took many a catch that helped turn around matches.”

Mani Standing in the extreme right

1964 - His Best Quarter in Cricket

In January 1964, he scored his only Ranji century against Andhra. A couple of months later, he was part of the Madras team that went to Colombo for the Gopalan Trophy match. On a green top in swinging conditions against a top bowling attack comprising of Fredricks and Chanmugham, among others, Mani scored a classy century, the first by a TN batsman in the Gopalan Trophy, a knock that he rates as his best in first class cricket as well as his best moment in cricket. Exactly a year later, in the match in Madras he scored a half century against the touring Ceylon. VV Kumar, who was part of that team, rates that innings in Colombo as a terrific century on a difficult wicket “Anyone who saw that knock would have known the potential of Mani. He could have been nursed in a better way for he had it in him to play at a higher level.”

SBI won several league titles and Sport & Pastime Trophies in the 1960s and early 70s. B Kalyanasundaram, who first played against Mani (for Kerala) and then for TN remembers Mani as an excellent fielder and his contribution in one of the matches of the Sport & Pastime Tourney “SVS took an outstanding catch at long on after running for about 50 Meters in Sport & Pastime Trophy that eventually clinched the match for SBI.”

In the Indian Test Reserve in January 1964

Exactly for that reason, Mani was inducted into the test reserves at the peak of his career in the Pongal Test of 1964, a week after he had scored his first and only Ranji Century, for the Test against England in Madras when Indian captain MAK Pataudi wanted the best fielder from TN when Farooq Engineer was fighting an injury.

Thus, in a matter of three months in early 1964, he had scored two first class centuries and also been a reserve in the Indian Test team.

Plays for SBI alongside Legends

By this time, he had joined SBI, for whom he played in the first division for over a decade alongside VV Kumar. During his cricketing days with SBI, the bank that was a strong cricketing unit in those decades won the Palayampatti shield and the Sports and Pastime tourney several times.

Looking back on that phase in the 1960s, VV Kumar says that it was not a great cricketing decision by Mani to join SBI in the early 1960s “We both played together both for SBI and TN through the 1960s. I would say that while the bank job gave him security, it went against his cricket. Both SBI Madras and the All India SBI teams were very strong in batting and he did not get the chances that he deserved. If he had played first division for another club, he would have been able to develop and showcase his batting skills much better, but he went for job security at that time.”

Best TN outfielder of the 60s

While he continued to contribute his 30s and 40s, his fielding throughout that decade remained exceptional. Historically in Tamil Nadu, the fielders were very good catchers especially in the close in cordon. Cricketers in TN from those decades were not known for their prowess in the outfield. Clearly Mani was an exception. Many a time he would sprint in the outfield to take diving catches. In local league and limited over matches, he swung matches with his fielding and catching. There is a spark in his eyes when he is reminded of the catches he took to dismiss Salim Durrani and N Ram (The Hindu’s Publisher) of Jolly Rovers at Marina and he relives those moments “Both those were high lofted shots and I sprinted around to pick one just near the boundary line and the other one of Ram single handed with my left hand.”

In another match, he effected three run outs in succession when just 4 runs were needed for victory to help SBI beat Jolly Rovers.

Mani the Leg Spinner

Mani was a highly talented leg spinner as well but he was not used by the state till his very last Ranji match. In his decade long cricketing sting for SBI, he also took a hat trick with ball against YMA. VV Kumar bemoans the fact that he was not better utilised as a bowler“Mani was a penetrative leg spinner. He had both the drift and the turn but not many captains used him. When I was the captain at SBI, he got us many crucial wickets for us in the league. Though he was a talented leg spinner as well, he lost interest in bowling when he did not get the chances he deserved with the ball.”

Two legendary wickets in his final Ranji match

Interestingly, when he was recalled to the TN Ranji team for the 1970-71 season, Mani ended his cricketing career exactly 50 years ago with the wickets of GR Viswanath and Brijesh Patel in his last Ranji Match against Mysore, ones that he distinctly remembers “I was given the ball in my the last match that I played for TN. I was down with cough and fever in that match. I can now look back with great fondness at having got the wickets of two legends of the game with my leg spinners.”

Gets out to two legendary spinners!!!

That last Ranji match of his also brings back memories of losing his wicket to two great spinners “Yes, Chandra got me in the first innings and Pras in the second. So, I took wickets of two legends and I got out to two legends in my final Ranji Trophy match, probably a rare occurrence in domestic cricket.”

Mani standing 2nd from left

Because of the situation of his family, he restrained himself from promotions at the bank and remained in Madras through the almost four decades of his service. In 1987, an unexpected opportunity came his way. The Chairman of Selectors AG Kripal Singh passed away and Venkataraghavan, who was the Secretary of the TNCA that year, was keen for Mani to be the selector that year. And thus he became a a state selector for the very first time. In his first year as a state selector, TN won the Ranji Trophy in 1988 under the captaincy of S Vasudevan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/vasudevan-tn-ranji-trophy-retirement.html). Three years later he was the coach of the TN team with Srikkanth as the skipper. He was also the manager of the South Zone team a year later.

Coach of India Cements in its Golden Period

For well over a decade, he was the coach of the India Cements first division team in Chennai that won several trophies under the captaincy of VB Chandrasekar. Former South Zone fast bowler DJ Gokulakrishnan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/03/gokulakrishnan-j.html) who made his debut for Tamil Nadu with Mani as the coach way back in the early 1990s, was the kingpin of the India Cements bowling attack during its glory days in cricket and he remembers the role of Mani “He had a unique way of motivating our players. Each time a batsman scored a hundred or took 5 wickets, he would celebrate by handing a special fresh juice to the cricketer. Over time, we all wanted to do well and get that ‘special juice’ from him. While VB took care of the tactical aspects of the game, it was Mani who played the role of the motivator within the team."

Gokulakrishnan says that Mani created a positive atmosphere in the dressing room and 'was always one among us'. While he was into his 60s at that time, age was not a factor with him and he conducted himself like a youngster and always enjoyed the success of the players. "He was well read and often shared anecdotes both from his days as a player and a selector and many times that turned out to be motivational to the players."

Did not convert into big knocks

With a tinge of sadness, Kalli says that while SVS was a very dependable batsman, he could not convert his knocks into hundreds “SVS should have played longer and possibly higher levels of Cricket than what he finally achieved.”

Kalli saw in Mani great human qualities and consider it an honour and privilege to have played with him ‘He was ever ready to help out youngsters.’ He also points to a hidden facet in Mani ‘Not many know that SVS is a brilliant singer and capable of imitating a few well known singers.”

Mani - the Playback Singer of TN Ranji Team in the 1960s

Mani laughs it out looking back at those days of singing for his Ranji Trophy team mates ‘While my father was a real good singer who performed alongside Kothamangalam Subbu, my grandfather was a Mridangam Vidwan and my daughter is one with a Masters degree in music, I only sung for fun in Ranji and league matches when my teammates wanted me to entertain them.’

For this Octogenarian life has been all about cricket. In his prime, just under six decades ago, he played for Tamil Nadu and South Zone alongside legends such as VV Kumar, S Venkataraghavan, AG Milkha Singh, Jaisimha, Prasanna and AG Kripal Singh and was in the Test Reserve of the Indian team. He continued his active involvement till into his 70s as a coach and now spends time watching matches on the Television, that every now and then takes him back into his days, first as a player and then as a Selector and Coach. And he finds happiness reliving those great memories from the past.

In the Golden Period between 2015 and 18, Ravi officiated at Lords, the Boxing Day Test at MCG, the Ashes and the first ever Pink Ball Test

He also figured in the ill fated SA v Aus series that led to the banning of Aussie players

Nitin Menon's induction into the Elite Panel could spell the end of Ravi's International career as Umpire

It is 33 years since I first saw Umpire S Ravi at the Somasundaram Ground in T. Nagar discussing, as a young 21 year old, the day’s play in the first division league where he played for RBI. He had become an umpire a couple of years earlier as a route to making some pocket money. Umpires in the TNCA were paid around Rs. 100 in those days (well over three decades later, they are paid just over a 1000!!!- talk of rich cricket associations in India!!) but it was that fee that helped Ravi in those early years of his life when he got into umpiring as a teenager.

As I look back, it has been a richly fulfilling career for the former RBI staffer, who persevered relentlessly for over two decades in the local league and on the domestic circuit before he made his international debut. And then for 5 years it was all rosy as he peaked in the 2nd half of the decade gone by. However, the announcement last month leaving him out of the Elite Panel possibly marks the end of the road for Ravi as an international umpire. Here is a look back on his career.

June - July is the period in the year when the ICC announces the list of Elite Panel Umpires. The appointment of India’s Nitin Menon into the Elite Panel for the 2020-21 season sounds death knell for former Elite Panel Umpire S Ravi and may be the final nail in the coffin as far as his dream of a re-emergence into the Elite Panel is concerned. Not so long ago he was on a high. He was on the Elite Panel for four years in a row from the English summer of 2015, seemingly growing from Strength to Strength. Two years ago, this week, he became the 2nd most capped umpire from India behind the legendary S Venkataraghavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/venkataraghavan75.html).

The under rated Ravi entered the international arena in 2013 after having struggled for 25 years in the TNCA league and on the domestic circuit. He was the first umpire and has been the only one to date from Tamil Nadu after Venkataraghavan in the Elite Panel and progressed beyond anyone’s imagination to become one of the best and most respected umpires in the World.

2015 - Into the Elite Panel

In the English summer of 2015, one in which he made his Lords debut, Ravi experienced something special that very few others have. In the two test series between New Zealand and England, Ravi was involved in over 20 (third umpire) reviews over the two tests with his umpiring partners at the other end having a combined tally of just 2. With a majority of the reviews going in his favour, it set him up nicely ahead of the annual selection review of ICC umpires. Before the end of that English summer, he had been inducted into the Elite Panel and had also officiated in his first Ashes series.

2016 - Best Season in Cricket

The next year, 2016, was one of Ravi’s best in Umpiring. In a single season, he officiated in 15 tests including in the first ever Pink Ball test. He seemed to be there in every high profile series that season.

2017- Inducted into the MCC Laws Sub Committee Panel

End of 2017, shortly before he was to officiate in another Ashes series, Ravi was inducted into the MCC Laws Sub Committee Panel that meets periodically to review the Laws of Cricket. It was that year when MCC introduced the new Code of Laws, the first of its kind since the 2000 Code. The Sub- Committee was appointed to oversee this code for three years. In fact, earlier this summer, this section brought to light the differences between the MCC and the ICC in relation to a point on the interpretation of the deliberate padding law (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/05/leg-byes-deliberate-padding-law_14.html).

Early 2018 – The Ill Fated SA vs Australia series

Ravi officiated in the ill fated series in South Africa in early 2018 which later led to the banning of Top Australian players for a year. He had told this writer earlier that it was one of the most challenging ones in his umpiring career because of the fact that a ‘lot of things’ happened both on and off the field. And it was a unique experience for him to manage. It was on the tip off of the umpires from the first two tests (that Ravi umpired) that the Aussies were finally caught on camera later in the series.

The ‘Turning’ Nightmare in November

In the three years leading up to the winter of 2018, life had gone on extremely smoothly for Ravi as an umpire. It clearly was a golden period for him, from officiating in the first Pink Ball Test, to multiple Ashes series and shuttling between the long room at Lords and the Boxing Day test at the MCG to being among the select few in the World who review the laws of cricket. He simply was on a roll and on course towards half a century of tests.

And then, the nightmare of a series in Sri Lanka!! It was November of 2018. Ravi made a trip to umpire the three match test series between Sri Lanka and England. The entire series was played on square turners, the last series of Rangana Herath, with the English spinners on top. Mooen Ali, Leach and Rashid tormented not just the opposition batsmen but also the Umpires. Through the entire series, Ravi was confronted repeatedly with 50-50 calls – LBWs, catches at short leg and by the keeper – the appeals were unrelenting. Jennings, who is now out of the England squad, was on a record catching spree at short leg. If the LBW was negated, the players turned to the umpires for the catch at short leg. It was the kind of ‘appealing’ pressure that he had not previously encountered in his career.

Ravi did make mistakes and a number of them but given the almost impossible conditions for umpires with a decision coming into play almost every other ball he actually did reasonably well, despite the errors. The Englishmen who won the series 3-0 understood the enormity of the challenge and appreciated his decision making. Captain Joe Root said after the series that given the unplayable pitches that the matches were played on, Ravi withstood the pressure well and did a fair job of what was expected of him under the circumstances.

His only ‘Home’ Test Match

In the following months, he went to South Africa probably for his final overseas Test Series end of 2018 and early last year. A couple of months later, in March last year, he finally officiated a test in India, the only time he has done that when he got on to the field in Dehdradun for the one off test between Ireland and Afghanistan.

And soon after came the news of his axing from the Elite Panel after being on top for four successive years. The big negative points from the Sri Lanka series probably went against him in terms of the number of points. But really, can a world class umpire be discarded after just a couple of bad series!! There is more to it than meets the eye. Dharmasena, with a lot more umpiring errors in that period, Joe Wilson who went through horror phase in last year’s ashes and many others over the last decade have been given a much longer rope. But not so Ravi!!! His four years on the Elite Panel came to nought following the series in Lanka. Sanjay Manjrekar from India was on the Review Committee in mid 2019 that decided against the inclusion of Ravi in the Elite Panel last year (2019-20). India was without an Umpire on the Elite Panel last year.

He continued to officiate in the IPL last year and then through the entire domestic season in 2019-20 almost umpiring every single round of Ranji Trophy.

Interestingly, in a conversation with this writer a few years ago, Ravi had pointed at Nitin Menon being the next umpire from India into the Elite Panel. With BCCI nominating Nitin Menon as its candidate, an indication that they are looking ahead to the nextgen and him subsequently being inducted into the Elite Panel as the youngest at 36, it looks like being the end of the road for Ravi. Aged 54 and having officiated for 6 years at the highest level, it is unlikely that this down to earth umpire from Madras will be able to make his way back into the Elite Panel again.

Time will tell as to why he suddenly went out of favour after just one bad series.

Hailing from a middle class family, Ravi has been a role model in perseverance showcasing how long term commitment in life finally yields results. Through the 1990s and 2000s, the opportunities were so limited in domestic cricket that making it to the international arena seemed a distant dream. But he stayed the course and finally made it to the Tests in 2013. He went through a Golden Period of five years till that nightmarish month in Sri Lanka end of 2018. Over 30 Tests and close to 50 one day internationals are numbers not many Indian Umpires can boast of. For a long time, it is likely he will remain India’s second most capped Test umpire and that’s a significant achievement for the man who took to umpiring as a teenager just to meet his monthly expenses.

Talks with the BCCI on Pension for Domestic Cricketers (less than 25 matches) on right track and positive developments likely later this year

Medical Insurance could be substantially higher if the new model that is being currently worked out succeeds

Following the recent spat in public, a Code of Conduct for the ICA members is likely soon

The public statement of Ashok Malhotra, the President of the Indian Cricketers' Association (ICA), hitting out against the BCCI, Apex Council members and even his own directors has left a poor taste on the functioning of the ICA in the very first year of its launch. The former India cricketer, who won unopposed last year, has accused his contemporaries Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy of not taking up the issues relating to the former domestic cricketers with the powers that be at the BCCI.

It is to be remembered that ICA has been registered as a Limited Company and that board members are to follow a certain decorum in its engagement and conduct.

The cricketing world has been caught in a tangle following the Pandemic. The announcement has just come in that the T20 World Cup has been cancelled. It is still unsure if the domestic cricket season in India will get underway this year and of course the cricketing community is eagerly awaiting the update on the IPL. A lot of the BCCI staffers have been working from home in the last few months, given the serious issues that Bombay has faced.

Pension Discussions

Despite the impact of the Pandemic, the ICA has made solid progress since its launch. Most of the issues taken up the ICA are under consideration by the BCCI. It is likely that the there will be a positive development in the next few months on the issue relating to pension for first class cricketers who played less than 25 matches.

Higher Medical Insurance

The team at ICA has been working tirelessly on the medical insurance for former domestic cricketers and it is expected that something concrete would emerge on this front. Currently, the former cricketers are eligible for a maximum amount of Rs. 5 Lakhs in a life time. If the new model that is being worked out by the ICA team succeeds, then the eligible medical claim could turn out to be very different and substantially higher and without this lifetime cap.

Code of Conduct for its members

On the immediate front, given the recent developments of the last few days and the public spat in the media, the ICA is likely to come out soon with a code of conduct for its members especially on the communication front. It is unbecoming of well respected former cricketers who had formed an association for the welfare of former domestic cricketers to be engaging in a duel in the media.

BCCI open to funding the ICA

The BCCI, which had initially funded Rs. 2 crores to the ICA, had told the player’s body at that time to spend this amount towards the players and then to come back to them if they were in need of more money. In the first positive development, in May this year, the ICA had handed out support to several financially challenged former domestic cricketers from the 1960s-80s that also included Rs. 80000/- to Peter Fernandez from Tamil Nadu (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/05/peter-fernandez-ica-financial-assistance.html).

Going forward, the ICA could also look at opening a full fledged office in the country.

Despite the public spat of the last week, it looks like the ICA is headed in the right direction for now and the former domestic players can expect some positive developments in the near future.

A 79 year old Priest who performs Aradhanam and presents Archanai despite a Hip Fracture

Narayanan Bhattar is frail looking and has had a hip fracture in recent years. His hands too are in a fragile state but his commitment to Lord Kothandarama is such he continues to do Aradhanam at the temple in Kandira Manikkam, located on the Nannilam-Nachiyar Koil highway, even when his health condition at 79 is not conducive to him travelling from his hereditary location of Paruthicheri. He has been performing this service for the last 37 years having started way back in 1983.

Once Vibrant Location

Remotely located, this was once a vibrant temple with an agraharam on all the four streets comprising of Saivites and Vaishnavites. But as with other remote locations, the original inhabitants made their way out of Paruthicheri and Kandira Manikkam seeking greener pastures in cities.

Narayanan Bhattar was one of the few who stayed back to continue to take care of the Lord Kothandarama seen in a grand South Facing Standing posture along with Sita and Lakshmana. Anjaneya is seen in a devotional ‘anjali’ posture. Thirumanjanam is conducted regularly at the temple. Every No Moon Day, he does special prarthanai archanai.

A favourite of Narayana Bhattar is the Navarathri Utsavam where he presents a different variety of Sundal on each day of the Utsavam with a grand alankaram each day for Thayar.

Despite his physical challenges, he often travels to Madras and goes around the city by bus to meet devotees to garner support for the Utsavams.

His son Raman Bhattar completed his Vedic Education at the Patshala in Madurantakam and then decided to head back to Paruthicheri in the 1990s to take care of the two Rama temples.

The temple also houses a Varadaraja Perumal sannidhi where the Lord is seen with Sri and Bhoo Devi Thayar in an East facing Standing Posture. There is a separate sannidhi for Perundevi Thayar.

There is a Surya Pushkarani next to the temple. A special feature at the temple is that the well inside the temple complex is believed to have never dried and is always full of water.

This is a temple that dates back to the Chola Period. The temple was renovated during the rule of Sarabhoji Raja. Aradhanam is performed as per Pancharatra Agamas.

The Rama temple in Paruthicheri has been due of renovation for several years. The approval of the HR & CE has been secured and it is expected that the work will start once the temple reopens after the lock down.

Raman Bhattar can be reached on 99446 04083

Kandira Manikkam Temples is located about 10 kms East of Nachiyar Koil (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/12/nachiyar-koil-divya-desam.html) and a few kms North of Paruthiyur Ramar Temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/09/paruthiyur-kothandarama-temple.html).

When here, also visit Sri Vanjiyam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2014/08/srivanchiyam-varadaraja-perumal-temple.html)

The Day the India Pistons Chief gave 'Cricketing Life' to Madanagopal

The Chairman and Managing Director of India Pistons Ltd., N Venkataramani passed away today. He joined the company in 1967 and took over as the MD in 1982. He was a Fellow of The Institute of Mechanical Engineers having completed his Masters from Imperial College London. He served on the board of Sundaram Finance Ltd., till a couple of years ago. He was a great cricket lover and promoted cricket in a big way. Legendary cricketer S Venkataraghavan and TE Srinivasan played for India Pistons in the 1980s (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/venkataraghavan75.html).

In the mid 1990s, he gave 'cricketing' life to a budding talent in the city and transformed the cricketer in a 15 minute chat in his room at his corporate headquarters in Nungambakkam. It was his piece of advice that kept this cricketer in the 'game' and he went on to perform creditably for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy and One Day cricket.

The best cricket management advice

In the second half of the 1990s, cricketer JR Madanagopal, now a top 20 BCCI umpire, was a frustrated man. The middle order batsman, then in his early 20s,had notched up consistent scores in the 1st division league in the city but he was nowhere near the state call. Also, he was shockingly left out of the Junior state team right at the toss for another 'favoured' cricketer.

Frustrated at the politics in cricket, Madanagopal was on the verge of quitting cricket. He had completed ICWA Inter and was contemplating a career in Finance.

Right at that time, he had a lucrative offer from RBI and had almost made up his mind to settle down in a career away from cricket. It was in that dark hour that the Chief of India Pistons, Venkataramani, called on him for a chat at the Company’s headquarters in Nungambakkam, a meeting that transformed the life of Madanagopal and helped him become a South Zone Cricketer.

Venkataramani suggested to Madanagopal in his room that the player was talented and that he should not give up at that stage in his career. The India Pistons Chief promised to offer all the encouragement required for him to succeed in cricket. Madangopal looks back on that day and says that it was the most professional piece of 'cricket management' advice that he had ever received. It was a great confidence booster for him in his life. Such was his passion to encourage talented cricketers that Venkataramani went out of his way to desist the 'frustrated' Madanagopal from quitting cricket.

Madanagopal went by his word, decided to stick on to cricket, rejected the offer from RBI and continued to play for India Pistons that year. And the rest as they say is history. He posted strong performance for India Pistons under the captaincy of Robin Singh. Soon after, he played for Tamil Nadu and then South Zone in Duleep Trophy. In December 1999, in his Duleep Trophy debut, he scored 84. In successive seasons in 2000-01 and 01-02, Madanagopal was Tamil Nadu’s highest run scorer in one day cricket. In both the years, he was among the top 6 in the country in domestic one day cricket out beating most of the reputed names in the state.

Venkataramani promoted cricket in a big way and India Pistons, though an underrated team in the first division league in Chennai, surprised many by reaching the finals of The Hindu Trophy and the Moin Ud Dowla All India Tournament in that phase. And the decades after, India Pistons has remained a top team in the first division league in the city, thanks mainly to the encouragement and support extended by Venkataramani.

He chose to remain a 'silent' supporter of cricket and was not often seen out there as a face promoting cricket in the city but his contribution to cricket and cricketers was significant. And in this particular case, Venkataramani gave 'cricketing life' to one, who had that morning way back in the 1990s almost given up hope. If not for Venkataramani, Cricketer Madanagopal may well have become a banker. Instead, he will soon head to the UAE to umpire in the IPL!!

75 year old Rani had enjoyed two decades of brisk business and had even expanded her offerings in recent times but the lockdown has left her in a state of shock

Rani thought she had seen the toughest of times in the early 1980s when there were minimal devotees in temples but the experience of the last four months following the lockdown has left her completely shocked.

Forty year ago, she made her entry into the Srinivas Perumal Vedanta Desikar Temple in Mylapore as a young flower vendor in her 30s. Devotees did not flock to the temples as they have in the last decade or so. She brought just a couple of variety of flowers on one small plate to cater to the few local devotees. She took delight from the fact that she sold something that found a place in the heart of the Lord and Thayar.

At the turn of the century, her business took off on a big upward curve following the devotional wave that struck temples in Tamil Nadu. The Brahmotsavam in Vaikasi grew bigger and bigger in terms of devotee support. The round the year utsavams and the sudden rise in devotees' faith in invoking the Lord's blessings on specific days every week and Prarthanai Sevai ensured that sales grew beyond what she had visualised when she first sat in front of the temple all those decades ago.

To the Koyambedu market at 4am

In the early phase of her career, she went to the flower market in Parrys to buy limited variety of flowers that the devotees sought. But in the last two decades, the range increased dramatically to include Malli, Mullai, Jaadhi, Kanakambaram, Manoranjitham, Thazhampoo, Magizhampoo and Rose, among other varieties.

With the growth in the devotee base, her day began very early as she shifted her purchase location from Parrys to the whole sale market in Koyambedu. With the expansion in business, she could afford to take an auto to Koyambedu at 4am from her home in Mandaveli, each day of the year, to bring large quantities of these wide ranging flowers to be at the Vedanta Desikar temple for the Vishroopam Sevai.

An indication of the transformation in her business was seen from the fact that on special days every week, when the flowers sold out in the first half, she made a second auto trip in the day, this time to Parrys to buy flowers for the evening session.

The pick up in business was so good that that her daily routine in temple related work extended from 4am to noon in the first half and to 9pm in the evening.

Expands Product Range

In fact, her business had grown so well that she expanded to a product range that included ghee (to light lamp), Kalkandu and other dry fruits. Every Thursday, she would also make Elaichi Maalai that was a specialty of the day.

Lockdown- Drastic fall in business

When the lockdown was announced in the 2nd half of March, she, like most others, thought that it would last a fortnight or so and was hopeful that life would be back to normal by end of April, ahead of the Brahmotsavam in Vaikasi, a phase when her sales shoots up. And then as the lockdown extended month on month, with the latest announcement through till the end of August, she began to feel a severe financial pinch. With the temple closed for devotees, her business reduced quite drastically.

Worst still, in March, she had stocked large quantities of Ghee and Dry fruits ahead of the big Utsavams in Panguni but she was caught unawares by the sudden announcement of the lockdown. The dry fruits went unsold. And several months later, she still has a few bottles of Ghee at home.

With the shutdown of temples for devotees, the quantity of her purchase has reduced by well over 80%. Her daily routine of 40 years too has changed. She now arrives at the temple at 7am and leaves by around 9am after having sold the limited quantity of flowers. And she does not come back in the evening.

Like most others, the 75 year old Rani stands each day in front of the Srinivasa Perumal temple and invokes the blessings of the Lord, from outside, praying for the lifting of the lockdown in temples so she can resume her business and recover from the financial burden that she has now felt for over four months.

Kerala's Best Cricketer now an International Umpire

Agraharam Boy from Thiruvananthapuram breaks into the International Umpiring League

The small town boy from the agraharam in Thiruvananthapuram (http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2009/11/anantha-padmanabhaswamy-temple-in.html), to whom Marbles and Gilli Thanda were favourite pastimes in his school days and who went on to become Kerala’s best ever cricketer with his performances through the 1990s, has now become the First International umpire from the state. KN Ananthapadmanabhan has just been inducted into the international panel of umpires from India. It may be recalled that long standing Elite Panel Umpire S Ravi, with whom Ananthan umpired his first ever Ranji Trophy match has missed out from the international panel signifying an end to his international umpiring career (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/07/umpire-s-ravi-end-of-road.html).

Coaching vs Umpiring? - Year 2005-06

Like with his entry into cricket as a leg spinner, his foray into umpiring too was unplanned for. Soon after his retirement from Ranji Cricket in the middle of last decade and while he was actively playing for IOB in the first division league in Madras, there was an opportunity to coach the Kerala State team. He had played over a 100 first class matches and was one of the most respected cricketers. He would have been automatic choice as the coach of Kerala and it was lucrative as well. He was already a Level II coach at that time.

TNCA Umpire seeds the Umpiring thought into Ananthan

While he was pondering that decision, it was TNCA Umpire Gururajan who seeded the thought of umpiring into KN Ananthapadmanabhan. The BCCI were coming up with a special category for former first class cricketers and Gururajan thought that it would be a good opportunity for Ananthan to continue his engagement with cricket by becoming an umpire.

Gururajan had umpired many first division matches in the late 1990s including a Championship deciding match that IOB played against Jolly Rovers on a square turner. What Gururajan found particularly heartening in that phase was that not once did Ananthan question an umpiring decision. Throughout his playing career, be it a first division match or a Ranji match, he accepted the Umpire's verdict as final. IOB won that match by an innings beating Jolly Rovers, considered as giants in the city's first division league and went on to win the Palayampatti shield for the first time in their history under Ananthapadmanabhan's captaincy.

Gururajan also recounts Ananthapadmanabhan repeatedly enquiring about specifics in playing conditions during his playing days. He was always inquisitive of understanding the laws and the context in which it was meant. He earned a creditable name from the match officials for his onfield conduct during his playing days says Gururajan.

He also says that Anantha was also never shy to share the knowledge that he possessed. In one of the discussions, he told Gururajan in the late 1990s about the one of its kind forfeiture that was handed out by Andhra Captain Chamudeswaranath against Kerala ( captained that year by PT Subramaniam) and as to how the umpires of that time handled that rather amusing decision at that time ( while it was a one off decision in Indian Domestic cricket, forfeitures were a common feature in the English county cricket till the 1980s).

Ananthapadmanabhan too felt that being an umpire and a presence on field would be lot more engaging than a coaching role. Talking over phone from Thiruvananthapuram, he told this writer that he felt he would be in the thick of action as an umpire, understanding the emotions on the field, the pressures that the players went through and the need to make the right decision onfield. And it was this engagement onfield as an umpire that led him to shelve his thoughts on coaching and get into umpiring.

Mock Test ahead of BCCI examination

Gururajan prepared a Mock Test Paper ahead of the examination and engaged with Ananthan in this preparations. It was this that gave him the much needed confidence to face the exam (Over the last several years, Gururajan has been helping upcoming umpires in Tamil Nadu with Mock Tests ahead of BCCI examinations).

13 decisions in his debut match

These experiences led Gururajan to feel that Anantha would be best fitted to an umpiring career and hence sowed the thought of umpiring into Ananthapadmanabhan. He came out with flying colours in the BCCI exam conducted in 2006 securing exactly the same marks as his close friend and former South Zone cricketer J Madanagopal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/madanagopal-j.html?m=1).

Gururajan actually went to watch Anantha's first league match as an umpire at PS High School ground much to his delight.

In his first Ranji match as an umpire, Ananthan handed out 13 decisions prompting his partner S Ravi, who later went on to become an Elite Panel umpire, to remark that he was continuing to ‘bag’ wickets even as an umpire just as he had as a bowler.

Ever since, he has made steady progress as an umpire. A few years back, Ananthapadmanabhan and Madanagopal officiated in the Ranji Trophy Semi Final (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/12/madanagopal-makes-next-big-jump-in.html?m=1). In March this year, just a few days before the lockdown, Ananthapadmanabhan umpired in the first ever Ranji Trophy Final. Co-incidentally, for S Ravi too it was a Ranji Final debut.

Umpiring both ends in Ranji Final

He calls this year's Ranji Final as his most memorabable moment in Umpiring. It was his debut final in Ranji, what he calls as the most prestigious domestic tournament in the country, and he was faced with the challenge of umpiring at both ends after Shamsuddin was injured on field. In a high pressure game that both teams desparately wanted to win, he was presented with a unique opportunity to umpire at both ends. It was also the first time that limited DRS was introduced in domestic cricket.The stakes were simply too high and he was in the thick of action as an umpire doing both ends. He says that it was an experience that he enjoyed thoroughly

In the last few years, he has become a regular at the IPL. To focus on his umpiring career and taking it up as a full time profession, Ananathapadmanabhan quit his bank job at IOB a few years ago. His colleague at IOB for over two decades R Rajesh Kannan too quit his job at IOB last year to pursue Umpiring as a full time career (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/08/bcci-umpire-quits-iob-after-25years.html?m=1).

End of last year, he was in South Africa as part of an exchange programme and officiated in matches there.

In the near term, he would have opportunities to umpire one day and T20 international cricket in India, officiating also in emerging tournaments across the globe and fourth umpire for tests in India. He is not looking too much beyond this which is always the way he has been.

Early days as a cricketer

Way back in the 1970s, there was no school cricket in Thiruvananthapuram. Only after he joined college, did he first hold a cricket ball in his hand. And his foray into cricket came under unique circumstances at the Under 19 selections in Thiruvananthapuram. At the trials, he presented himself as a wicket keeper for he had kept wickets for his first club team Chasers. But there was already a regular wicket keeper and this young 16 year old wouldn’t stand a chance as a keeper. He changed it to fast bowling but there were four established fast bowlers already!!! And then he thought he would register himself as an off spinner. But lo… there were off spinners as well.

Anantha in his youth

And thus destiny got the young 16 year old KN Ananthapadmanabhan to register himself as a leg spinner. He surprised everyone with the performance in his debut match. After helping his team recover from 35 for 7 with a typically dogged knock of 35, he spun out the U19 team from Quilon with 7 wickets for 7 runs helping Thiruvananthapuram win that inter districts match. And a new cricketing star had risen in Kerala, one who was to serve the state with distinction for almost 15years.

He made his Ranji Debut at 19 and in his first full season in 89-90 bagged two five wicket hauls against Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. A year later, he took 30 wickets in 5 games breaking into the top five wicket takers in India. His rich vein of form continued into the next season when he was once again in the top 10 wicket takers in the Ranji Trophy with 26 wickets.

Krishnaswamy ropes him into IOB

In this phase, he made the transition to Madras and played for SBI in the 1st division league. A year later he signed up for Chemplast. But that stint turned out to be a frustrating two years for Ananthapadmanabhan for he was vastly under bowled with the team favouring the local bowlers. Barath Reddy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html) did ask him to continue but Ananthan had had enough of it.

It was around that time that he got the call from V Krishnaswamy (http://prtraveller.blogspot.in/2016/08/krishnaswamy-v.html) at IOB asking if he could join the bank. It was a big decision for him and trusting Krishnaswamy, he quit Chemplast in the summer of 1993. Later he even rejected a four-fold increase in salary at India Cements that came in from its captain at that time VB Chandrasekar(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/vb-chandrasekar.html), such was the joy with which he had begun to play for IOB. That decade he captained the bank to its first Palayampatti shield

National Call remains Elusive

His performances in the Semi Final and Final of the Wills trophy Semi Final in the early 1990s led National Selector and legend GR Vishwanath to personally inform him that he was a good prospect for India and that his name was being discussed as a contender. It was the first time in its cricketing history that a player from Kerala had earned kudos on the national stage.

He continued to top the charts through the decade. In 96-97, he had his best year in Ranji Trophy taking 27 wickets and topping the batting charts with 597 runs including a double hundred. He also had a successful outing in the Challenger trophy in 1997-98 with an impressive 5 wicket haul against India Seniors. It was a phase where he was performing really well and one when he came closest to being selected for India. He was on the verge of national selection but the scales tilted in favour of Bombay’s Sairaj Bahutale. In 98-99, he topped both batting and bowling aggregate for Kerala, a rare occurrence indeed. In March 98, he bagged the scalps of Steve Waugh, Ponting and Lehmann in a match against the touring Aussies and within a year, he bagged a 5 wicket haul against Pakistan in front of his home fans in Kochi. Despite his strong performances through that decade, the national call remained elusive.

With his amma who has been a pillar of strength

Does not forget his roots

The down to earth that he has always remained, Ananthan, well into his 40s, came back to Thiruvanathapuram earlier this decade to play once again for Chasers, his first league team from the 1980s and took 6 wickets for 3 runs to stave them from relegation.

Kerala's Best Cricketer now an International Umpire

He was the first Kerala player to top the milestone of 2000runs and 200 wickets in Ranji Trophy. He signed off his Ranji career with a five wicket haul at his favourite town of Palakkad, where he had registered many memorable performances during his career. He was the first player from Kerala to play over a 100 matches. He took close to 350 wickets, a remarkable achievement. With a little more luck, he could have easily played for India as well during the 1990s.

As in his playing days, Ananthapadmanabhan continues to be extremely disciplined. The entire umpiring fraternity looks at his early dinner and sleep pattern as a role model for them to follow.

It has been a 14 year dream for Anananthapadmanabhan to become an international umpire. The feeling of this latest appointment has still not sunk in fully with TV Channels across Kerala hounding him for interviews following the announcement of his induction. For the moment, his focus is on doing justice to the international matches he is likely to umpire in India and enjoying that experience.The leggie from the Agraharam in Thiruvanathapuram narrowly missed playing for the country but soon Ananthan will be officiating as an Indian Umpire in an international match. And that will be a proud moment for Kerala, a state that for decades was considered as minnows of Indian cricket.

Peter Fernandez ICA Financial Assistance

Sankapani Cricketer Turned Businessman

Srivathsan Cricket to TVS CFO

Santha Narayanan

Centenarian VR Sivaraman Wheels India

TSR Legendary Entrepreneur

Vasudevan TN Ranji Trophy Retirement

Thanjavur Palace Babaji Rajah Bhonsle

TVS Ram S The Cricketer

Veera Raghava Bhattar Kesava Perumal Temple

Venu Srinivasan Historical Temples Restoration

Anirudhha Footballer

Kapaleeswarar Temple Jayakanthan Shivachariar

SVS Mani Cricketer Selector Coach

Umpire S Ravi End of the Road

ICA on Track

Kandira Manikkam Kothanda Ramar Temple

India Pistons Venkataramani

Srinivasa Perumal Temple Mylapore Flower Vendor

Ananthapadmanabhan International Umpire