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Thyagaraja Temple Thiruvotriyur

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Sundarar found his life mate here and promised never to leave this temple town!!!
Thyagaraja provides a special dancing darshan in Brahmma Muhurtham during Maasi Brahmotsavam
When Kaliya Nayanar found dearth of oil, he offered to slit his throat to use blood to light the lamp
With temple administration issues at the core of debates in recent years and now a matter of Court discussion, Role Model Next Gen Priest Arul Nandhi Sivam is taking up a P Hd in Temple Management, and one day into the future is hoping to 'convince' all temples in TN to follow complete Agama Prescriptions in every day Pooja Processes
S Arul Nandhi Sivam, the descendant of the once hereditary trustees of the four Saint Poets praised Thyagaraja Swami temple in Thiruvotriyur, is just 21 years old but is already bubbling with great devotional enthusiasm and hoping to get every single temple in TN to perform pooja in full and as prescribed in the agamas. In recent decades, driven by wide ranging factors  including the HR & CE takeover of the temples, every day poojas do not take place as per the agamas. In many remote temples, there is only one Kaala pooja each day and in several thousands of others only two Kaala pooja. He is also trying to drive home the message to every Shivachariar to initiate their sons into patshala education as against academics. He says that Shivachariars, who touch the Lord and do pooja, are to be seen as mantra lingam and not humans and hence one has to blessed and gifted to be born in the Shivachariar clan. At least he sees it as a great blessing to be able to perform service in an ancient temple as this one.

He himself had discontinued academics at the age of ten to move into patshala education and from the way he talks can already be considered an expert in agamas and sastras. Arul Nandhi Sivam says that Agamas are like ocean and he wants to try to learn as much as possible during this lifetime. Looking back even at this early stage of his life, he is grateful to his appa for having initiated him into Agamas and Sastras as against school based academics. He has undergone close to 15years of intense initiation into these as well as the Thevaram verses – 8 years in a Patshala in Bangalore, 5 years of graduation and post graduation in agamas and sastras.  He has learnt Yajur Vedas too.

Refreshing - P Hd in Temple Management
This year, in the next few months, he will begin a deep research into Temple Management as he takes up his P Hd in the Karnataka University based on 1000s of years old scriptures trying to understand indepth on the way of life in a historical temple. This at a time when there is so much debate on temple administration, traditional pooja processes and renovation exercises with each of these being a matter of hearing in different courts with petitions filed by temple activists including by TR Ramesh (Activist Ramesh), whose foray into activism was driven by the wrongs he found at the Thiruvotriyur temple about six years ago.

Temple Management – The last couple of centuries
The management of the Adhi Pureeswarar temple, where Sage Agastya performed pooja, has seen tumultuous times in the last century or so. References to the temple can be found in Padma, Shiva and Skanda puranam as well as Aitareya Unpanishad. As per historical references, this village cannot be demolished even in Pralaya Kaalam such is the legend of the temple. The complex is huge with several sannidhis that is now manned by archakas appointed by the hereditary Sthaneegars.

53 year old Sthaanegar S Sundara Raman, who has been at the temple since the age of seven when he first watched his grandfather Senapathi Shivachariar perform pooja, has himself been serving at the temple for the last four decades. He was the one who recovered historical documents from the Chengalpattu District Court that gave him insights into the events in the previous 150 years at the temple and their rights at the temple, a number of which had been taken away with the passing of decades. 
A Vibrant Maasi Brahmotsavam
When he first came to the temple in the 1970s as a young boy, he was excited. He found a big devotional wave during the 11 day Brahmotsavam in Maasi and the 15day Vasantha utsavam in Vaikasi. For the Brahmotsavam, people came in from 32 villages around Thiruvotriyur on bullock carts and stayed here during the entire length of the utsavam specially to watch the one of its kind walking steps of Thyagesa “There were big open fields around the temple and the huge tank at the eastern entrance was brimming with water. There were 74 Dharma Chatrams on the mada streets in addition to community chatrams. The villagers stayed in these chatrams where they were also provided food through the period of the utsavam.” 

Sripatham were from the Vellalar community and they provided an awesome display with movements of Thyagaraja that left the devotees awestruck. A special feature of Thyagaraja’s procession during the brahmotsavam is that it always takes place during Brahmma Muhurtham and the Lord returns to the temple before 6am. 
Devotees used to congregate in large numbers by 3am ahead of the start of the procession. Around 4am, the Sripatham were served with hot kesari that seemed to energise them. And then with prominent sacred ash across their forehead they delighted the devotees with Thyagaraja’s dancing procession.
 
Highly Devotional- Kaliya Nayanar
Kaliya Nayanar was a business man steeped in Shiva bhakthi. He would light the lamp, sweep and clean the temple every day. To test his bhakthi, God removed his wealth and threw him into poverty. When oil was not there to light the lamp, he went to slit his throat to get blood as a replacement for oil. Delighted at his devotion,the Lord provided darshan and Mukthi at this place.

Panai Thoppu becomes Police Station!!!
Pattinathar referred to this location as being filled with Theertham and Flowers. ‘The whole region was a Siva Logam.’ This was a ‘Poon Solai’ in centuries gone by.  Sundar Raman says that it remained so till the 1960s and the early 70s. “There were not too many buildings or shops. I have seen big beautiful gardens and the place was abound with coconut trees and ‘panai’ maram. It is in the once big Panai Thoppu that one now finds the Thiruvotriyur Police station- a sign of changing times and infrastructural development that is taking place at a rapid pace that is sending temple related activities into the background!!!”

Railway Track replaces ‘Nandi Odam’
When Nandi who had seen the standing dance posture asked the Lord for a display of his sitting dance posture, he promised to provide darshan on Makam amavasai in Maasi. Nandi came here and performed penance after bathing in the Nandi Odam. Answering Nandi’s prayers, he provides darshan here in the sitting dance posture on the no moon Makam day in Maasi, when on West Mada street he does a Nandi Nadanam. Unfortunately the Odam was brought during the British rule and a railway track built.  

100s of Service Personnel
In the centuries gone by there was Ilangai (vessels cleaning) and Valangai (Sweeping, Mopping, Kolam drawing, Thevaram Verses recital). There were hundreds of service personnel at the temple and the entire town presented a vibrant picture especially during the Brahmotsavam and Vasantha Utsavam. 

Cart loads from Kothaval Chaavadi 
100 years ago, Ekambara Nayakar, a mestri in Kothaval Chaavadi  would bring a big bullock cart to the market ahead of the Brahmotsavam and ask traders and customers to place anything of their choice on the cart for it to be carried to the Thiruvotriyur temple. And very soon the entire cart would be filled to the brim with everyone contributing liberally. He would then drive the cart to the temple and present as offerings during the Brahmotsavam. His son Kapali sat on the back of the cart to take care of the provisions.

In those days, the North Mada Street was called as the Dharma Shivachariar Street, one that included a Dharma Shivachar Chatram. It was here that food was cooked and handed to the visitors to the Utsavam on each of the 11 days of the festival. 

Linghi Chetty as the Tax Collector
For centuries, Sthaneegam managed the temple affairs as the trustee. Later a Sabha was formed to take care of the temple management comprising of four Vellalars and 1 Sthaneegam. When Vellalars did not have descendants, they did not appoint outsiders and thus over time Sthaneegam who did pooja at the temple remained as the sole care takers. They appointed Pandaram to collect taxes from the lands of the temple. When Pandaram did not present proper accounts, during the time of Chandrasekara Gurukal, Linghi Chetty, a popular personality in North Madras (Parrys) was appointed to take care of the tax collections on behalf of the temple. Thus the charge moved from Mudaliars to Chettiars. Mudaliars continue to be in Sripatham service to this day. 

Accounting Issues
During the period of Ratnavel Chettiar, a bond agreement was signed that they will not act in a way to put off the Gurukal(Sthaneegam). When he did not have a son, his son in law took charge. During his period, much to everyone’s shock there was an ad in a newspaper put out by a Naidu belonging to Mint about auctioning of jewels. It was found to be this temple’s jewels. There began the first signs of deterioration. Leading Chettiars of the time led by Kaali Ratna Chettiar brought back the jewels to the temple. So upset was the sthaneegam at the development of the son in law of Ratnavel Chettiar that he quit the temple and moved to Swami Malai.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Appar Swamy Gurukal’s (who left for Swami Malai) descendant wrote a letter to Karaikal’s Swaminathan Gurukal, who was devotionally attached to this temple, to come and take charge at the temple. Around 1910, the court directed a scheme based on which the rights were handed to Chettiars. However, after two years when the accounts were not audited, Thyagaraja Mudaliar brought out a 10 page booklet showcasing the wrongs at the temple. Loka Sigamani Mudaliar then went to the court in 1913 seeking correction of the wrongs. The case went for over two decades. In the interim, the court appointed a middle man for hundial opening and preparing expense and revenue statements. In 1927, Jewels were directed to be jointly in the custody of the Sthaneegars and the trustee.

A Grand Kumbabhisekam in 1936
In 1916, a renovation exercise was started but this took 20 years to complete with a grand Kumbabhisekam taking place in 1936. 
Chettiar descendant Kalyanasundaram played the role of trustee for several decades in the 2nd half of the 20th century. When HRCE came in, they appointed supervisors to take care of hundial counting. Around 1980, the HR & CE took full control of the temple.

Sundarar
When he came here to Thiruvotriyur he found Nandini ( one of the celestial beauties) – Sangili Nachiyar- and ties the wedlock. Finding him devotionally attached, she secures a promise to not leave Thiruvotriyur. It was under the Magila Maram with God as the witness that he offers this promise. When Thiruvarur Chariot festival was coming up, he was keen to go and have darshan. When he was crossing the border of Thiruvotriyur he lost his eyesight as he did not keep his promise. He regained his eyesight later at Kanchi and Thiruvarur. 
Special Abhisekam on Karthigai Pournami
There are three Lords inside the temple complex – Manickam Thyagaraja as the Utsava Moorthy, Aadhi Pureeswarar and Thiruvatreeswarar.The temple is named after Thyagaraja, who provides a special early morning darshan on each of the days of the Brahmotsavam. In Vaikasi, there is a 15 day Vasantha Utsavam for Thyagaraja from Pournami to Amavasai. The idol of Laguleeswarar predates the Thyagaraja idol.  

In the Aththi Mara forest like region, Lord Shiva was in the form a ‘Putru’. When devas began to lose power without Shiva in a proper form of a lingam, they request Brahmma, Vishnu and Adisesha to provide a solution. The three of them arrive here and answering their prayers, Shiva provides darshan on Karthigai full moon day and the next two days. It is on these three days that Shiva’s real roopam is seen at this temple. For the rest of the days in the year, he is seen adorned with Kavacham. It is only on these three days that there is a full abisekam of the Rudra portions of the Lord while for the rest of the year abisekam is only for the peetam.

Vatta Paarai Amman
Rajendra Chozha I installed the idol and did pooja. Maha Thirupurasundari more popularly known as Vadi Vudai Amman provides darshan in a Shringara ‘Saaintha’ Posture. During Navarathri, there is a nine day brahmotsavam for Ambal. Seven days leading to the Chitrai Amavasai, there is a utsavam for Vatta Paarai Amman. 
Sthaneegars, who once upon a time had full control over the temple, have seen their rights being taken away over the last century. They are now involved in protection of idols and jewellary, pooja management and archaka service. Arul Nandi Sivam is of the view that this is all God's game and he is the one who provides solutions to all issues. He believes that his role is to perform his duty as sincerely as possible each day of the year.
In recent years, there has been a spate of issues. A Navagriha Sannidhi has been built right in front of the Sundarar Mandapam that has irked temple activist Ramesh. There is no water in the legendary temple tank. Adi Seshan performed pooja for Shiva and hence the big tank is named after him as Adhi Sesha Thatakam. HRCE spent Rs. 27 Lakhs to renovate the tank from the temple fund. When water did not hold, they spent a few lakhs more from the temple’s income. Yet what one sees on a summer evening in April is of boys playing cricket inside the tank, a scenario that once existed about two decades ago in Therazhundur Divya Desam (Therazhundur). 

Sthaneegam Sundara Raman, who has been at the temple over the last four decades, has provided complete details of the properties and lands belonging to the temple to the HRCE officials but as with most other temples in the state, the income from the temple lands has been dwindling. Some of the lands has also 'gone missing' from the list. In addition, infrastructural changes within the temple complex has become the order of the day. 
For the moment, one has to recite the great sacred verses of Appar (above) and other Saint Poets in praise of the Lords of Thiruvotriyur and remember the devotion displayed by the likes of Kaliya Nayanar and hope that one day the temple will get back to its devotional best.

Satvinder Singh@75

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When in prime form, he had to undergo a knee surgery following a road accident and miss a full season 
His love for his TN teammates led him to reject the Canadian Green Card and stay back in Madras
Satvinder was the best player of Spin after Manjrekar and Sunny – VV Kumar
Chinda was a calming influence and an ‘Ice Bucket’ – Michael Dalvi

Five Decades Stint in Lucas TVS an all time Record at the firm. He was an institution by himself and played a major role in marketing the products and developing the business of the company in India and Overseas - MD TK Balaji
Chinda@his home in Valsarvakkam

In 1987, AG Ram Singh, aged 77, walking with a stick, surprisingly picked up the red cherry one evening at the cricket nets on Habibullah Road, T. Nagar (he did not do that too often unless he really wanted to showcase to a youngster the art of spin bowling) and gave a glimpse to this writer of what the batters of the 1930s would have experienced. The ball went in with the arc towards the leg stump, dipped all of a sudden, spun across the face of the bat and knocked the top of the off stump. Just under 30 years earlier, his youngest son then all of 12years had pulled his leg in the nets at Salem as to what an almost 50 year old could do at the cricket nets. The next day Ram Singh's first ball to his son was almost similar to the one stated above and went straight into silly point. That was AG Satvinder Singh’s tough initiation into cricket and a life message had been instilled into him - NEVER to under estimate anyone in Life.

His father wanted him to become a left arm spinner but the young boy decided otherwise and played a dozen years of Ranji Trophy cricket for Madras / TN performing creditably in the middle order especially in the late 60s and early 70s before making a mark for himself in the corporate world rising to the post of Executive Director at Lucas TVS. Had it not been for a freak road accident, in a two wheeler, he may have gone on to higher levels in cricket. He was a happy go lucky personality and has enjoyed life to the full. Here’s the story of Chinda (or Sattu to those in the corporate world), who turns 75 on Monday (May 3).

Cricketing Family
Satvinder's grand father had moved to Madras from Amritsar. His legendary father AG Ram Singh ran a sports goods shop on Wallajah Road. The family was steeped into cricket. His father was an exceptional left arm spinner who spun many a team out in domestic cricket all on his own. Satvinder is proud to be part of a family where 10 cricketers played state cricket and recalls his father sharing with him the tale of a Ranji match against Mysore “In that famous Ranji match in 1934, the match ended on day one with Mysore playing not more than 30overs in both the innings. My father picked 11 wickets. When the upbeat Bangaloreans wanted an update on their team and reached the City station to pick the newspaper the next morning, they were greeted with the sad grim looking faces of Mysore Players who had returned squarely beaten by this young spinner.” 
 With his strict, disciplinarian father, legendary AG Ram Singh

Seated on the first floor of his plush independent house in Valsarvakkam, built on plots of land that he and his brother Milkha had purchased in the early 1980s, Satvinder rewinds to the early message from his father in his childhood years “My father was an introvert and a strict disciplinarian and rarely smiled. When he entered the house, there was a hush all around such was the respect we had for him. He wanted his sons to work hard. He himself would swim 250 meters every morning in the Marina. He would often say 'go and perform for the team – with the bat or ball'.”
(All the streets in this area are named after Saivite Saint Poets – Appar Street (Appar), Sundarar Street (Sundarar), Sambandar Street (Achalpuram Gnana Sambandar)!!!)

Coaching the son into Left Arm Spin!!!
When Satvinder, the youngest of his sons, made his way into cricket, his father was keen to make him a left arm spinner. None of the other sons had listened to him and were all strong batsmen and Chinda remained the last of his bowling hopes. At a young age, he began teaching him the nuances of ‘left arm’ spin at the Government Estate nets near Chepauk where they lived as a joint family. Satvinder remembers the early days as a left arm spinner “My father would place a coin on good length and ask me to land on that. And he would count the number of times I landed on the right spot. To him, it was all about hard work and I had to keep bowling as many balls on that coin to get my line and length right.”

The bowling initiation of his father seemed to be having an impact in the early phase. As a young school boy, on a tour to Ceylon, he took three wickets in the first innings with left arm spin and then asked his captain to hand him the new ball in the second innings "With a beautiful breeze that day blowing across from the sea, I took seven wickets for a match haul of 10wickets."

His liking for the Lankans began right then and throughout his career, he registered a great deal of success against the cricketers from the island country for whom he always had a soft corner.

Sorry Dad, I want to be an aggressive batsman
On the back of the early bowling success, Ram Singh tried his best to convert Chinda into a full fledged left arm spinner but much like National Swimming Champion Mayura Kumar (N Kumar's daughter) - Mayura Swimming Champ - who protested against being pushed into her appa's area of sporting interests, Satvinder too picked a bat and began belting the bowlers at a young age. Aged 11, he was roped into the St Bedes school team for the final of the schools tournament. Satvinder remembers his attire for that match “I had not yet sported the turban. My mother tied my hair and sent me to the ground almost with a lady’s kind of plait. It was after that match that I began to sport a turban.”

A Great Lesson in Life 
In 1958, father Ram Singh went on a summer coaching assignment to Salem along with his colleague Naani. He also took the young boy Chinda along. Even in those early years, he had taken a liking to play spin. In youthful enthusiasm, he made the remark (at his father) on what a 50 year old could do with the ball and that he could step out to hit him “The next day he asked me to pad up and brought Naani into Silly Point. The ball dipped on me all of a sudden and spun square to catch the edge and I was snapped by Naani.”

“I was in uncontrollable tears. I had boasted the previous day (of my abilities against spin) but I was brought down to earth in an instant moment by my father with his very first ball. It was a great lesson learnt that day - Never to underestimate your teammates or the opposition.”

Positive against the spinners
But this aggression against spinners was there to stay and continued throughout his career, an aspect that Ranji cricketer from the 1970s and former MD of The Hindu K Balaji (The Hindu K Balaji ) recalls “Satvindar’s batting style was elegant and side-on with an obvious preference for driving through the off-side. He excelled in using his feet to play spin bowling and adopted a positive approach, always looking for scoring opportunities. I remember his century for Alwarpet against Jolly Rovers on the Loyola College ground, an innings in which he rendered Salim Durrani completely ineffective.”
The Hindu's K Balaji

A slip catcher for life
In his first year in league cricket, for Jai Hind, he played alongside swing bowler Engineer S Ram (TVS S Ram). While Ram had decided to quit cricket to pursue higher education in the UK, his in-swing remained lethal. Satvinder remembers taking a blinder at slip after a typical big in-swinger from Ram at the match in University Union caught the batsman napping. 

It was in that phase, that he (and The Hindu's N Ram) experienced the coaching of CK Nayudu "It was a once in a lifetime experience to be coached by Nayudu at the MCC School ground. He was a very practical man and taught me the way cricket was to be played."

The crowd at Marina and up against VV Kumar
His elder brother Kripal Singh was already playing for Alwarpet. Cricket enthusiast and Lucas TVS’ MD R Ratnam who promoted Alwarpet spotted the talent in Satvinder and asked him to join the first division team. He recalls an innings in that early phase against his to be roommate and spin legend that he cherishes to this day “We were playing against a strong SBI bowling attack at Marina. They had two really good spinners in Chandru (R Chandrasekaran) and the legendary VV Kumar.  There was a huge crowd at Marina and it was my first big match under real pressure – top spinners and a noisy crowd. I scored a half century and that gave me great confidence. In later years, VV was to be my roommate on tours and I had a great time standing at slip to his bowling.”

Ranji Debut - middle order with his two brothers
He joined the Guindy Engineering College and played under S Venkataraghavan. Madras University comprising of players such as KS Vaidhyanathan, BR Sekar and Ballal, among others, reached the finals twice during his time at the college. 

Strong performances in two big matches led him to his Ranji debut. In a high profile junior state match, he scored a century against BS Chandrasekar (Mysore) in Bangalore. And in a crucial City v Districts match, Kripal once again sent him at No.3 and he answered the call of his captain with a knock of 70. These two knocks earned him a place in the Madras Ranji squad and he made his debut, aged 17, alongside his elder brothers Milkha and Kripal Singh in 1963.
The Singh Trio - Chinda's Ranji Debut playing alongside his brothers

Delights his father - Ranji bowling
While he had a rather quiet first year, Satvinder had a fairy tale opening to the 1964-65 season, a once in a life time performance that he dedicates to his father Ram Singh. The early initiation into left arm spin by his legendary father paid dividends though it turned out to be a one off performance with the ball. Madras went to Hyderabad for the opening match of the Ranji season and found itself on the receiving end of some belligerent batting “Abbas Ali Baig and ML Jaisimha put us to the sword with beautiful centuries. They were 200+ for 2 and then Kripal handed me the ball. Much to everyone’s surprise, I took 5 wickets under the watchful eyes of my father and spin coach Ram Singh who came all the way to watch the match. It was the one time that I could see delight in my father’s eyes. Somehow, my father always liked it when I took wickets than when I scored runs. He wanted to see the ‘spinner’ in me. Unfortunately I did not meet his expectations on that front for my interest was in batting but this was a one off occasion when I pleased him with my performance with the ball.”

His best innings in the teenage phase
While the first year in Ranji was nothing home to write about, he failed miserably with the bat at the start of the next season against the two strongest sides in the Zone – Hyderabad and Mysore. Hence, though he had picked up five wickets against Hyderabad, he was not in great mood when he was chosen to play for the All India Universities team against the touring team from Ceylon in December 1964. He looks back at this match as a turning point for him in that phase and the half century against a strong bowling attack as his best innings in those teenage years “Ours was a strong team with Bedi as the 12th man!!! We were six down and in trouble when I went in. I put together a century partnership with Ambar Roy. The half century I struck gave me a lot of confidence. It was easily one of my best innings of the time and helped me get my confidence back after the poor batting start to the Ranji season.”

Balaji, who made his TN debut in the Gopalan Trophy match in 1974, vividly remembers his knock including the stumping, a mode of dismissal that was to become a regular feature in Satvinder's career “I watched a great deal of his batting from the time I was a schoolboy in league matches for Alwarpet CC and in the Ranji Trophy games. Among my earliest memories are his half-century against a Ceylon XI playing for the Indian Universities at Chepauk in 1964 before he was stumped brilliantly on the leg side by Dr H. I. K. Fernando.”

Later on in life, the habit of lifting the back leg (especially after his serious knee injury) continued and Satvinder was to be stumped on many occasions including once famously by KR Rajagopal keeping up to the stumps to George Thomas

A Fan of Lankan cricketers
He took a liking for Ceylon’s bowlers in later years and played many a big knock against them right till the end of his career. He considers the innings on a green top in Colombo as one of his favourites. While he scored 89 (once again stumped!!!) against them at Chepauk a year after his All India Universities performance, his 89 in Colombo remains etched in his memory “The Lankans played hard but were jolly good fellows. They were very likeable and a trip to that country was always enjoyable. My knock of 89 there in 1970 remains one of my favourite innings.”

The Road Accident – Knee or a Pumpkin!!!
After not such a good start to his Ranji career, Cricket turned around for Satvinder in the second half of the 1960s coinciding with the arrival of KR Rajagopal and Najam Hussain from Mysore. In the summer of 1967, he had a freak accident while riding a two wheeler as he skidded off the Wallajah Road near the Police Station. Medical treatment was not great in those days and recovery usually took a long time. The ever positive man that he was, Satvinder gathered himself and carried on in his typically cheerful style as if nothing had happened. It was in the coming years that the real impact of that accident began to tell on him.

The Big Years in Cricket- His first match winning knock
As seen in the story last month on KR Rajagopal, Satvinder was to play a match winning knock against two legends in Bangalore, his first real big knock for Madras in Ranji Trophy. It was October of 1967 and the return of Rajagopal to Bangalore after his move to Madras the previous year and he was booed by the strong crowd even as he walked on to the ground. 
The now 80 year old Najam Hussain (Najam), who made a crucial contribution to TN’s comeback win in that match, recalls the events “For the first time in my life, I cried in that match. Raja got out for Zero. And then Prasanna got me plumb LBW for a nought. There were rumours floating around that the two old Mysore fellows were giving it away for their old mates. I was in serious tears and furious at the same time at these abusive comments. We were all determined to show as to how much we valued Madras. Raja came out firing on all cylinders and then Satvinder joined me for the match winning partnership. He played Chandra and Pras beautifully and he was all class that day.  After the winning shot, everyone came out running on to the field to hug us. While most called him as Chinda, I always addressed him as Partner for we shared a number of good partnerships and extricated the team from out of the woods on many occasions.”

In the next match, he scored his first Ranji century against Andhra.  A couple of months later, he was involved in that famous match winning partnership with Rajagopal against MP in the Ranji Quarters. With Madras in trouble in the second innings, Satvinder put on a big century stand to help the team recover and reach the Semi Final. Later in the year, he scored his second century in his Ranji career in a big partnership with Raja. And then he top scored for Madras in both innings in a really tough match against Hyderabad which Madras lost. At the start of the next Ranji season, he came up with two more classy knocks this time a century and 86, both unbeaten, against Kerala.

Towards the end of the decade, he had come back strongly and more than made up for his slow start to his Ranji career. He was in the peak form of his cricketing career. Several match winning knocks in those three years had made him a vital cog in Madras’ middle order. 

Opening bat and South Zone team mate KR Rajagopal (KR Rajagopal) remembers the Ranji century both scored against Kerala in 1968 after Madras got off to a shaky start losing three early wickets “He played some memorable knocks for Madras. And the one against Kerala where we both scored centuries was a terrific one. We were in big trouble early and then he joined me and we batted together the whole day. It was a delight to watch him bat. I had seen all three brothers bat. While Milkha was explosive, Chinda was fearless and a classy batsman and an enjoyable character in the game. His fearlessness and the great use of his feet was best symbolized in that knock at the central college ground in Bangalor, a year earlier, where he masterminded a comeback win for Madras against Chandra and Pras, one of the best counter attacking knocks.”
         KR Rajagopal

Duleep Trophy- Batting with the Nawab in 'Canvas' shoes
On the back of these strong performances, he earned the Zonal Call. In January 1969, he played his only Duleep Trophy match in Calcutta against East Zone and put on a half century partnership with Pataudi, a memorable occasion for him to bat with the legend. During the innings, he slipped and fell taking off for a run that led the great Nawab to remark “What kind of a shoe are you wearing for a Zone match.” Satvinder used to bat with Canvas shoes even in big matches. He found the turf boots to be heavy and uncomfortable, especially after his knee injury.

That injury which he had ignored for a while began to take a toll on him and had a big impact on his future prospects. When he came on to bowl, he suddenly found his knee giving him a different feel. He recalls that moment “While I just stood up after the skid and continued to ride and later played as normal, one day when I came on to bowl my first ball, I could not move my leg. The knee had swollen like a pumpkin. Today you can walk out of an operation and get back into action almost immediately. It was not so then. It took a long time to heal. After having performed really well in the previous couple of years, I missed the entire season in 70-71 recuperating from the knee surgery.”

In the years following his injury, his movements on the field, his running between the wickets and also the stepping down to the spinners became restricted. 25 years after this road accident, another legend of TN cricket, S Sharath (ATG Sharath), too met with a road accident in the youth of his life and as in the case of Satvinder, the accident played a dampening effect on Sharath too, especially his progress to the national level.

As a fall out of that injury, Satvinder became a close in fielder and he had some magical moments at slip that he recalls “I began to field at Slip and was posed with big challenges especially to the bowling of VV Kumar and Venkat. One had to watch their variations and be ever alert. I enjoyed taking some sharp catches of their bowling.”
 
He came back strong the next year after missing a full season and scored a match winning century against Chandra in Bangalore. 

1973 Ranji Semi Final – A hug from Kirloskar’s Chairman
The Ranji Trophy Semi Final against Maharashtra in 1973 was momentous for multiple reasons. It was Satvinder’s brilliant half century in the second innings that set up the match for TN, but he recalls two other incidents from that match “I took a blinder at slip of Venkat just after lunch for that crucial early breakthrough (Chauhan had been undone by Kalli before lunch). And then just before tea, I dropped a relative sitter off Venkat again. As we went into tea, my mind was all on that dropped catch and if that would prove crucial. Soon after tea, Venkat picked up the last wicket and there was Ramachandran, Kirloskar Cummins’ Chairman rushing on to the field to hug me on my match winning knock.”

Of course, Satvinder continues to be grounded between the highs and the lows in cricket. He says that there are days when things go your way and the 2nd innings knock against Maharashtra was one such “When I came in, I received a juicy full toss that I put away for four. Chetan (Chauhan) who was at first slip remarked ‘You lucky guy, to receive this (full toss) first ball.’ And that knock changed the course of the match. But it was the full toss that was the turning point in that knock. A boundary of the first ball makes a difference for a batsman.”

Mixed Feelings - Two Ranji Finals
He has mixed feelings of the two Ranji finals against Bombay that he was part of in his decade long cricket career. In final at Bombay in 1968, he took that close in catch of VV Kumar’s bowling with Ashok Mankad just at the start of his innings “They had lost three early wickets and the wicket of Mankad would have changed the match in our favour. I had taken a good sharp catch but the umpire did not raise the finger. Mankad went on to score a century and the match slipped out of our hands.”

“We were confident of the 73 final because we played at home but the pitch was terrible “When I saw the match played at Chepauk this year against England, I was reminded of that Ranji final. Even the great Gavaskar struggled on that pitch. May be if we had batted first, we would have been in the game. That 185 Bombay made on day one was the difference.”

Chinda-A Calming Influence and an Ice Bucket
Michael Dalvi batted together on a number of occasions with Satvinder. Talking to this writer from his home in Dehradun, he recalls the role played by Chinda on and off the field “On the field, it always looked like the width of his bat was double (that of other batsmen). Off the field, he had a very equitable nature. In a dressing room that was a ‘hotspot’, Chinda was a calming influence on the team, the Cold Water and an ‘Ice Bucket’.”
The day he missed playing for India
In the final phase of his career, at the Ranji match against Hyderabad in Chepauk, a photograph was taken of TN cricketers who had played for India. Abbas Ali Baig, who stood next to Satvinder, asked him as to how he would have felt had he been there in the photograph “That was the one day in my life when I felt really bad about not having gone up the ladder in cricket to play for the country.”

Best player of spin 
His roommate on most Ranji tours, legendary leg spinner VV Kumar says that Satvinder was the best player of Spin after (Vijay) Manjrekar and Sunny (Sunil Gavaskar) “Had it not been for the accident, he would have risen to greater heights than Kripal and Milkha.”

“I have seen close to 20 knocks where his partnership saved Madras, apart from his personal contribution. A stickler for basics, he was always a guiding factor for debut batsmen. As a professional and a top cricketer, he maintained his cool. Bishen (Bedi) always use to say ‘Chinda you are really something’. He always was.”

Kalli's Go To Man for bowling
Satvinder shared a 15 year cricketing association with Venkat and knew him very closely. He was seen to be so close to Venkat that B Kalyanasundaram (Kalli), who could not ask his captain directly, used to go up to Chinda and get him to influence Venkat to bring the fast bowler back into the attack to try and get the elusive breakthrough.
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Venkat - His college and state captain
He has high words of praise for Venkat's cricketing intelligence with whom he played right from the school days. Once when he played for Alwarpet against YMA, Venkat got him third ball “I had a tendency to play back the first few balls. Venkat had spotted that and castled me. He later came and told me that he had studied me and found this back foot movement early on.”

Sativinder counts Venkat as one in a league of his own “Venkat was a disciplinarian. He could not tolerate sloppiness on the cricket ground. He respected those that did well. The fact that he was a loner cannot be counted against him. With him, one had to be involved in intellectual discussions. I have often said this in speeches to youngsters ‘Mental Stability is the difference in cricket. Venkat had that, and it was that that made him a fine cricketer. He came up trumps against all odds.”

The Best Captain
But  its not Venkat but MLJ that Satvinder counts as the best captain he played under. The Duleep Trophy Semi Final opened my eyes to what a captain can do to a team “Jaisimha understood the strengths and weaknesses of players and motivated them accordingly. It was a joy to watch him captain. The players reacted positively to his call. He was the best ‘captain’ never to have captained India.”
Former Ranji Trophy Winning captain and current Chairman of TN Selection Committee S Vasudevan (Ranji Captain Vasu) who began his career at Lucas TVS says  he was fortunate to play along with him for Alwarpet and TN “AGS had a stamp of class written all over him. He was one of the most stylish batsmen of that era and some of his knocks were exceptional. I particularly remember the knock against Mafatlal in the Buchi Babu tournament where he was at his scintillating best in his knock of 81 in the finals. His extra ordinary cover drives and elegant leg glance were a treat to watch.”
It was said of the West Indian Gordon Greenidge that when he limped off the field, the opposition were in for a thumping when he came into bat (he limped off in that famous Lord’s test of 1984 and came back to score 214 NO). Satvinder seemed to have a similar warning. 

Vasudevan recalls such days on the field “Whenever he played his favourite delicate leg glance to start his innings, everyone knew that he was in for a big score that day and more often than not he succeeded.”

The Best of the Three Brothers
Chairman of Sanmar Group and the one who began promoting cricket in a big way in Madras after his return from the US, N Sankar (Sanmar Sankar), says that Satvinder was one of the most promising batsmen of the 60's, and the best of the three brothers who played for the State “He was a batsman who used his feet beautifully but unfortunately, his career was affected by an accident where he hurt his knee badly.”
 

“What was most admirable about Satvinder was, apart from cricket, he built up an excellent career for himself in the auto components industry” points out Sankar.

A Father Figure to the family members
Nephew and match referee Arjan Kripal Singh, who scored a triple hundred in Ranji Cricket for Tamil Nadu, has a couple of things in common with Chinda Uncle “For starters, he is the most educated member in our family. You could say I followed in his footsteps (Arjan did his Engineering at Anna Univ) not just in education but also in terms of the knee injury!!!” 
He says that his uncle has been playing a great mentoring role to the members in the next generation “He is the lone surviving member among the brothers and has stepped in brilliantly into the role of the father figure of the family for the next gen. For a long time we have been a joint family. He has taken up that senior role and been playing the mantle greatly. All of us look up to him for advice. I have found him to be a gentle human being. He has no airs about him. Not once have I seen him lose his temper.  Even when there have been differences of opinion at home, he puts across his views in such a polite way that he usually manages to convince us."

Strikes two Global Deals -Success in the Corporate World
Satvinder joined Lucas in June 1968 even before he had received the Engineering degree“I was grabbed by Ratnam. Even before the results, he had picked me for the Padi Plant. I had no time to think but they really took great care of me over the next five decades.” 

He worked under the Directorship of TK Balaji (Venu Srinivasan's brother in law), his college mate at GEC. Sattu travelled extensively around the world marketing their products globally. He saw steady growth in this career and never contemplated a move. One of his big achievements was to sign a big deal, a dozen years ago, with two major overseas customers in Germany and the USA. In 2014, he was elevated to the post of ED and retired from the firm in 2019 after over five decades.

His 5decades stint- An all time record
Managing Director Balaji says that Sattu played a major role in marketing the products of Lucas TVS. Later he was also responsible for business and developed and expanded the business both in India and Overseas. His contribution to the company has been immense. The five decades long stint in Lucas TVS is an all record in the firm. He was an institution by himself. 
Arjan points to the fact that he was one of those few Ranji cricketers, who after a long cricket career, rose to the top in the corporate world too “He was the only guy in the firm who could dictate terms to the Chinese, a unique feature. Like in cricket, where he was respected by his team members and the opposition alike, in the corporate world too, he managed to earn the respect of global customers.”

Always ready for a laugh
While he was a terrific team man on the field and a delight to watch especially against the spinners, Balaji points to the great human side “Satvinder was – and continues to be – a cheerful personality, always ready for a laugh “I have never known – or heard of – him throw his weight around as a senior player.”

Najam echoes the sentiment “His infectious smile had a healing effect on the team especially when the team was down. He was a happy go fellow, always came up with a good word for the team members and wanted to make others laugh. His song and dance in Colombo and extrovert easy going nature made him very popular there and the Lankans simply loved him.” 
Satvinder played a dozen years of Ranji cricket till 1976 and contributed till the end. He made lot of friends on and off the field. It was his love for his fellow cricketers in India and especially those he played with in the 60s and 70s that led him to reject a Canadian green card. His son, Jitendar, who also played a bit of cricket with WD Balaji Rao in Canada, works in a University in Vancouver, Canada. Over the last couple of years, ‘Sattu’ has been a Consultant to Ucal Fuel Systems and uses the cricketing and corporate network he has built over the last five decades to help the management connect with prospective customers.  When not consulting for Ucal, he listens to the good old Tamil and Hindi songs from the 1960s and 70s walking on the tread mill at home and on the sands of the Marina but IPL is No No for him. That is not something he has come to terms with, yet.

To this day, he continues to follow the philosophy of 'Give your best and simply enjoy life'“There will be challenges in every phase of life. Do not take too much of stress. It is important to be cheerful and have a positive outlook.”. That's Chinda and Sattu. Ever a Smiling Personality.

Here is wishing the supremely fit Satvinder a Happy and Enjoyable 75th Birthday. 

Chandomaye Malola Kannan

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A Traditional Mylaporean explores a career in Soccer Analytics
It is a sign of the changing world. The next gen from a traditional Mylapore household is exploring a career in a sport that has historically not necessarily been popular in this part of the country or at least for sportswomen in Madras. Chandomaye Malola Kannan, daughter of Vedic Scholar and Prabhandham expert, is 20 and at crossroads in her life.

She has just completed her graduation from MOP Vaishnava College in Madras and is in that phase in life when one, typically, is confused on the future prospects. It is an age when family talks in the past used to revolve around finding the right groom or may be in the more recent past on finding a ‘9-5’ job. But not anymore and definitely not with Chandomaye.

This story is indicative of the transformative changes taking place in the heart of Mylapore. Chandomaye has spent the better part of the last decade on the football field and is clear on the way forward for her. Marriage is not on the cards. Cooking at home is definitely not an area of interest and the message is clear that boys of the future have to train themselves in household chores “Having dedicated a lot of time to football over the last 10 years, I want to pursue my passion and make a career out of it” she told this writer last week.

Since being a school girl, she has played football and participated in tournaments across the country. She has also made overseas trips to play football. Once into College, in addition to playing football, she made her entry into football coaching with a one year contract with the World One Football Academy and has been coaching the Under 8s. She has also come through the D-Licensing test for professional coaching.

Soccer Analytics
At 20, she has identified Soccer Analytics as a potential career option. In cricket, analytics has come to play a big role including in the IPL with video analysts going in-depth into every ball of the match both of their own team players as well as the opposition. While it has not yet taken off  in a big way in Indian football, analytics has kicked off in European football leagues with specialist roles being created “In the past the coach used to do this as well by just watching the game. Now with technology coming into play, analytics is being used to track every movement in football.”

It is a bold career call for a traditional Mylaporean girl to take. Chandomaye sees a career potential in Analytics and believes she will be ahead of the curve if she makes a foray into Soccer Analytics now as she expects it to become an integral part of coaching once the football league in India takes off in a big way “Currently, it is a very niche area in the soccer space. I believe that soccer analytics will become an in-thing in Football in India in the next 10 years and with this early initiation, I will have a heads up on others.”

In line with this thought process, this summer she is pursuing a global online course in Soccer Analytics and is looking to explore options this new football season in this largely untested area in Football in India. 

This section will track her progress.

JR Madanagopal IPL Umpire 2021 and Beyond

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Madan’s Qualities enhance the image of Umpiring – ICC Match Referee V Narayanan Kutti
At 46, it’s ‘Right Time’ for Madan to be ‘elevated’ to the International Panel – BCCI Match Referee P Ranganathan

His Umpiring ‘வெறி’ and his craving for perfection should take him right to the top - R Radhakrishnan, Umpiring Mentor from the 2000s
The playing years strengthened his resolve in life. While his elder brother (J Gokulakrishnan) made his Ranji debut at 20, he could not break through into the team till he was 24. And when he did with a glorious one day domestic debut followed by successive years of topping the charts in domestic cricket, he was taken out of the scene, dropped unceremoniously by the State Selectors. He was not yet 30 when he made up his mind to pursue a serious career in Umpiring following a call made by RBI Cricketer Prabhu Balachandiran, who seeded the idea into him, similar to how TNCA Umpire Gururajan initiated KN Ananthapadmanabhan almost around the same time. While he got into the BCCI panel in 2006 years along with his former IOB teammate Ananthapadmanabhan and then into the fourth umpire’s chair in the IPL as early as the third edition, it has been a long and testing journey since, for the former South Zone batsman JR Madanagopal.

He has not had opportunities coming his way as he may have visualized in those early years of umpiring. He was part of the ‘fourth umpires’ team in 2014 as well but then went out of ‘IPL’ action. In the 2016-17 domestic season, he umpired his first knock out match in the Ranji Trophy alongside Ananthapadmanabhan. Despite officiating in the Ranji Semil Final, IPL and higher accolades remained elusive. 

‘வெறி’ for umpiring should take him to the top
Former BCCI Umpire R Radhakrishnan was the one who mentored several umpires in the early 2000s before they took the BCCI examination in 2006. He recalls those days with Madan “Out of the all the umpires that I have helped prepare for the exam, Madan was the one who had the most thought provoking arguments with me. Even at that very early stage, he craved for perfection and did not accept unless he was 100% satisfied. He has that ability and inclination to learn everything in its absoluteness and thoroughly. His 'thirst to learn' was encouraging for me as a teacher. His focus as an umpire is something to be emulated. 
While the sharpness on the laws of cricket was visible, Radha was particularly impressed by his human side "He is a gem of a person. The humane character is rich in him. You do not find too many of those varieties in this world." 

Radha says that in the modern world, words like commitment and passion have come to be used too frequently and too loosely. But in Madan, he found that real ‘வெறி’ for umpiring "His match preparedness is such that he wants to do the best job on the field and that should take him right to the top."

It has been a long 15 year journey thus far for Madanagopal in Umpiring. It has been one that has many times tested his commitment and patience. It has also thrown within himself a lot of questions on his future. In the last 12-24months, he has internalized himself even more strengthening his mind to face the challenges of an uncertain life. Yoga has become an integral part of his life and it has helped his fitness. He is easily one of the fittest umpires around. 

During his playing days, Madanagopal had stayed under the radar and away from limelight and tried to do his best in the opportunities that have come his way. He has been so ‘silent’ and ‘off radar’as an umpire that no media even made a mention of his IPL debut, let alone featuring a story!!! 

Ride to the Top is not easy
Former Elite Panel Umpire S Ravi (Umpire S Ravi) had told this writer in March 2020 that things may not always go his way in terms of opportunities, but one (he) should continue to give his best when he is on field. “The ride to the top and staying up there is not easy and Madan will have to show a great deal of patience. But he will be richer for the IPL experience.”

Finally there may be some bright light at the end of what looked like a long tunnel. The hard work and commitment displayed over a decade and a half is beginning to pay off for him.  

The two years leading up to 2020 had been particularly good for Madanagopal that has seen him featuring in important matches in recent times. In March last year, he received a letter of posting for the IPL but as luck would have it, the Pandemic forced the postponement of the tournament to later in the year to the UAE. With a restricted contingent, he lost out on the opportunity to feature in that edition. He did well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare tournaments in January and February this year. Following this, he received a surprise call, the biggest of his career so far.

International Fourth Umpire
The first few months of 2021 have seen new milestones in Madanagopal’s umpiring career. He donned the role of the fourth umpire in the one day match between India and England end of March this year. Soon after, he was informed of his appointment into the IPL umpiring panel for this year. 

IPL Debut- Holds his nerves
On April 22, he made his on field debut as an IPL umpire. Even though he had to reverse a decision on a very tight call within the first quarter of the match, his conduct over the rest of the match showed that he was able to keep his emotions under control and did not feel the nerves. The fact that S Ravi was his colleague would have helped him in terms of match management. 
A surprise 3rd umpire call ahead of schedule
While he was scheduled to officiate as a third umpire on May 2, he received another surprise call prior to that and made his debut as a TV Umpire ahead of schedule on April 30, a possible indication that he was getting into the considered set at the highest level. As a TV umpire, as against the usual DRS referral, Madanagopal faced different queries - decisions that do not usually come up in T20 cricket. He had to make calls on a ‘bump ball’, a ‘bowled’ decision and a run out - ¬‘crossing of batsmen’ - where his grip of the law was tested. All of these three decisions were different kind of calls for the TV Umpire. In addition to this, he also experienced auto no balls for the first time.

Excellent Body Language
His IOB team mate from 1990s and umpiring colleague over the last 15years Ananthapadmanabhan (KN Ananthan) who watched those matches says that Madan was outstanding in the couple of matches he did as TV umpire. “In the one match he did as an on-field umpire, his body language was excellent, and he was calm and composed. The one decision that got overturned was really tough with right arm bowler bowling over the wicket to a left hander and a shoe and bat involved. Despite this early overturn of the decision, he stayed strong through the match.”

Likely to be one of the finest umpires
Arjan Kripal Singh, who has been a match referee for a decade, has seen Madanagopal umpire in the domestic circuit during this period. He too sees Madan as an outstanding umpire  “Madan has been able to gain the respect of the players which is a very critical aspect for an umpire. He has good control over the game, makes very few errors on the field and his communication is extremely good. He's likely to turn out to be one of the finest umpires in the future.”

Madan is Highly Rated
Several years ago, the then Hony Secy of the TNCA (and now the CEO of CSK) KS Viswanathan (KSV) had said that Madan was one of the best ‘player turned umpire’ that he had seen. Speaking to this writer in March, he had said that Madan was highly rated and that he was confident of this former first class cricketer doing very well in umpiring.

When Madan umpires, there is no work for a match referee
TN fast bowler from the 1960s and 70s B Kalyanasundaram (Kalli) was a match referee till 2013 and watched Madanagopal closely. He says that Madan minimized the work of a match referee “His knowledge of the playing conditions and its interpretation was so thorough that when Madan umpired, there was no role for the match referee. Having played first class cricket for many years, he knows the nuances. I have never seen get ruffled. He communicated with supreme confidence and that came to the fore in the interactions he had with me as a match referee. There is a cricket intelligence that stands out in him.”

The man who sowed the umpiring thoughts in Madan way back in 2004, RBI’s Prabu Balachandiran says while it is too early to judge from one IPL match, Madan clearly has all the qualities of an international umpire "He has the ‘game sense’ and understands well the players’ psyche.”

Right time to elevate Madan
India’s top match referee P Ranganathan, who played first class cricket for Kerala in the 1980s, told this writer from his home in Thiruvanthapuram that he had known Madan for decades and that he exudes confidence when he walks out on to the field as an umpire “He displays a great deal of confidence as an umpire. His communication skills are very good. In addition to decision making, what is important for an umpire is the match management. I have seen the manner of his interactions with players and officials to be very good. A clear advantage for him is that he has been a first class player and hence he knows the players’ psyche and the ways of taking control of a match.” 
“I have found his decision making on the field to be very good over a long period of time. It is the right time to get him promoted. Considering his age (Madan is 46 now) and his track record in recent years, he should be elevated to the panel (international panel). What is critical for him is to get the right exposure at this time and his elevation now will give him sufficient number of years to showcase himself at the highest level.”

Madan's Qualities enhance the image of Umpiring
International match referee V Narayanan Kutti, who too played first class cricket for Kerala in the 1980s, has seen Madanagopal from his playing days in the 1990s. He told this writer from Thiruvananthapuram that being nominated as an umpire in IPL 2021 is an appropriate recognition for Madan "He was an excellent cricketer in his playing days. I was happy that he took up a career in umpiring after quitting competitive cricket. Subsequent to making it as a BCCI umpire, he has made steady progress along the ranks and is now one of the top umpires in the BCCI umpiring fraternity. I found Madan to be someone who prepares well and strives to remain on top of the game whenever an opportunity comes his way."
"He takes an active part in discussions, is excellent with laws of cricket and in interpreting them. He understands the responsibility entrusted upon him and is an excellent team man.To me, he comes across as a person who strives to be updated on all aspects of umpiring and stands up for himself. These are qualities which enhance the image of umpiring."

In August last year, Ananthapadmanabhan (KNAP Intnl Panel) was inducted into the International Panel of Umpires from India. It has been a happy phase for Madanagopal in recent months and newer opportunities have come his way that had been hitherto elusive. The Big Question now is as to how soon he can make the next big leap in his umpiring journey to join his mate from his IOB playing days in the International Panel.

This section will track his progress.

Covid and A Game of Cricket, Overseas

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Three cricketers from Madras are finding some relief on the cricket field in overseas locations in the midst of the Pandemic 
Sport brings out the competitive spirit and puts you in a zone which blanks the external world, momentarily - Scientist Balaji Ramalingam, Oxford Cricket Club, UK
Enterpreneur Promodh Sharma, Rising Stars, 1990s

In the last week of December 2020, after a break of over nine months, the TNCA reopened its doors to lower division league. And for a couple of months, the unfinished matches of the previous season (2019-20) was played out and completed. But the Palayampatti Shield has not yet been won and it may still be a while before one sees a closure to that season. The 2020-21 league season has been a wash out and it is likely to be called off without a ball being bowled. While this has been the scenario in Madras, three former cricketers from the city have been playing league and club cricket overseas and reliving memories of their hey days of local cricket in Madras. And cricket has helped them handle, mentally, the big challenges arising out of the Pandemic.

Top order batsman Promodh Nagaraja Sharma played for YMCA (TSR) Club, one of the earliest cricket academies in the city, in the 1980s and later first division cricket for Rising Stars (Kunal). During his time, he played against the likes of Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Yere Gouda and the stars of cricket in Madras. On many occasions, he forgot the finger injuries when he had a bat in hand and played big knocks especially for YMCA (TSR). Much later, in the 2000s, after he had set up his own firm in the garment industry, Promodh, then in his 30s, managed a lower division team in the TNCA league for a couple of years and played a few gritty knocks.

Cricket helps in relieving Life’s Challenges
What he has experienced this summer has surprised even the cricket crazy Promodh. He is touching 50, not an age when you would get on to the cricket field with a bat in hand facing fast bowlers who try to bounce you out. Promodh, the Chairman of  Fifth Avenue, a Global Sourcing Firm that is fighting the challenges of the Pandemic, believes playing a cricket game on the weekends offers life solutions that are not visible to the naked eye. He has been trying hard to get his family into Hongkong ( from India) but it has not been easy "You are losing millions of dollars everyday in business. The First wave, last year, and now the Second has hit us very badly. You are fighting your way each day engaged in discussions with your customers and your employees across the world. In such a depressing scenario, a day on the cricket field can provide a lot of positive impetus in facing up to the business challenges. Cricket has taught me a lot of life lessons and continues to, even during the Pandemic."

Like they did in the late 1980s, his fellow teammates TSR needle him and often test his fighting instincts on the ground. They repeatedly question his ability to face up to young fast bowlers. Never short on words, Promodh went to the nets and tested himself. At 50, the body does not listen to you as it once did three decades earlier but the love for the game meant he worked hard on his fitness. He told this writer from Hongkong that the mind is strong but the body has been a bit creaky “I have been trying to get ‘match’ fit and have a personal trainer who is helping me reach some goals vis a vis my fitness.”

Confident of putting up a good show, he took to the beautiful looking astro turf at GDB ground in the heart of Hongkong, from where he now runs his global sourcing business. 

Half Century @ 50!!!
On successive weekends, he notched up scores that left his teammates, and the opposition, stunned. One was not used to shorter formats in those years of his childhood when growing up under the watchful eyes of Rajan Bala, who he calls the best coach ever, he had to base his game on building a long innings. The world has changed over the last decade and with that, Promodh is experiencing a new found freedom. In his teenage growing up years, coaches would often ask him not to hit the ball in the air and not to play cross batted shots. And with them watching from the sidelines, a youngster was always under pressure not to play shots that the coach would not appreciate but at 50 Promodh has found the freedom to unleash himself on the cricket field especially at a time when the business environment is challenging often leaving him wondering as to when there will be the corporate turnaround “I love the game. It’s great fun to play formats like 20/20 which allow you to go for your shots from the first ball, which was not the case when we were younger. When I played the longer formats in the 1980s, you were expected to build an innings.”
And with every four that he struck, he received a big roar from his younger teammates. He actually struck fours and sixers with such regularity that it came as a pleasant surprise to his mates “What’s Greta fun for me now is working with the youngsters and trying to build a winning team.”

Cricket throws up challenging scenarios
It may not be a high profile match, yet it is a competitive, one that throws up different scenarios during the course of the 40overs and gets you to act on your feet to counter the challenges thrown at you every moment on the field.

Over the last one month, he has relived some his favourite strokes from childhood – the cover drive and the square cut in particular. In one of the matches he played with the bat of Sanju Samson and discovered what the modern bats do to a batsman. His pulls and hooks found its way on to the nearby fields. Unfortunately as is the batting rule in the league, he had to retire after passing a particular score!!!
Promodh says that playing cricket in such challenging times helps bring out his fighting qualities that help in business “Cricket helps me stay competitive. It brings out those fighting instincts which make me what I am. The game has taught me a lot and today when I play partly for the sheer joy helping me unwind and relax, it keeps my reflexes and mind sharp for the Monday @ work.”

A day after scoring the half century, Promodh was involved in an important discussion with a global customer but the sporting and competitive spirit of the previous day helped him navigate through the discussion in what he terms is a tough business environment.

“It was in cricket that he learnt a lot in terms of mental strength and application that continue to help him enormously during the testing times in business life. And he carries the learning from cricket on to his corporate life.”

Weekend Cricket away from High End Research
Thousands of miles away in the quiet and fortified town of Den Bosch, in Netherlands, a much younger 29 year old Mylaporean Vidhvath Viswanathan, who has a Professional Doctorate in Bio Process Engineering from Delft University, spends a large part of the week in serious research and development of a global life saving medicine working in Multi National Pharma Company. He too, like Promodh, finds cricket in the weekend relaxing and offering relief from the Pandemic.

With the uncertainty of the pandemic, Vidhvath, the Captain of the Concordia Cricket Club, was not sure if the 20-21season would be played. There was darkness all around in those early months of April and May last year and the whole scene was gloomy. But much to his delight and that of his team mates, the number of cases reduced drastically in Netherlands and restrictions on cricket was lifted in the country. The season started about 3 weeks later than usual and was a shortened one “For the first 4-6 weeks we were only allowed to play within our own clubs. So, we had a mini auction and divided ourselves into 4 teams and played an internal T20 competition."

Later, in the second half of 2020, when the rules were relaxed a bit more, he was able to play in the official 40overs league “We had a group of 8 teams in our league and played only one match against each other (usually it would be 2 matches against the same team, one home and one away).”  

A Dutch P.Hd - Cycling his way to a cricket match 
Much like the lower division cricketers in Madras, who travel a long way to play the 50 overs game, Vidhvath travelled over an hour by train and then cycled another 30minutes from the station to the ground 25-30 mins to cycle “The weekend provided an opportunity to meet friends over a coffee.” 

Interestingly, given the Pandemic, the cricket association announced very early that there would not be promotion/relegation for the year. Overall, Vidhvath played close to 15 matches in the 2020-21 season including in the internal competition leading up to the official league. There were dropped catches, a close match that his team lost, a dominating win and arguments with the opposition and the umpires leading to mixed emotions but at the end of the day it always led to a healthy chat among the team mates. A win meant a cheerful evening while a loss led to deep introspection but either way it engaged every member of the team into a healthy discussion on how a particular scenario was handled and how differently one could manage it the next time.  
P. Hd Vidhvath - Involved in Research Medicine

In his childhood days in India, Vidhvath did not play much of red ball cricket but he says he was ‘always up’ for a tennis ball game either in the backyards of Abhiramapuram, a few buildings away from the once independent house of former Ranji Trophy winning captain S Vasudevan (Ranji Captain Vasudevan). 

After his move to the Netherlands, he began playing serious ‘red ball’ cricket and began enjoying it. The captaincy of the club gave him a great experience of having to think for the team, handling the different mindsets of his team members and meeting their expectations and demands on the cricket field!!! "Pep talks within the team  and motivating the team to do better each time in terms of better temperament, patience and consistency led to a positive environment. I saw each player giving his best and almost everyone contributing one way or the other to the team’s cause. And that satisfaction at the end of the 20-21 season was rewarding."The green cricket ground, the trees in the background, the intensity of the game and the discussions before and after the game help in creating a positive mood around the players that they then carried and shared with those in other walks of life.

It was also an experience Vidhvath carried into his research work at the Multi National Pharma Company. For someone involved in high end research, the cricket matches and bonding with team members especially in such challenging times has helped get the mind away from the negatives and has raised the hopes for the future.

Interestingly, Vidhvath also performs other functions off the cricket field. He enjoys scoring and he travels on weekends when he does not have a match to don the role of a scorer. As part of the team bonding, the team ended the season with a dinner after its last game, one that has now become an ‘end of season’ tradition.
Cricket offers positivity amidst the gloom
The 2020-21 season gave the much needed relief to Vidhvath in the gloomy scenario. He and his teammates are now awaiting news for the new 21-22 season. Locked inside a house can lead to vitamin deficiency and this is quite common in the Netherlands especially in the winter when the days are much shorter. At work, being in medical research, it has been a good year for him and he believes cricket has played a role in creating positivity around him “We are hoping we can have at least half a season from June.”

Oxford Scientist on the cricket field
Balaji Ramalingam is an Artificial Intelligence Scientist at AstraZeneca in the UK. He and his team help in delivering AI tools that enable data driven decision making. A prodigious in-swing bowler, he played fifth division league in Madras just under a decade ago. While he too focuses on high stress work as a Scientist, the weekends are spent on the lush green cricket grounds. On Saturday, he played a full day match that helped him engage actively with sporting people and a breath of fresh air in a world that is full of negative news. 
Scientist Balaji Ramalingam involved in AI

Balaji played close to a dozen games for Oxford in the 20-21 season, a team that included a Pakistani international cricketer. He is just back from the home counties first division premier league match that Oxford CC lost by three wickets at the Wally Gage Memorial Ground. He provides an insight into what it means to play cricket in the current scenario “It’s a very different world that we live in and sport has been equally different. Players availability has been tricky!  Organising training session with the new protocols has been a big challenge for the clubs. Given all the new COVID safe playing rules from ECB (which make a lot of sense), games take slightly longer but once the game spirit kicks in, cricket is what it usually is – very competitive and instills a lot of life lessons.”

“Sport brings out the competitive spirit and puts you in a zone which blanks the external world (momentarily). I appreciate that aspect even more now given that it’s really hard to ignore the fact that we are living through a global pandemic.”
Playing cricket during the pandemic has helped him and his team members break the monotony in the socially constrained life that everyone is leading now “It has let us appreciate the social aspect of the sport (staying and engaging with the team / the spirit of playing/ the highs and the lows/ winning and losing) even more!” 

Srirangam Temple Naidu Venkatesan Passes away

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The ‘Nel Alavu’ man of Ranganathaswamy Temple
The Srirangam Temple lost, last evening, one of its most sincere and selfless service personnel in the last half a century
2012 Oonjal Utsavam Day 7 - photo taken by this writer

On 1st May this year, Naidu Venkatesan, who had been serving at the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple for almost four decades called this writer to update about the Chitrai Utsavam and how devotees were not being allowed into the temple. The scenario, he said, took him back to the 1960s when there were no crowds and devotees could come and have darshan of Moolavar Ranganathaswamy as many times as they wanted each day of the year.

Praises New JC Marimuthu
In that telecon, he specifically praised the new JC of the temple, Marimuthu, who had taken over in January this year. He told this writer that the new JC had made it a point to attend the commencement of every procession and this took him back to 1984 to the JC of the time who too would be present for every procession at the temple. He said it was refreshing to see the JC come in traditional attire to be part of the utsavam.

Naidu Venkatesan began his service at the Srirangam Temple in the 1980s and performed his duties as selflessly as one could over an almost four decade period. Sometimes he would carry the Thee Pandham, at other times he would look at the electrical issues. While he had designated work as a HR & CE appointee, he was a man for all seasons. He would never say NO to anyone and never complain about anyone. Such people, only a few in number, are always taken advantage of.  

Carrying a heavy Canopy all alone
Four years ago, it was the Garuda Sevai day in Thai. The procession that evening starts from Veereswaram on the banks of the Cauvery, near Amma Mandapam. Almost everyone these days uses vehicular service to reach the destination but not Venkatesan. Carrying the huge big sized White Canopy from inside the Srirangam temple, he walked over 2kms chatting with this writer through the 45minute trip to banks of the Cauvery. When asked as to why he would not use a motor transport, his response over the last many decades had always remained the same “God has given me a great opportunity to perform Kainkaryam at the temple. I want to do it as sincerely as possible and in as traditional a way as possible in the way I had done it in the year I joined.” And for this service on a hot afternoon, he would be paid Rs. 5 or Rs. 10.

The Nel Alavu man
He was always the man for measuring the Paddy in the Thiru Kottaram near the Garuda Sannidhi on the 7th day of the Utsavam, one that is referred to as ‘Nel Alavu’ event. The 7th day of the Dolotsavam for example is particularly special in that it is on this evening that Namperumal used to personally inspect the granary and witness the measurement of paddy that had accrued to him through gifts from Kings as well as from his devotees. The quantity of paddy also symbolises the prosperity or otherwise of the kingdom. When Namperumal, with his Ubaya Nachiyars reached Thiru Kottaram, West of the Garuda Sannidhi, it was always Naidu Venkatesan who measured and displayed to them the presence of 25kgs of Paddy. He would later shout out the next measurement as 250kgs and 2500kgs of Paddy thus informing Lord Namperumal that all was well in the region and that devotees were taking good care of him by gifting in plenty.

Never asked for Sambhavanai
In a world that is increasingly seeking financial glory, Naidu Venkatesan remained unchanged over four decades in the way he carried out his services. Not once in this period did he ask any devotee or donor for financial returns for the service. In all utsavams, he would always stand in a corner after performing his service and would not reach out to the Ubayadharar for Sambhavanai unless he was called. 

He was so silent and went about his service in such an unnoticed manner that he was not even part of the long ‘Sambhavanai’ list of TVS for a long time. Several hundreds of service personnel at the Srirangam Temple have been handed monthly Sambhavanai by Venu Srinivasan’s Trust. Till last year, Naidu Venkatesan was not one of them. The powers that be at the temple – the Archakas or the Maniyakaarar or the other powerful service personnel - did not pitch for him and include him in their list 7 years ago. But he never complained. He did not even let anyone know that despite being an integral part of the service personnel performing service every day of the year, he was not in that list. He simply did not pitch with anyone for financial rewards. 

Unflinching belief in Lord Ranganatha
He was always a contented man and did not seek additional financial aid “If God decides to give, it will happen” was the way he lived. It was that unflinching belief in God that finally led to him being included in Sambhavanai list without his asking. When Venu Srinivasan came to know about his non inclusion, he immediately added him in the list and provided him with Corona Relief aid as well as monthly Sambhavanai from the Summer of 2020.

Never said NO to service relating to God
When the service personnel of the temple asked for something from him, there was never a NO from Naidu Venkatesan.  Even at the end of a long and tiring day, he would accede to their requests and would cheerfully perform the service. On most of the utsavam nights, he would be one of the last to leave the temple for he would stay back right till the end.

Continues selfless service after retirement
He officially retired a couple of years ago but continued to perform service at the temple. Soon after the Maasi Theppotsavam this year, he suffered a Heart Attack and underwent an operation. Even at this post retirement stage, he did not ask for financial assistance following the attack. As has come to be expected of him to those who have known him over the last four decades, he came back to the temple to be part of the Panguni Utsavam. And performed service at the Kodai and Ramanuja Utsavam as well in April.

Following the call he made on the first day of the Chitrai Brahmotsavam, he did not call this writer again. And now, he will never call again.

With the passing away, last evening, of Naidu Venkatesan, the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam has lost one of the most sincere and selfless service personnel of the last four decades. 

It will be difficult to find another like him.

Nirupama Vaidyanathan

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At 17,  she took an unprecedented call to skip Collegiate Education and turned PRO on the World Tennis Circuit
The first Indian Woman to play in a Grand Slam was a Trendsetter and led the way for the NextGen of Tennis Players
Nirupama spearheaded the growth of Women's Tennis in India- Tennis Legend Vijay Amritraj
In the early 1980s, Nirupama would come to the Forest College Ground in Coimbatore to watch her father KS Vaidyanathan, a former Ranji cricketer play for LMW against SVPB and Ramakrishna Steels in the first division cricket league. She was an extrovert even as a 5 year old and would join this writer,  the sons of former Ranji fast bowler B Kalyanasundaram (who also played for LMW in the late 70s and early 80s)  and a few other boys for a game of ‘tennis ball’ cricket on the boundary edge near the Pavilion at the West End. While some of the boys graduated from tennis ball to red ball cricket, Nirupama continued her engagement with the tennis ball and took to tennis seriously in the second half of the 1980s under the mentorship of her father who himself had been a district level tennis player. She was a trendsetter for Indian Women in Tennis. Overcoming financial challenges, she went on to become the India Number One and stayed there for a decade, a period when she also became the first Indian woman to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam. She is also a bronze medalist from the Asian Games.  In November last year, this section had featured a story on a sporting father and daughter duo, where the daughter went on to become a national swimming champion (Mayura Kumar Swimming). This one is of another such duo with the daughter from a Tier two town middle class family without any sponsorship support rising to the top in India. Here is the story. 

The Cricketer Father
After taking to law and beginning his practice in Coimbatore in the early 1960s, KS Vaidyanathan (Vaidy to his teammates) moved to Madras to pursue his cricket motivated by extraordinary performances at the University level.  PR Ramakrishnan (Ramki), who was in the TN Ranji squad for nine matches in the 1970s but never got to play for the state, recalls Vaidhy’s century in a University match “Against Asif Iqbal’s Osmania University, Vaidy went in as a night watchman and bravely encountered a barrage of bouncers to survive the evening. The next day he topped 180 and the innings instantly brought him into limelight.” 
“Many a time Vaidy opened the bowling and provided the initial breakthrough for his team and then he would come back later with his left arm orthodox spin and bowl with teasing flight. He was a gritty batsman who at No. 6 or 7 would often provide support to the top order batsman and hang in when the team required him.”

VV Kumar(VVK), the legendary spinner from the late 1950s and 60s, who watched him closely in that phase, says that although he caught the selectors’ eye very early, he could not progress much “He was one competent leftie who dished out excellent performances year after year with the ball. On matting, he twice broke the seven wickets barrier in city vs districts match.”

A Thorought Bred Gentleman
Kalyanasundaram (Kalli), who played for Jolly Rovers and LMW with Vaidyanathan and who as Nirupama recalls later in this story was a regular at his Race Course road home in Coimbatore, remembers the cricketing acumen and the human side of Vaidhya “He was someone we all looked up to. In a match at the Loyola College ground, after he had opened the bowling and the opposition had got off to a brisk start in the first 4-5overs, he had no hesitation in going to the captain on his own and suggesting to him to bring me into the attack. I took seven wickets and the opposition was bowled out for under a 100. He had a strong cricketing acumen and could read the game well. This also showed that he always placed the team interest ahead of himself.”
"He was a thorough bred gentleman."

It was that same selfless approach that had cost him his place in the Ranji team, one that he never secured back.

Ranji Debut and out soon, forever
Vaidyanathan took four wickets for four runs in his second match in Ranji Cricket but an incident in the next match meant he would never play for Madras again - such was the cricketing life in the 1960s (this story will keep away from the details of that selfless display that cost him his place forever!!!). He took up a job at India Cements and played for a few years for Jolly Rovers in the 1960s.

N Sankar(Sanmar Sankar), who became an integral part of cricket development in the city along with his father KS Narayanan after taking over Jolly Rovers in the second half of the 1960s remembers Vaidy as a pleasant personality who helped the team with his gritty batting “As a bowler, he could swing the ball at the start of the innings and then later bowl spin.”

Ramki, who had a four decades long association with Vaidyanathan in Coimbatore including spending time with him just ahead of his death last year, believes that Vaidy could have fitted into the state team despite the presence of VV Kumar and Venkat “He was a genuine all rounder and a terrific catcher who took many a good catch at slip.”

Kalli and Vaidy - The English Conversations at Forest College
However, once he knew that the prospects of a Ranji recall was out of sights, he returned to Coimbatore to pursue his legal profession. His father had also taken ill and was confined to a wheel chair. It was Vaidhy who took care of him while he continued his legal practice in Coimbatore. He played for LMW as a guest player and was easily the best spinner on view at the end of the 70s and the early 80s in the Coimbatore league. His command over the English language was outstanding as this writer watched him and Engineer Kalli engage in conversations on cricket sitting in that old styled pavilion at the Forest College ground.
A Gifted Sportsman
Former RBI off spinner NS Ramesh played the early years of his cricket under the captaincy of Vaidyanathan “I began my cricket in Coimbatore both for LMW and the Districts under the captaincy of Vaidy. He was a natural cricketer and gifted sportsman. In addition to cricket, he was also good at Tennis and Billiards.”

Guile even in his 40s
After having played for Bombay in Ranji Trophy Cricket in the late 1970s, S Srinivasan came back to Madras and played for the state. In the early 80s, he joined SVPB, Udumalpet and was involved in a few battles with Vaidyanathan  "Even late in his Cricketing career,  Vaidy was in his 40s by then, he showed his guile as a bowler with the new ball (Swing ) & old ball (Orthodox Spin). As a batsman, he was gritty & never ever gifted his wicket contributing useful runs."

"I found him to be a calm and composed competitor and human being."

Polished in Conduct
State off spinner from the 1960s R Chandrasekaran (SBI RC) who celebrated his 85th birthday this Friday (May 14) had two stints in Coimbatore in the 1980s first as an AGM at the main branch of SBI. It was a period he built a close friendship with Vaidyanathan “We both played together for RS Puram club and went to the Tripanathura tournament. Though he should have played more matches for the state, he never displayed his frustration at the unjust treatment meted out to him. He was always polished in his conduct. He was a disciplinarian and played a great mentoring role when he initiated his daughter Nirupama into Tennis at the clubs in Coimbatore. 

While he had been a cricketer for over two decades and continued to play for LMW till he was into his 40s, the cricketing experience had probably left a sour taste in him and led him to initiate his son and daughter into tennis, where one could come up through individual performances and not be dependent on selection. 

The Best Allrounder from Coimbatore
Ramakrishnan played for YMA in Madras and later Ramakrishna Steels in Coimbatore and has had many a cricketing battle with Vaidy in both the cities “He was the best all rounder Coimbatore has seen. He was the kingpin of LMW. He was a popular and highly respected cricketer and a HERO to the cricketers growing up in the 1970s. In those years, it was not easy for a districts sportsperson to make a mark in Madras. While he felt the pinch in cricket, his daughter faced issues in Tennis with not too many sponsors forthcoming to support her endeavour.”

Motivational Coach
For a few years, Vaidyanathan conducted summer coaching camps at the Forest College ground. Rajesh, the elder son of Kalyanasundaram was Ganesh’s classmate at Mani’s school and watched many of the matches LMW played in the late 70s and early 80s. He recounts the two years he was at the camp “Vaidy uncle was a great team player and leader.While he was a very good left arm spinner, what stayed in my mind for a long time was the way he encouraged the players. He was motivational.”

"When he started the summer coaching camp, I joined the camp and learned a lot in the two summers that I spent. The lessons he imparted were invaluable." 

It was those motivational abilities and clear communication that led him to tap into the potential in his daughter and create a champion tennis player.

The early 1980s – Tennis ahead of Cricket
The fact that he had been given a raw deal by the state in cricket was always at the back of his mind. Even though her elder brother Ganesh was a diehard cricket fan in his school days, she remembers her father keeping both of them away from any thoughts on playing the game. He was of the belief that in an individual sport, one could slog and achieve success where as in a game of cricket, one had to depend on the mood of the selectors and probably also had to be in their good books. Also, the fact that her elder cousins, KG Ramesh and KG Suresh, were already into Tennis and doing well tilted the scales towards that sport.

Dominating the Tennis Scene in Coimbatore
His has always been a sporting family. Younger brother, KS Natarajan, was a cricketer while elder brother KS Ganapathy too played for the district. The latter’s two sons, KG Suresh and KG Ramesh, were into tennis very early on. Vaidhyanathan himself was also a tennis player and a districts billiards champion in Coimbatore. While Nirupama spent a good deal of the weekend at Coimbatore’s cricket grounds, once it was time for her to take up a sport, her father initiated her into tennis.

Follows Tennis Legend Krishnan's advice
They resided in the Race Course area with easy access to multiple tennis courts. Her father was a member of the Cosmopolitan Club that was just 400 meters from home and he was playing a lot of tennis in Coimbatore. Tennis facilities were also available at City Club and Association Court.

Vaidyanathan was a great fan of Krishnan, the Tennis Legend. He had heard him say that to aspire to be a tennis player, one needed to have a court to play “One of the first things my father did was to identify a court that we could use at all times. While there were many clubs in Coimbatore with tennis courts, there were restrictions on timings and that meant courts were not always available for us to practice and not at our convenience. My father took care of the maintenance of the court for four years at Pierce Leslie and we were allowed to use it all times that we wanted. For the next six years, my father another individual court (Mandradiar’s home) where we practiced undisturbed” Nirupama told this writer in a conversation from her home in Florida.

Vaidyanathan began coaching Ganesh in the early 1980s and initially his entire focus was on the son. Nirupama accompanied her brother to the club and spent a majority of her time watching him play. She could not be a bystander and very soon pestered her father to allow her to have a few knocks on the tennis court and gained entry into tennis aged 7, in the summer of 1983, one when India won the Cricket World Cup.

The First Motivating Words from her father
While her father’s tennis attention continued to lay with Ganesh, she slowly began to get more court time. More importantly, almost unnoticed, she seemed to be quietly listening to all the coaching tips of her father.  One evening when her father returned home, she heard him tell her mother that the daughter was grasping the nuances of tennis very fast just by watching her brother play and absorbing his conversations with Ganesh “Those encouraging words from my father motivated me a lot and was my first big boost in tennis and spurred my early interest in the game.” 

A Unique Tennis Problem
Within the first year of her entry into Tennis, Nirupama encountered a unique problem. While there were 25 budding tennis enthusiasts at the City Club, not one was a girl (other than her). And thus right from the beginning she began to play with the boys her age. Her pickup in Tennis was so fast that very soon she began to play against the bigger boys as well and even surprised them by picking up a set.

KG Ramesh – Her Tennis Hero 
While her father was number one in her life, her cousin KG Ramesh was her Tennis Hero through her childhood days. Ramesh, who is now a tennis coach in Coimbatore, swept all tournaments on sight in those years and was someone she looked up to in her growing years. She practiced a lot with him in her formative years.

Ind v Swedan 1985 - Watches her first big match
In 1985, her father took her to Bangalore to watch the Davis Cup Quarter Final against Swedan, the best in the world at that time. It was a team that included top ranked Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg. She remembers that as the first big international match she saw in Tennis.

Into her early teens, in the second half of the 1980s, she was winning inter club tournaments competing in the U14 boys category travelling to Madurai, Dindigul and Salem among other cities!!! The fact that girls were so far away from tennis that decade was best illustrated in the inter club tournaments in the districts. The announcer would often call out the list of U12 and U14 BOYS and shout out her name in that boys list. 

A Tennis Family
The entire family played tennis and once there was even a joke if this family would leave anything for others after they knocked off all the titles – a unique record- cousin KG Ramesh won the Men’s title, he and Ganesh the doubles, her brother picked up the boys’ singles title, she won the girls’ singles and her appa won the veterans title.

When she visited Madras for the first time for a tournament she beat the highly fancied and top ranked Aarathi Venkatesh and went up to the Semi Finals. In her first ever nationals in Hyderabad, she again reached the Semi Finals aged 12!!! ‘At that point, I knew I was not far behind’ recounts Nirupama of that tournament.

Despite her early success, the plan was not to make Tennis a career “Appa wanted us to play for fun, for the discipline it brought to one’s life and he wanted youthful energy to be channelized towards something that was engaging. At that stage in life, being in a sport helped me in setting goals and also created a daily routine for me in life” recalls Nirupama on how her appa wanted her to look at Tennis.

Don’t forget the role of your amma – Vaidyanathan to his daughter
Through that entire period till the turn of the decade, every morning her amma would have a glass of milk ready for her before the clock turned seven “Appa was intense in everything he did. Every morning we would be at the tennis court for about an hour. In the evening, he would pick me up from the St. Josephs School on Trichy Road and we would directly go to the tennis court. It was real fun and we never felt the pressure. At the end of the tennis sessions, there were lots of people at the club and we would engage in chats.”
“Very early on in my life, appa would often talk about the role of my amma and her silent contribution. She was the source of nutrition for us. When I came back from the morning practice, the breakfast would be ready. And in the evening, the hungry girl would be welcomed by the smiling amma holding a tiffen plate in her hand. It is a contribution that often goes unnoticed. But she played a vital role at home each day of my life in that period.”

Brother Ganesh who had been skinny till his mid teens became a bit more muscular and began winning many tournaments beating every player in Coimbatore. But after he graduated, he took up a job in Income Tax and a life away from Tennis. Once her brother went into college, her father turned his tennis attention on her. At 14, she won the National Women’s title and by 16 she was playing in ITF tournaments and Satellites. She had jumped to 30 in Junior World rankings. 

First Time in India - No College, A Girl turns Pro@17
When she was into Class XII, a debate arose on pursuing academics and a possible collegiate education in the US or turning pro in tennis. KG Ramesh remembers those months ahead of her Class XII exams “As with middle class families, we placed a great deal of importance on academics. While she practiced a lot and participated in many tournaments as a teenager, she continued to do well in studies. Finance was clearly a challenge for Tennis Players. When I won tourneys in India, I used that prize money to fund my overseas trips for my tournaments in Europe. But soon after playing in a few tournaments, I would have exhausted the prize money and had to return to India to compete in local tournaments. Despite these potential financial challenges, her father gave her the freedom to take a shot at Tennis and that was a brave decision from my uncle.”
And for the first time in an Indian middle class family, a decision was taken for a teenage girl to turn ‘Tennis Pro’ at 17.

Nirupama says that they were definitely not financially well off for Tennis when she started playing. "When I competed in the ITF tourneys, there was no prize money. I only got some points for every win. Accommodation was provided but the air fare and all other expenses had to be borne by me.”

One off Financial Support from CDTA
One of the earliest financial help came from the Coimbatore District Tennis Association “They provided Rs 40000 which was a big deal for them but for me even that big money helped cover the expenses of just one trip.”

Prize money in Indian State Ranking Tournaments that were in the order of Rs. 10000 to Rs. 50000 helped cover some of the overseas expenses. In an all India invitation tourney, when she won the women’s tournament (Ramesh Krishnan won the Men’s) and secured Rs. 50000, she immediately went and participated in a tournament in Japan.  

The first and only corporate support
The biggest corporate support came from Indian Bank. The Bank sponsored 10000 dollars for her overseas trip but that was about the only corporate deal she had in that entire phase even though she had been India’s Number One Women’s player since the time she was 14 and had won almost all the tournaments in the country. It seemed to her that being in a Tier two city like Coimbatore was a clear disadvantage. 

As Nirupama looks back almost three decades after she began to dominate the Indian Tennis Scene, she is hugely disappointed that the TNTA did not help her even a wee bit in that entire phase “Indian Bank was the only organization that supported me. The TNTA could have done a lot but failed to do so. Even today I wonder why they did not support me in any way.”

In fact the current TNTA President Vijay Amritraj has been in talks with her to see if she could help girls’ tennis in Tamil Nadu and is hoping that some progress can be made after the Pandemic is out of the way.

It was the then Sports Secretary VV Sundar who pitched with the sports loving Chairman of Indian Bank, M Gopalakrishnan, to offer her a job at 18 that he thought would provide her some financial security. Talking from his home in Thoraippakam, Sundar showers lavish praise on Nirupama on her contribution to Tennis  “She was already the Number One in Tennis in India and had begun to do well on the Pro Tour. I thought a job in the bank would provide her financial security and that she would be able to pursue her tennis career with confidence. When I pitched the idea with our Chairman, he readily agreed.  She was the best player at that time and brought laurels to the country. We just wanted to do our bit for a sportswoman from Tamil Nadu.”

She participated in Junior Wimbledon and French Open but did not have money to go to the US and Australian Open.She remembers her appa writing letters to several corporates for sponsorships but there was no light at the end of the ‘Tennis Tunnel” that seemed dark for women’s players of that era. 

As she looks back at those disappointments in the mid 1990s, she thinks that she was at least 10 years ahead of time. Much later, with the technological developments, communication became a lot easier and sponsorship became better for those who succeeded her in Indian Tennis.
It was during the junior tournament in Wimbledon that a coach handed his visiting card and promised to train her in Luxemburg.  As a teenager she was all excited at this unexpected opportunity to be trained in Europe. Her Appa instantly approved and decided that amma would accompany her on the trip. “Within a week of our reaching Luxemburg, we found the coach missing. He had gone into hiding after a financial mess with his other students and we were left in the lurch.”

When she was in Luxemborg, a story featured in The Hindu that a Sardar in Europe had agreed to sponsor her and take care of her entire expense. It turned out to be a faux pas. “Everyone congratulated me on a non existant sponsorship”!!!

Having left Coimbatore in great excitement, it would have been embarrassing to return home and she stayed back contemplating on the next plan of action. An Indian family in Luxemburg came forward to support her for three months providing accommodation. A Swedish Tennis School came forward to train her free till the time she started earning “The typical fee was Rs. 1000 an hour but they believed in my potential and backed me” says Nirupama. 

All alone on Scary European Nights!!!
To save on the costs, amma returned home. Nirupama was all of 18 and travelling all over Europe, all alone. In this phase she travelled to Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Spain and Italy “Sometimes I would board a train at 4am, other times I would be all alone in a railway platform at 2am. There were no phones, no ATM cards. It was a scary life for a teenage girl and was not something that those back in India could have visualized. Everyone thought that I was leading a glamourous life but tennis on the pro tour is anything but that. You are running from the station to the court and then again back to the station to head to another city. You are always short on money. It is a very rough life. You just get tired and burned out. While the financial aspect was definitely a dampener and the consequent inability to hire a coach and a physio affected my performance and growth, the absence of my parents meant I was all alone for long periods of time. The emotional impact on a young woman is hard to tell.Thankfully I survived that phase.”

Away from the family and without a coach - The psychological impact for a young girl 
For the first 17 years of her life, she was always with her parents and that meant a great psychological support. The biggest challenge for her after turning pro was the amount of time she spent away from the family. International calls were very expensive and her parents would talk for a few minutes once a week, mostly on a Sunday. The typical mode of communication was through a fax message “My appa would send hand written motivational messages in the first half of the page while my amma would write out recipes to cook for that month. Yes, I also had to cook my own food!!! 

By the end of 1995, she had become a top 300 player and a year later had jumped into the top 200 which meant she could enter the qualifying draw for the Grand Slams. By this time, she was also beginning to make some money out of Tennis. Reaching the semi finals of challengers got her $700-$800. Youth travel in Europe got big discounts in those days. But financing the tours continued to remain a big challenge. After she lost in the 2nd round of the qualifier in the French Open, money ran out. She had got into the main draw in Uzbekistan but did not have money and had to return to Coimbatore without playing.

She says Tennis LegendVijay Amritraj did ask her to come to Madras to be coached in his academy but she was in Europe in that phase and hence could not benefit from the coaching at his academy. In the second half of the 1990s, she shifted to the US and found a coach Dave O’Meara of the Brittania Amritraj Tennis Foundation. But he too did not travel often with her for tournaments and only trained her in the US.

The Best Year in Tennis
1998 turned out to be the best year in Tennis. In January, she managed to enter the main draw of the Australian Open through a wild card entry, the first Indian woman to do so. Her coach was there with her for that particular tournament but given the financial constraints she missed her parents at the Grand Slam. She would have loved their presence but the finances simply did not permit. It improved her rankings but it was not enough to propel her into the main draw of the other Grand Slams and she continued to remain in the Qualifiers.
That year, she also bagged the bronze medal at the Asian Games in Bangkok “I was confident of going for the Gold but with Mahesh Bhupathi playing in every single segment, he was completely exhausted by the time he got into the mixed doubles. The playing of the national anthem while she was on the podium was a memorable moment in my life.”

Spearheaded the growth of Women's Tennis in India
Vijay Amritraj had just finished his career as a player in 1990 and had begun his commentary stint in 91. Talking to this writer from his home in Los Angeles, Vijay said that it was exciting to see an Indian woman on the professional tour that decade."We still had a long way to go in women’s tennis in India. Nirupama spearheaded the growth of women’s tennis in India.  Given the circumstances of Indian Tennis at that time, I think she did as well as one could and came away from the tour as a great professional."
Couple of decades later after she had finished with her playing career, Vijay invited her to do commentary at the Chennai Open“I found her to be a great tennis enthusiast. She enjoys imparting with youngsters the knowledge she has garnered in Tennis over the decades. She has been coaching in the US, which is a good thing. But as the President of the TNTA, I have been keen to bring her to India on a coaching engagement. This pandemic has put everything in a mess and Sport has been affected quite badly. Once we get out of this, I am hoping that she will be able to associate herself with the development of Indian Tennis in some way.”

A return to Tennis after a decade
In 2010, she found that she was working harder than the kids in the academy. And felt the urge to get back on court as a player. She worked hard for several months and played in the commonwealth tournament. Just ahead of the Asian Games match, her daughter had pneumonia. She did not sleep through the night and went to the court the next day. The comeback was a big personal achievement for her and showed to herself that she could still compete on the tennis court.

KG Ramesh who has been running an academy in Coimbatore over the last 8 years says that she was talented as a teenager. She was tenacious, physically strong for her age and had an attitude to win. Her aspirations were also high. Her basics were strong and this resulted in her reaching the top in India by the time she was in her mid teens.

Miraculous to be 130the ranked without a coach and a physio
While I knew she would make it to the top in India, we were not so sure of international success. That was far away in our minds. In fact, I was surprised with the success she achieved on pro tours without a coach and a physio. She could not afford a coach. Her appa even sold lands to fund her tennis. There was very little corporate support or sponsorship. Without any of these, the success she achieved on the pro tour and the top200 ranking was miraculous.

Turns a Commentator
Last decade, she had a short stint as a commentator when Vijay Amritraj invited her for the Chennai Open “It was a great experience to be sitting alongside him and doing commentary at the Chennai Open and the Wimbledon. Vijay was simply amazing. He was supportive and gave me tips through the tournaments. He is a big ambassador for the game and the country.”

Top 100 Goal remained unfulfilled
Her Tennis goal of wanting to be in the Top 100 in the world remained unfulfilled right till the end. She managed to reach 130 in the rankings. One of her biggest professional challenges was that she could not afford a coach or a physical trainer to be with her after she had decided to turn pro. In 8 of the 12 Grand Slam Qualifiers she went into the third set of the final round, that was how close she came each time. She says that in those times, a physio or a coach could have made a big difference.

The Annapoorna Dosai 
She recalls with great delight the fun times with her father in the 1980s. The dosai from Annapoorna and the juice immediately after at Pazha Mudhir Cholai were outstanding. The beautiful weather, the water from Siruvani and the life in the race course and the inspirational drive of my father waking me every morning to take me to the tennis court are unforgettable memories from the decades gone by. Among the regulars for a sporting conversation was former cricketer 'Kalli Uncle'. Her brother Ganesh, with whom she has had a wonderful relationship over the last four decades, runs her Tennis Academy full time “He sacrificed a lot for me and has always been a perfect brother.”

Only my Appa knew my real struggles
Looking back on her career, Nirupama has mixed feelings “My appa was my biggest fan. He knew my struggles that not many others understood.  He was happy with what I had achieved. I had beaten a top 10 ranked player (Magdalena Maleeva) and other top 30 players. But there was a big push that is required in the pro circuit with support staff and 'I simply did not have that'. "

“He was disappointed that he could not give me the monetary push to have a personal coach and a physio that would have made a big difference in my career. In a non technology world, he tried his best to convince sponsors to fund my tennis ambitions but none seemed to be interested. However, both of us were thankful and grateful that I could do what I did. It could have been better but it was a great experience to be the first Indian woman to do what I did – getting into the pro circuit at 17, getting into the Grand Slam and staying there for over a decade.”

CROWNING MOMENT OF HER LIFE
Nirupama counts her appa launching her book in Coimbatore as the Crowning moment of her life "My appa was the architect of my tennis life. Till his final breath, I was a super obedient student. For him to launch my book was the greatest feeling I have had in my tennis life. It remains the Crowning Moment of my Life.”
 
Till 2010 or so, Vaidyanathan had been actively involved in Tennis playing doubles at Coimbatore’s tennis courts. In the last decade, after his son and daughter had settled in the US, he led a rather quiet retired life in Coimbatore “His knee had given way a result of that old injury on Loyola College ground where he twisted his ankle. He did not play tennis in the last five years or so. He would often visit the clubs and read the newspapers but his health deteriorated quite badly. I called on him and visited him in January 2020 a couple of months before he passed away” recalls Ramki of the final months of Vaidhy’s life."

“He devoted almost his entire time to coaching Nirupama and spent his life’s savings on her tennis”. He could not have done anything more for his daughter, says Ramki. 

Vaidhyanathan had a painful final few days of his life, last year. Nirupama was by his bed side in those testing times. She remembers him for his cheerful attitude and says ‘he was never bogged by obstacles”. 
“His smile lasted till the last days of his life. His love for English Literature fascinated me. He would often roll out quotes from Shakespeare.  Those final few days, he was in big pain. I would start a sentence from Hamlet and his passion was so high that even in those painful moments, he would complete the sentence with a smile.”

Those were the memories he passed away with, that of creating a first in India. Hailing from a middle class family in Coimbatore to be able to motivate your daughter to turn PRO at 17 and giving your everything for her - all his financial resources, the physical properties, the psychological motivation through faxed letters, the physical presence around the world when the finances permitted - all in an effort to see her succeed in her tennis career. 

He himself could not reach his potential in Cricket but ensured his daughter reached the top in Tennis and laid a benchmark for the next generation to emulate. 

Thiruvahindrapuram Malola Kannan

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Back to roots – Covid's Second Wave drives renowned Prabhandham Presenter to his hereditary home at the historical Divya Desam

After 27 long years, Malola Kannan has packed his bags for good and headed back this month to Deiva Nayakan Divya Desam in Thiruvahindrapuram where his forefathers had performed daily service for several centuries

I am looking forward to offering my daily service to Devanatha Perumal and Hayagrivar for the rest of my life - Malola Kannan
In a sudden and unexpected development, the intense second wave and the consequent lockdown in Madras has driven 45 year old Malola Kannan, a world renowned Prabhandham presenter back to his roots at Deiva Nayakan Perumal Divya Desam in Thiruvahindrpuram to perform service to Moovaraagiya Oruvan and Hayagrivar at the historical temple. While reverse migration is currently being spoken about in the corporate world, this one is probably the first in the temple circles of a renowned full time city based Vedic Scholar returning to his hereditary temple town with his entire family. His father, TE Krishna Desikan, now aged 86, was a renowend scholar at this Divya Desam in his hey days and performed service till recently. However, his health has suffered in recent times, is currently immobile and needs personal care. It is great delight to the father that his son has returned to their hereditary home and is now commited to performing daily service at the temple for the rest of his life.

இருந்தண்  மா நிலம்  ஏனம் அது ஆய் 
வளை  மருப்பினில் அகத்து ஒடுக்கி 
கருந்தண் மா கடல்கண் துயின்றவன் இடம் 
கமலநல் மலர்தேறல் அருந்தி 

இன் இசை முரன்றுஎழும் அளிகுலம் 
பொதுளி அம போழிலூட 
செருந்தி நாள்மலர் சென்று அணைந்து உழிதரு 
திருவயிந்திரபுரமே -Thiru Mangai Azhvaar

After early Vedic Initiation from his father, Malola Kannan left the Divya Desam as an eighteen year old to pursue higher Studies in Sanskrit. In the mid 1990s, he studied Mimamsa at the Sanskrit College in Mylapore. Later he pursued MA Sanskrit at the Presidency College and M. Phil at the Madras University. Currently, he is in the final stages of his P. hd at the Tirupathi Vidya Peetam.
                                          TE Krishna Desikan

Talking to this writer from his historical home a few yards from the Devanatha Perumal Temple, Malola Kannan said that till the end of 2020, returning to Thiruvahindrapuram had not been in his plans.

"While I had come to the city to pursue my Sanskrit education, the need for financial stability led me to continue my life in Madras in the 1990s."

However, the intensity of the second wave and the extended lockdown led him to this sudden decision to return ‘HOME’.

“Even in January and February this year, when things were seemingly returning to normal and weddings were back in full swing, I had no plans to return to Thiruvahindrapuram. But finally, the Lord of Thiru Vahindrapuram has used the intense second wave of Covid-19  and the stringent lockdown in Madras to instill the thought in me that it’s time I returned to my roots and performed daily service here.”

He says he is delighted to return to his home town after close to three decades and to now be able to perform every day service to Devanatha Perumal and Hayagrivar.
Hayagrivar

Malola Kannan belongs to the tenth generation of Vedic Service Providers at this Divya Desam. His daily service at the temple includes presenting flowers to the Lord, reciting the Vedas every morning and evening both at the Perumal Sannidhi as well as at the Hayagriva Sannidhi atop the hill and being present at Satru Murai. 

Popular Prabhandham CDs
Just over 15 years ago, it was Malola Kannan who roped in Navalpakkam Ranganathan (Rangappa) for the presentation of the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham and for its launch in CD format at that time. Prior to that, he had already rendered the entire Vedantha Desikar Stotrams in a solo presentation. He has also presented with Rangappa the now globally popular Desikar Prabhandham and launched in CD format.

Over the last couple of decades, he has also been a much sought after 'Brihaspathi' at Weddings and other functions.

While this section has in the past written several stories on original inhabitants leaving their hereditary towns seeking greener pastures in cities, this move of Malola Kannan to his home town to perform daily service at the Deiva Nayakan Divya Desam.                                                            
Interestingly over the last decade, his elder daughter, Chandmaye, has developed great interest in football and is currently pursuing a worldwide course in Football Analytics (Chandomaye Football). For many years now, his son, Kosagan, just into his teens, has been a full time resident at the Karpagambal Veda Gurukalam in Mylapore and is being initiated into the Vedas by Kannan Ganapadigal.
                   Bespectacled Kosagan is second from right

Malola Kannan has a huge clientele in Madras and says will continue to perform wedding ceremonies “I am only three hours away from Madras and will continue to serve those who have used my services over the last couple of decades. But it is a great feeling to be back at the home where I grew up in the late 1970s and 80s. While I had been here for all the big utsavams in the decades gone by, the opportunity to serve every morning and evenings at the Sannidhi is devotionally exciting.”

Thiru Mangai Azhvaar in his Periya Thirumozhi refers to the Lord of Thiru Vahindrapuram as ‘Moovaraagiya Oruvan’ (Thiru Vahindrapuram Divya Desam).

This move of Malola Kannan to Thiru Vahindrapuram is great news for historical temple towns. A few years ago, this section had written about original inhabitants of Therazhundur Divya Desam (Therazhundur) expressing intent to return to their roots. Hopefully, this move of Malola Kannan will lead a wave of traditionalists returning to their home town for good. 

This section will track the developments on that front.

VK Parthasarathy Tennis TNTA VP

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After losing the first two sets playing in a canvas shoe, he came back barefoot and won the next three to win the Stanley Cup in 1959. Blood Stains marked the entire path when he came up to receive the trophy – N Sankar, Chairman, Sanmar Group

He was a lovely man, extremely nice, soft and gentle with a good sense of humour – Vijay Amritraj, President, TNTA

A True Gentleman on and off the court – N Kumar, Former President, TNTA

Former Tennis Player and VP of the TNTA VK Parthasarathy passed away on Monday aged 82. In the l950s, he trained under the great TK Ramanathan and was his favourite pupil. During his prime, when he also moved into the top 10 in India, he won the South India Hard Court Junior Singles title won the Stanley Cup on barefoot, Captained the Madras University and the State team.

In 1961, tennis legend R Krishnan picked him as his doubles partner for the tour of Pakistan and won all the matches on tour. Parthasarathy also reached the finals in the singles tournament losing predictably to Krishnan who swept all the titles on that tour. 

In 1989, he was handpicked by N Sankar (now Chairman of the Sanmar Group) to don the role of Honorary Secretary of the TNTA, the year when Sankar took over as the President. It was he who suggested to Sankar that there should be prize money for the City Club Tennis League. The Sanmar Group has been anchoring the league since then with sponsorship of the tournament. He was also involved in the process of laying the first synthetic court in South India at the Madras Club. He later became the Vice-President of TNTA when he also worked with N Kumar, now Vice Chairman of the Sanmar Group.

He began his corporate career at EID Parry and towards the fag end of his career worked with Sankar in the finance group at Sanmar. 

Topspin Backhand – A Beauty
Chairman of the Sanmar Group the 75 year old N Sankar(Jolly Rovers Sankar@ 75), who also runs the famous Jolly Rovers cricket team, had known Pachu as a good close dear friend since 1958. He recounts those early years “Pachu and I went to TK Ramanathan’s courts together. He was Ramanathan’s favourite student. TKR would use him as a demonstration model. Pachu had the perfect tennis strokes. He was an absolute exponent of the net game and would always be at the net for the volley. His topspin backhand was a thing of beauty.” 


Winning the Stanley Cup Bare Foot
Sankar was just 14 when he watched Parthasarathy in action in the final of the Stanley Cup Final played at the Loyola College Tennis Court “The court was one of the best in the city. Pachu played the first two sets against Dr. S Srinivasan Ratnam with Bata Canvas shoes that had thin soles. It looked like he was playing on ice. He often slipped in the canvas shoes and lost the first two sets. Frustrated at this and in an angry gesture, he removed his shoes, played bare foot, won the next three sets and lifted the cup.”
The Vivekananda College Physical Director was so upset after the first two sets that he left the court in a hush, only to be called back a little later by Sankar and his friends when Parthasarthy was making a sensational comeback. Sankar recalls “The PD had to defend himself in front of the boys and said that he was confident of his ward coming back to win. And that was the reason for him leaving the court.”

Sankar remembers to this day the blood stains that marked the entire path when Parthasarthy went to receive the Cup.

A bystander with legendary Krishnan in action in Pakistan
By this time, R Krishnan was already making waves both in India and overseas. He was already seen as the all time great tennis player from India. Repeatedly Parthasarathy would lose to Krishnan. In 1961, when the team was to go to Pakistan to play in tournaments there, Krishnan picked Parthasarathy as his doubles partner. While Parthasarathy did make the finals of one of the tournaments, he was thrashed by Krishnan. In the doubles he had better fortune as he won all the matches on tour. Sankar recalls as to how Parthasarathy saw the funny side of things in those doubles matches “All he had to do was to serve properly and then watch Krishnan take over. When he was to receive the serve, he had to get the ball back into the opponent’s court and Krishnan would manage the rest. ‘Except for these two activities, his role was to watch all the matches almost from the sidelines – such was the domination of the legendary Krishnan.”

Opponent was not ready, you have two more serves!!!
He began his corporate career at EID Parry and then later towards the end of his career, he worked with Sankar in the finance group at Sanmar.

Lovely  Man with a good sense of humour
Former tennis legend Vijay Amritraj remembers playing with Pachu when he was a sub junior. Talking from his home in Los Angeles, he said that Pachu was always generous with his help and comments “He was a lovely man, extremely nice, soft and gentle with a good sense of humour.”
This lighter side of Parthasarathy was seen in full bloom in doubles match when he partnered with Parry's Chairman.  Sankar recounts that funny incident, one that the Chairman of Parry did not find amusing “He was then a young executive at Parry. Chairman of the firm HVR Iyengar took a liking for his tennis and once the two of them played together in a doubles match. When the Chairman served a double fault, Pachu turned around and said ‘Sir, the opponent was not ready, you still have two more serves.’ The Chairman of Parry did not find this funny!!!” 

When Sankar took over as the President of TNTA in 1989 (by this time he had already made a big impact in city cricket with Jolly Rovers, under the managership of Bharath Reddy - Chemplast Bharath Reddy-, winning the Palayampatti Shield thrice in succession in the 1980s), he roped in Parthasarathy as the Secretary “The two of us did a lot of reorganization over a period of 6-7 years. We brought in the Tennis league and he did a lot of the developmental work there in that phase in the 1990s.”

He was in the next rung in Tennis
Sankar’s brother and Vice Chairman of the Sanmar Group N Kumar, whose daughter was a national champion in Swimming (Mayura Kumar), was instrumental as the President of the TNTA in the mid 1990s to bring the ATP tournament to Madras from Delhi. He too knew Parthasarathy for over half a century “Pachu was older than me and I used to look up to him, both at TK Ramanathan’s courts and when he played Regional and National tennis tournaments. He had lovely strokes. As a player, he belonged to the next rung of stars that were good but could not make the grade to greatness.”
"He was a true gentleman both on and off the tennis court.  When I went to the US in the 1960s, he was in Delhi and helped me."

Much later after he settled down, Pachu played regularly with Kumar at the club courts in the city spending the evenings together discussing the development of tennis in the city “As an administrator, Pachu always was perfect and would never do anything wrong and got along very well with people. He would go the extra mile for the game” says Kumar.

Vijay Amritraj says that in his post playing days, Pachu was extremely helpful and supportive of tennis in Tamil Nadu “We will all miss him”.

Sankar saw him as one of the finest human beings He was warm hearted and never once lost his temper. He was a person I really liked.”

PSBB LU Arun State Schools South Zone Cricketer

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He top scored in the State Schools final and played for South Zone against Sachin Tendulkar in 1986. The next season he created waves with a fighting century in the TNCA final but much like Hemant Srivatsa and Anish Thomas quit serious cricket as a teenager after failing to secure the Engineering seat in Anna University

Arun’s century has been the best knock played against Santhome in the last 40years - Srinivasa Rao, Renowned Santhome Coach

At 15, LU was as good as N Gautam and had the potential to go right to the top but he left me hugely disappointed by giving up early – Kalpathi CFO Rangarajan
It is 5.30pm at the Singaram Street corner in T. Nagar on the eve of the grand TNCA final end of January 1988. This writer was witness to more than half the PSBB team gathering in front of the then popular Sairam Typewriting institute. Unfortunately, even though it was a great entry into the final for what was considered in the TNCA circles as an un-fancied side, the spirit was low. While the PSBBians were high on intellect, the discussion that evening centered around their bowling spearhead the tall and lanky new ball bowler Dinesh Guhan and what his fate was likely to be the next day. It was a surprise even to those boys to have reached the final of such a prestigious tournament that in the previous decades had remained the domain of Don Bosco and MCC and which at the start of the 1980s had become almost the exclusive possession of Santhome, for they had begun to dominate city cricket like never before. And this match they saw as one between David and Goliath. The prospect of facing Santhome and especially bowling to Aashish was to be an overwhelming experience. 

They were already beaten in their minds that evening and this reflected in the way they bowled the next morning at the University Union ground. The apprehensions of the previous evening had come true. Aashish continued his scintillating form with another dominating century in the final. Rajiv Shah and KM Suresh too scored centuries as Santhome topped 450 that day and even left a bit of batting that evening for the PSBB openers. It was a target that was unlikely to be chased. But one man played the innings of his life and despite the gloom of the crashing defeat, the evening conversation in the city’s cricket circles centered around the brilliant century against Aashish Kapoor’s unplayable off spin. At 16, one thought he would be in for the long haul but he quit cricket in the next few months and was never heard again in the cricket circles. Here’s the story of LU Arun.

LU Arun and his cousin R Vijayakumar began their cricket at Somasundaram ground in their early teens. Rangarajan Ramabhadran, now CFO, Kalpathi Investments put together three tennis ball teams that went on to play flood light cricket that was starting to take off in the city in the second half of the 1980s.

Rangarajan’s tennis ball team mate at Somasundaram ground and now AGM at IOB, Nitin Parekh was a feared left armer in the 1980s and youngsters in T. Nagar used to look up to him when he practiced at the Somasundaram Ground. Rangarajan and Nitin Parekh were integral early members of this group that met every evening at the Somasundaram ground not far from where Gurumurthy was running his academy.

Elegant and Stroke Filled
Like V Krishnaswamy( https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/08/krishnaswamy-v.html?m=1), Nitin too has worked in an overseas branch. Talking to this writer from Bombay, where he is currently heading the Nariman Point Branch, he said that Arun stood out as a cricketer even in those early days “The bespectacled Arun was a young slim boy. I corrected his batting stance at the Somasundaram ground as a young teenager who had just started out on cricket. He was elegant and stroke filled even then. It was a treat to watch him bat.”

As Good as N Gautam
Rangarajan resided on Kuppuswamy Street where RBI’s flamboyant striker Ramdayani too lived, a few hundred yards away the Arun’s iconic home atop Sairam Typewriting Institute on Singaram Street.  He was active in local cricket in the 1980s during the years he was pursuing his CA. He would finish his article-ship, rush to the Somasundaram ground for that un-missable tennis ball cricket and would then speed away to the evening college. It became his routine for three years. Rangarajan recalls the way they used to develop cricketing technique in the 1980s at the Somasundaram Ground “We used to have a goal post and the batsmen had to play their within the two posts. Arun was not yet 15 but showed great temperament and technique to play in the 'V' and within the goal post. He was a good fielder and was mature for his age.”
“Watching him bat there at Soma, my expectations were raised. I really thought he would go places. He had all the requisites of being a top notch batsman. In fact, at that age, he was as good as N Gautam both in talent as well as in Character.”
(Gautam was one of the most hard working and sincere cricketers of that generation)

Most Embarrassing Moment in School Cricket
Into his early teens, along with some tennis ball cricket at Somasundaram ground, he had also begun to practice at his school nets. Clearly, PSBB Nungambakkam was not one of the top cricket schools of the time. Sunny Ramesh had been a star in the first half of the 80s but really there was not much else to write home about. There was not even a team kit when Arun first played for the school. The PT Master doubled up as the coach. In his class VIII, he remembers the school being shot out for 18 against Don Bosco that during the decade boasted of players such as Siddharth Meddappa, his younger brother Satyajit, Tanvir Jabbar, Vijay Nirmal and Rohit Mahendra. It was one of his most embarrassing days in cricket. May be he had decided that day that he would transform the way cricket was played at school and help build a team that would give the top teams a run for their money.

As the next generation of cricketers took over at PSBB Nungambakkam, the team began to perform better. S Kedarnath, former SBI opener, moved in from KK Nagar to Nungambakkam as the coach. Epic battles were fought between Nungambakkam and KK Nagar (PSBB). LU Arun began to make rapid strides as a middle order batsman. He also bowled out-swingers with the new ball. 

Rarely spoke a word, but a tremendous competitor on the field
Cricketer turned million dollar entrepreneur Promodh Sharma (Promodh) was a star performer for PSBB KK Nagar and had many an encounter with Arun. He looks back at the second half of the 1980s when Arun often proved a thorn in the flesh “I remember LU (Arun) as a kind and soft spoken person, a gentleman so to speak. He was very measured and rarely spoke a word out of place. On the field he was a tremendous competitor!!He was a brilliant batsman who could very quickly take a game away from you. He was very talented and capable of building an innings or scoring quickly all around the ground, as the situation demanded. Getting him out was always special and if you were in the opposition and got LU early, the chances of your success increased manifold.”

K Anand who has been a banker for over two decades and now an independent consultant played for PSBB KK Nagar in those years in the late 80s. He remembers the APSC final, then a popular tournament for CBSE institutions “We beat them in one of the finals but only after we managed to get LU (Arun) out. He scored a brilliant 93 on a matting wicket which was quite uneven in bounce pacing his innings beautifully and was unlucky to miss his hundred getting out to a ball that kept low. He was one of the most feared batsmen and would come between us and victory.”

Captain PB Anand shown the door
A year later the batting talent came to the fore. Impressive performances for the school led him into the U15 city team that went to Erode for the Districts match. He was selected for the TN State Schools team that was announced in the fourth week of October 1986 with PB Anand as the captain. The team was set to travel to Bangalore in the 2nd week of November. However, just ahead of the tournament, the father of Russel Radhakrishnan (Book Sellers and more recently of CSK fame) threw a bombshell that stunned the TNCA. Picking up the (real) date of birth of several cricketers in that TN squad, he raised objections. Original captain PB Anand was in the list of over aged players and was removed from the squad with the captaincy being handed to districts boy VJE Narasimhan.

Rajan Bala in his story on November 4, 1986 questioned the trophies won by Santhome in the previous years with 5 cricketers from the school being reported for producing false age certificates. All of them were dropped from the originally chosen squad including the captain.  Rajan Bala pointed out that there was pride involved in playing for the State and it was not like playing for the school and hence called for the TNCA to take strong action against these players. Of course, as seen later in the story, this issue resurfaced the next year as well. 

Talking to this writer from Houston, USA, cousin Vijayakumar remembers that tense evening in Madras “Arun was just 14years old and it was his first big tour. It was a big deal to be chosen for Tamil Nadu especially from a school like PSBB which had not been in the cricketing radar. It was quite tense. I accompanied his mother late in the evening that November day to send him off (Bangalore Mail) at the Central Station in Madras”

Tops the Batting Chart for TN 
Arun had a terrific few weeks in Bangalore. Mujibur Rehman was in prime form but Arun matched him run for run. In the semi final against Andhra, while Mujib scored 47, Arun was not far behind with a knock of 32 as TN gained a slender first innings lead. Former IOB man and now a match referee Amit Pathak too was in his first season for Andhra. He remembers running into a rampant Mujib “It was my first match for Andhra. Mujib was at his blistering best even then and he smashed us in the second innings chasing out a target of just under 70 in 8oversand we were thrashed in no time. Arun was quiet and performed unnoticed and usually he was not in the limelight unlike a Mujib. While Mujib and I went to Nagpur the next year, I did not hear again of Arun.” 
                               Amit Pathak

In the final of the Pattabhiraman trophy against Hyderabad that included Vanka Pratap, Arun top scored with a knock of 75 after Mujib and Reuben Paul had failed at the top of the order. The strong performances in these matches earned him a place in South Zone squad that travelled to play West at Cuttack.

Mujibur Rehman was already making waves in the city circles with his blistering knocks at the top of the order. He recalls playing with Arun in the state schools matches in Bangalore and then the South Zone match in December 86 against West Zone, a team that included Sachin Tendulkar “Arun was a quiet guy and did not talk much.”

That was the way Arun was, then, and has always been ever since. It is a typical reference from everyone that has known him. He did not allow the early success to get to his head and remained grounded in that phase of life. Even in the photo of the South Zone, he chose a position that would not disclose his face!!!! (photograph below)

In the final Mujib once again gave a dashing start. Vanka Pratap told this writer from the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad of the two consecutive zonal centuries he scored in his school phase. Batting at No. 6, lower than usual, Arun did not score much but South Zone won the match thanks to Vanka’s century.
                              Vanka Pratap

Rajan Bala makes a difference
By now, Arun had become a star at school with his performances for the state. The confidence began to reflect in the performance of the school team as they began to win matches more frequently. 

It was during this period that Rajan Bala began a summer camp for PSBB boys in the Old Ground near Moopaathamman temple (Krishna Gana Sabha). Arun’s cousin Vijayakumar, who studied at Venkatasubba Rao School too joined the camp. The coach was instantly impressed with Vijayakumar’s talent that he was keen to have him move to PSBB as he felt it would add to the school’s cricketing strength that was on an upsurge that year. But as was the case in those years, even extraordinary sporting talent could not gain entry into that school on sporting grounds alone and the school refused an admission. Had Rajan Bala brought him to the attention of Santhome and St. Bedes, it is likely they would have grabbed him and his cricketing life may have been different.
South Zone team 1986 with Rahul Dravid and Sujit Somasudar

Promodh Sharma who was also part of that camp says that Rajan Bala had the foresight and vision to see what was coming "The PSBB team had begun to do well and he envisaged a strong performance in the TNCA schools tournament. He organised two day practice matches in the summer that helped build temperament."

In the next season, the age related issues once again flared after the City team was announced. Left arm spinner B Balaji who had captained the TN state schools in 1985 recounts the turn of events“Mujib and I were chosen to play U22 in Bangalore. But with the age issues coming up once again, Aashish Kapoor, the original captain had to sit out and I was asked at the last moment to go to Thanjavur to captain the side after which I left for Bangalore for the U22 match.”

Arun was part of the U17 team as well but it was really the last of his association with TN cricket.

Beaten by Arun
The year 87-88 saw the best year for PSBB Nungambakkam in a long time. Under the captaincy of Arun, the team had turned around. B Balaji who was Arun’s captain in the U17 city match after he replaced Aashish Kapoor remembers Arun from a School match“It was a period dominated by Santhome and St. Bedes and hence we (St. Bedes) were confident of a quarter final victory against the unknown PSBB side from Nungambakkam and almost took them for granted. However, we were single handedly beaten by Arun’s brilliant knock. He was that kind of a player who could take the match away from you on his own.”
“Despite the match winning knock, he remained a very quiet guy, did not display much of an emotion even in victory.”

The Best ever knock against Santhome
And then the biggest of it all for Arun. PSBB Nungambakkam reached the final of the TNCA tournament against a strong Santhome side that had won most of the trophies in the preceding years. The PSBB team was not particularly confident in facing Aashish and Co and the pre match talk at the Singaram Street corner pretty much revolved around managing Aashish. As feared, Aashish ravaged the attack at the University Union ground and with centuries from Rajiv Shah and KM Suresh, Santhome declared just under an hour before close of day 1 with the team having topped 450. Arun went into bat on the second morning with very little hopes of a chase. But in the next few hours he gave a glimpse of his attacking stroke play that left everyone stunned. PSBB did collapse after Arun’s dismissal but by then he had given the cricketing circles in the city an indication of where he belonged!!!  

Srinivasa Rao, Santhome coach of over three decades and now Senior Manager at the TNCA recounts the turn of events at the Union Ground “LU Arun played the best knock ever against Santhome that I have seen in the last four decades. Any team would have been demoralized chasing 400 plus but Arun spearheaded a superb fight back and took it to the opposition. He was not intimidated by the strength of the opposition and never gave up that day. Even Aashish was put to the sword. Finally, it was lesser known bowlers of the time, Gokul Subramanian and Elango who got us the breakthroughs. In terms of the quality of the knock, I would rate it right up there as the best against Santhome, especially given the context of the match when he came into bat in that final.”
“Everyone who saw his innings that day was impressed. I rated him very high. He had it in him to make it to the top. But we did not hear much of him in the coming years.”

Tamil Nadu’s All Time Great Sharath, who was a 15year old at that time, recalls meeting Srinivasa Rao outside the St. Bedes ground to enquire about the fate of the match. 30+ years later, Sharath distinctively remembers the feedback from Rao that evening “A guy called LU Arun played one of the best knocks that I have seen and scored a century but we won the trophy.”

Sharath remembers Arun as a solid bat with attractive strokes and wonders why he was not in the news again.

Handling of Aashish Kapoor was stunning
Former IOB wicketkeeper and this writer’s teammate at YMCA (TSR) B Venkatesh watched every ball of that ‘celebrated’ innings in the TNCA final in January 1988 for he was Santhome’s keeper“Aashish was almost unplayable at the school level in that phase but Arun was brilliant that day. The way he played Aashish was stunning.”
“We played together at U17 but he was always aloof and quiet. With the city and state side dominated by a few schools, he was a lone man in the pack from PSBB Nungambakkam.”

I was always referred to as Arun’s cousin
Talking to this writer from Houston, Texas, US, Vijayakumar, an aggressive all rounder who once scored 180 in a Thumps-Up TNCA tourney match and a scorching league century in the 1980s was often referred to even in school circles as Arun’s cousin. While they were the nephews of CB Selvakumar, who was known in the city circles for his swashbuckling knocks including the double hundred in 30overs, Vijaykumar came to be known as Arun’s cousin in those years than Chelli’s nephew “Such was his performance in cricket in those couple of years in the late 80s that wherever I went, people saw me as Arun’s Cousin. His centuries in the tournaments caught the eye not just of the powers that be in cricket but also of school teachers and tuition masters and that gave me a sudden brand name. For a period in my life, I had become 'Arun's Cousin'.”

Aashish Kapoor, the captain who lifted the trophy on the second evening told this writer from his home in Delhi that Arun’s was the shining light that day and the lone bright spot “while just one innings does not help one go up the ladder, he was definitely talented and had the potential.”

Never one abusive word 
Dinesh Guhan, now a finance professional working in Houstan, Texas, was the star fast bowler of the PSBB Nungambakkam team and had been a significant contributor to the team with the new ball. He was the one who had to face the initial fury of Aashish and VS Sriram that January morning at Union. He looks back at his cricketing years with his captain“‘LU’ as we all called him was my first cricket captain in high school.  While he commanded respect initially due to his amazing talent, I saw him develop into a strong leader by the time we moved into our senior year in high school. “
“All of us remember the amazing century that he hit during the 1988 school championship final against Santhome High School, a perennial powerhouse. However, my fondest memories of him was during a coaching session when he pulled me aside and exhorted me to start getting serious about my physical fitness and to get stronger (as an opening new ball bowler) if I wanted to make an impact as part of the team. “

“He had a very calm personality and demeanor and I have never seen him utter one abusive word ever. Also, he was never one to talk about himself and let his bat do most of the talking.”  

Fumma (Sriram) was an off spinner in the late 1980s who modeled his action on the lines of John Emburey. He trained under legendary TE Srinivasan. He refers to Arun as a ‘Silent Bloke’ who was precise with his straight drive “He was a great cricketer of the time and a wonderful stroke filled batsman. Whether on the cricket field or on our very own Singaram street pitch, he had his stance and grip firm and was full of concentration.”

A Geek who could smash the bowling
Vijay Nirmal who runs the Prasad Cricket Club in the TNCA league is now a Vice President at HDFC Bank in Madras where he manages high Networth individuals. He played for TN state at all age group levels in the late 1980s and early 90s. He is the son of Prof Nandakumar, who was part of the selection panel that chose the U15 team in 1986. He recounts the period in the late 1980s when he played with and against Arun “He was very fluent and aggressive. Behind the specs, he was like a geek but could smash the bowling around on his day.”
                          Vijay Nirmal

Quits Cricket @ 17 after having played State Schools and South Zone
For obvious reasons - as the 1989 Class XII Board exams neared, the focus shifted to academics. Following the century of his life, Tuitions and Tests became a way of life for the next 12months. For most PSBBians of that generation, sports had to take a back seat when they moved into Class XII. He had played State Schools and was alongside Rahul Dravid and Sujit Somasundar in the South Zone schools and against Sachin. He had been in the form of his life and showed him to be a class apart.

But alas as things unfolded in the summer of 1989, Arun much like Hemant Srivats (Murrays Auction) earlier that decade and Anish Thomas just after him lost in the race for that coveted seat in Anna University. Having played State Schools and having secured high grade in Class XII, he should have got an automatic sports quota seat but the son of a political bigwig secured that seat. 
It was almost a slap in the face for Arun. His high performance in cricket in the preceding couple of years for the state seemed to count for nothing. It was only in the last minute after he lost that seat to the politico that he went and joined Engineering in Melmaruvathur. And like Hemant Srivats went away from Madras at the peak of his cricketing life and cricket was laid to rest. He spent a major part of the month at the college and only visited his home on select weekends. He never got back into cricket again thought he played lower division league cricket including a match winning knock against this writer at the Dunlop Cricket ground but by this time he had begun to play only the odd match when he was in the city and more for the love of the game.

His cousin Vijayakumar joined VIT (Vellore) in 1989 and quit cricket as a teenager. Just a couple of years prior, he hit the top tier of the PS High School building playing in a league match. In his case, he did not grab the attention in the cricketing circles despite a top knock of 88 against a superior bowling attack in a Thumps up Trophy school match and a top notch league century. 

Promodh Sharma, then of PSBB KK Nagar and now an entrepreneur in Hongkong, remembers that knock “I was fielding against Mujibur’s Gill Adarsh at the St. Bedes Ground. At the next ground was this school boy taking the opposition bowling to sword. Even though the star personality Mujibur was batting against us, my attention was Vijayakumar. It was easily one of the best knocks I have seen for a teenage cricketer. But despite a knock of  88, he failed to grab the attention in the cricketing circles for he came from an unknown Venkatasubba Rao. He remained ‘unspotted’ and predictably very soon, faded away from cricket.”

PSBB’s All Time Best All Rounder
Kedarnath, who has been coaching PSBB since the 1980s remembers Arun as one the best all rounder PSBB has produced in the last 40years “He was an outstanding out-swing bowler in school cricket and was delightful to watch with a bat in hand. Clearly, TNCA did not have a process in place to groom talented youngsters. Arun should have played higher levels of cricket given the scores he ran up in those years but opportunities were limited. Even with half a mind on academics, he performed very well and was an outstanding achiever in his time.”
Kedarnath points out that the students of PSBB were quick to shift their focus from sports to academics once into Class XII “While he was a hugely talented cricketer, he quit the game early to focus on academics that was typical of the PSBB mindset of those years.”

Downward Spiral of Disappointment and Despair
Hemant Srivatsa(Hemant), owner of Murrays Auction, was a star bowler for Vidya Mandir in the mid 80s and played U19 South Zone and against Australia. He had signed up for Alwarpet while still at school and was developing into a great left armer under the mentorship of PK Dharmalingam. He had done everything to gain a seat in Anna University but he lost out on it and spent four years at his cricketing peak in Coimbatore. He looks back at the challenges of moving away from Madras at 17 “In Madras, we had net practice for Alwarpet CC thrice a week and I learnt a lot bowling to WV Raman, PC Prakash, R Madhavan, Srikkanth etc whereas practice in Coimbatore meant I had to bowl at half pace so that my college mates don't get injured!”
“But most importantly, I think it is the mental thing. The fact that you feel let down by a system you believed in and the blatant abuse of clout gets into your head when you spend those countless hours all alone in the hostel away from home for the first time. And at 16-17, one doesn't have the mental maturity to not get bogged down by it. Without your parents and coach to guide you, you get sucked into the downward spiral of disappointment and despair and your game suffers as a result.”

Over Two Decades at Infosys
Later Arun joined Infosys and has been there for well over two decades in a completely contented and happy state of mind with no complaints about cricket or life. Management Consultant Pradeep Chakravarthy worked in Infosys for a few years. Arun and Pradeep drove together every morning to the Shozhinganallur facility during this period. Pradeep recalls his association with Arun “I found him to be a very considerate, soft spoken and friendly person. He would always listen patiently, find a way to summarise it succinctly in a way that it works for me and the team without compromising his own thought process. The ‘give and take’ was always very powerfully felt in a conversation with him. He was a quiet guy but sincere at everything he did.” 
Kalpathi Investments’ Rangarajan, who reached the final of the flood light tennis ball tournament in his first foray, is saddened at the way things transpired for Arun during the later part of his teenage years“As I look back now 35years later, I am disappointed that he did not go the full distance. He quit cricket too early for my liking to focus on academics. Having played South Zone Schools before he had touched 15, I expected him to get into the top of the TNCA league and graduate to the next level. Instead he quit cricket altogether leaving me with the feeling that he did not reach his potential and ended up an underachiever in cricket.”

Vijayakumar who secured a seat in VIT and quit cricket that year watched Arun very closely in those few months following the Class XII results “If he had secured the college seat in Anna University in 1989, which would have led him to continue to stay in Madras, his cricketing career may have taken a positive turn. But the fact that he did not get the sports quota seat despite a strong performance in the State Schools and South Zone and he had to move out of Madras for his collegiate education left him frustrated and he quit serious cricket at 17, which was unfortunate because he would have been a real talent for TN.”

Spotting of rare talent and nurturing them, especially if it came from the not so fancied schools, did not happen in the 1980s. And getting into the TNCA league too did not happen without the right contacts.  Arun and Vijayakumar chose not to pitch their cases with any contacts they may have had and played the game as it should be – by scoring runs on the field.
Arun, who along with his cousin R Vijayakumar- who this writer rates as, as good a batsman T Nagar had seen in the second half of the 1980s - did not find the right mentors despite them being the nephew of CB Selvakumar. Having played cricket for the state schools and the zone, Arun did not find guidance into a higher division (first) league team in that phase. Back then, he was very quiet and all to himself, like he is now 35 years later allowing life to take its course. 

Arun displayed very little emotions as a 17 year old. Hailing from a middle class family, the focus clearly was on academics and in his case an Engineering Seat. The fact that he did not get one in Madras meant his cricket met with a rather premature end. Ever since, he has not once exhibited any sense of regret at not carrying forward his cricketing interests after having played with Rahul Dravid and Sujith Somasundar and against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar. He accepted the opportunities that came its way in life, both in cricket and elsewhere. He has been at Infosys for over two decades and leading a normal life. 

Had he secured that coveted seat at Anna University in 1989, this story may well have been one on a cricketer who made it to the top of TN cricket for he was a hugely talented cricketer with attractive strokes and great mental character.  1980s was not a decade for T.Nagarians to venture out full time into cricket and this silent cricketer decided that he had had enough of it by the time he was 17, a lot sooner than two other stars of that period, MS Anand and Sunny Ramesh, who gave it a few more years before making their overseas foray away from cricket.

Arun probably goes back once in a while to the years from the 1980s reflecting within himself the joys cricket had given him in those 2-3years when he was at the top as a school boy. 

This story will leave with the only words Arun had for this story "I did not have the conviction and chose the safer path. The risks were too high in cricket and the fall back options did not seem good enough."

TN Sripatham Petition HR & CE Minister

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The TN Sripatham Sangam led by Kapaleeswarar’s Sankar present a written petition to the CM and the HR & CE Minister about their plight
3.60Lakh family members of the TN Sri Patham carriers dependent on this service for their livelihood have been affected by the lockdown
While they have an informal financial contract with the temples for Brahmotsavam and are paid a fairly large sum, the lockdown over the last 12 months and the consequent cancellation of many of the big utsavams has hit them financially
Sripatham carriers are often a neglected lot. Their round the year selfless service usually goes unnoticed. They have been in for a tough time over the last 12 months with temple restrictions arising out of the pandemic hitting them hard. 

In a first of its kind move, the informal group of TN Sripatham Sangam has presented a written petition to the TN CM Thiru M.K. Stalin and the HR & CE Minister Thiru P Sekar Babu last Friday.  This was signed and presented on behalf of the TN Sripatham Sangam by Sripatham K Sankar, who is the Mestri of the Mylapore Temples Sripatham team.

In the petition, he says that 3.60Lakh family members of the Sri Patham carriers in TN are dependent on this service for their livelihood. In the last 12 months, since the announcement of the first lockdown, the Sripatham families have undergone a lot of stress with many of them not being able to pay the house rent and the fees of their children’s education.  
He says that many of them are in a stage where even finding the finances for the next lunch has become a challenge. They also perform various other services relating to Theppotsavam and Brahmotsavam.

Sankar is the leader of the Mylapore Temples Sripatham and anchors the conduct of the processions in many temples in Mylapore. He has been serving as a Sri Patham carrier in Mylapore temples for the last 25years. His forefathers too had carried the Lords of Mylapore on their shoulders for several decades. He also organizes the ‘Pandal’ and 'Thoranam' in Mylapore temples during the big utsavams. Sankar and his team of 60Sripatham members carry on their shoulder Kapaleeswarar, Madhava Perumal, Kesava Perumal and Venkatesa Perumal of Mari Chetty Street in addition to many other temples in Mylapore. 

Informal Financial Contract with the temple
The Sripatham has an informal financial contract with the temple for their service. Many of these temples pay them quite a large amount for their service especially during the Brahmotsavam when there are two Vahana Processions each day. In addition to this, the Sripatham also collect money from the residents and shops during the Brahmotsavam processions.

The last day of the Kapali Brahmotsavam 
It is well known around the Mada Streets that on the 11th day of the Panguni Brahmotsavam the Sripatham collect huge amounts of money from the residents of the four streets including from all the shops. This year, the procession on that final day took several hours as the Sripatham were in collection mode from these residents. The shops and residents have indicated to this writer that the Sripatham even decide on the amount of money that they should pay for their service during the Brahmotsavam and more often than not it has become a tradition for this amount to be paid to them on the final day of the utsavam.

Feedback from TN Sripatham members
Sankar told this writer that prior to the full lockdown, he and his team went around TN Temples including Thiruvannamalai and Mannargudi to engage in discussions with the Sripatham personnel in many of the temples to understand their issues. It was following the feedback from Sripatham across the state that they decided to present their case to the Government.

He is hoping that the newly elected government will look into the issues relating to the Sripatham and provide an immediate solution. 

Five Specific Requests
In the written petition, a copy of which is available with this writer,the TN Sripatham members have placed five specific requests before the TN CM and the HR & CE minister. He has asked them to be included in the list of frontline workers, to reopen the temples to processions as soon as possible, to stop the tender process for Sripatham selection every year, to take proactive steps to prevent accidents during street processions that have many times put the lives of the Sripatham at risk and to consider them for temple service posts when the vacancy arises.

Multiple models are in existence in temples across the state. In the Parthasarathy temple in Thiruvallikeni, the Sripatham is chosen through a tender process and for well over a decade it is the traditionalists who have carried the Lord on the shoulder, while in Srirangam, the Sripatham are HR & CE staffers who double up in other temple work when there are no processions. Over the last 50 years, Srirangam Vethal Service, an informal group of over 300 volunteers based in and around Srirangam, have been providing selfless service of carrying the Lord, especially on long street processions, in addition to the official HR & CE appointed ‘Sri Patham Thangis’. It is with the support of these volunteers that the long trips of Namperumal are managed. At the privately adminstered Vedantha Desikar Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Mylapore, the Sripatham group is completing 75years. 

In many of the temples in Mylapore, it is the Sripatham Sangam members who are involved in all the processions. 

Sankar told this writer on Saturday morning that he is confident that the TN CM and the HR &CE minister will provide a favourable solution in the next few days to help them overcome the current financial stress. He said that opening up the temples will help them with positive energy and a peace of mind that is so lacking currently.  It will also help them financially as they get Sambhavanai from devotees while on a procession.

The decade when TN Cricket was rocked by age scandal

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Over Aged Players predominantly from Santhome School were barred from taking part in matches in the second half of the 1980s after the scandal came to light but TNCA did little by way of tough actions to prevent this issue from resurfacing

'Talented boys who played true to their age were majorly impacted by this scandal' - Bharath Reddy, Country's most Successful Club Cricket Manager
Till the 1970s, there was no age categorization at the junior level in TN cricket with the only specification being 'schools cricket'. One only had to be a bona fide student of a school to play in the tournaments. The turn of the decade was marked by the creation of a number of age group categories. The 1980s saw various models being tried out - U17 and U15, U19 and U16 with U12/U13 too added later on. As the decade unfolded, this threw many different kinds of challenges and by the second half turned itself into an ugly scandal.

The 1980s saw Santhome dominate school cricket in the city but it was a phase that witnessed a number of its players caught in the fudging of age certificates. This came to light prior to the U15 state schools team's trip to Bangalore in November 1986. The TNCA was caught unawares when a stay was secured on a few players who had been selected for the state schools. A large majority of the players were from Santhome School and one from Gill Adarsh. Almost all of these 'over aged' players went on to play first division cricket for many years.

A Pre Cursor that served as a warning
Earlier that season, at a schools tournament organised by Don Bosco, this overage issue had flared up specifically relating to Santhome players and the team sent a different set of players for that tournament. And then much to everyone’s shock, those same set of players produced a different age proof certificate for the U15 state schools selection. With parents of other talented boys protesting right after, the TNCA relented and banned the boys for that State tournament after having selected and announced the squad of 15. While the plan was for the standbys to gain automatic entry into the squad, the TNCA actually organised a retrial and the squad was chosen afresh.

PSBB KK Nagar’s Promodh Sharma was one of those players in the standbys that season. He remembers the turn of events that week in October 1986“As someone from PSBB, a not so recognized school in the cricketing fraternity, I always got the feeling that I was not watched at the nets by the selectors.  I believe that having an unknown kid bowl a few balls and having him bat for a few minutes may not be enough to spot the talent or potential. If the kid came from a school which did not have a cricketing pedigree, the chances diminished further.”

It was this feeling of Promodh and cricketers like him that Rajan Bala wrote that month way back in 1986 “During the trials, parents who were favoured got preferential treatment. Others were not even looked at and eliminated”.

“While I was in the camp and the thought process was that the standbys from the squad selected in October 86 would gain entry into the team after some of the players became ineligible following the over age issue, the TNCA conducted another trial and the standbys did not feature in that."

After the issue of over age came to light, Rajan Balan, in his story, questioned the very credibility of the trophies that Santhome had won in the previous years.

The School's Head and Coach should have been Questioned
Hemant Srivatsa(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/04/hemant-srivatsa-cricketer-of-1980s.html), owner of Murrays Auction, was a top cricketer in that era. He had played for South Zone and Indian Schools by the mid 1980s and had joined first division team Alwarpet when he was just 15years old. More importantly, he has always been very vocal about how the game should be played. Everytime he has spoken to this writer over the last decade, he has expressed happiness at having quit cricket very early in his life. It should not have been that way for he was a formidable fast bowler who could rip into the opposition but he was done in by the system. 
He remembers the sour events in the second half of the 1980s “Many of the kids may not have known what was going on behind them. They were too young especially the U15s. In those days, the school used to send the list of players to the TNCA. While the TNCA enquired the over aged cricketers in full public view and the manner of their questioning was appalling, what they missed was questioning the school and its then coach. They should have called the head of the institution, the physical director and the coach to the TNCA and addressed these questions to them in front of the students but they failed to do so.”

The players were excluded for that tournament but then normalcy returned after a few months. TNCA failed to go to the root of this problem and did not work towards cutting the root so this issue did not crop up again. 

LU Arun (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/06/psbb-lu-arun-state-schools-south-zone.html), who was in the original squad, featured in the reselected team that went to Bangalore where he showcased his talent with some brilliant knocks that helped him gain a place in the South Zone team. PB Anand of Gill Adarsh was the captain selected in the original squad but he was one of the players who had become ineligible because of the overage issue and a districts cricketer VJV Narasimhan captained the TN Schools to Bangalore. 

September 1987- New Season and Over Age Issue again
Just under a year later, this issue re-surfaced again this time in Thanjavur in the City vs Districts match. Aashish Kapoor was the captain of this team but a stay on the eve of the match sent jitters in the TNCA. They were without a captain and once again many players had become ‘ineligible’.

Shocked as a Selector
PR Ramakrishnan who was in the TN Ranji squad in the early 1970s was part of the Selection panel that was present for that match. He says he was shocked the first time he heard it. Aashish Kapoor was to be the captain of the city team in Thanjavur but he was termed ineligible. “There was no age group cricket in the 60s and 70s and hence there was no question of this (over age issue) arising in that phase when I played my cricket. However, when it did crop up soon after age group cricket was launched, it came as a big shock to me. Cricket was supposed to be a gentleman’s game and this was fudging of records and a clear fraud. They were not fit to be ‘Cricketers’. There were influential parents, and the coach of the schools played a big part in this for without their consent much of this could not have been done. It had become some sort of a ‘racket’.”
He remembers Chairman of Selectors M Srinivasan’s reaction that day “Srinivasan was very dedicated and fought for talented youngsters. When suddenly a bunch of players became ineligible, he panicked and was at a loss of words. But City had to find replacement players, and soon.”

Left arm spinner B Balaji, who had earlier captain TN U15 schools to victory, remembers that evening in September of 87 “The TNCA official made a rushed entry to my house at 7.30pm and asked me to take the bus at 9.30pm to Thanjavur. I was to go to Bangalore for the U22 match but I was redirected to the U17 match. All of us knew about the real date of birth of these players and what had been happening in the past but really none of us as young kids raised our voice on this issue till it came up on its own ahead of this match.”
Ramakrishnan also recalls the scenario in the districts “In Coimbatore, we had put in place a strong system very early on. We were tough from the very beginning and acted with clarity. In fact, GR Prasad would  always go to the head of the institution and get their endorsement ahead of every tournament. It was important for the head of the school to certify as per the birth certificate in the school’s records and school's head had to be made accountable as far as the birth certificate endorsement was concerned.”

Cricket an ideal platform for Engineering Seat
Cricket was taking off in the country after India's victory in the 1983 World Cup and with every passing year parents began taking increasing interest in their son's cricketing activities which in some cases crossed the acceptable limits. It is something that Rajan Bala wrote way back then “Parents were seeing representative cricket for the State Schools as a platform to get admission into Engineering Colleges. And this triggered a series of actions that led to the overage scandal.”

Negatively Impacted the Talented Players
Talking to this writer from the US, the most successful of club managers in the country in the last four decades, Bharath Reddy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html) who had just completed his playing career in the mid 1980s and had begun focusing on cricket at Jolly Rovers, said, “The talented boys who played true to their age were majorly impacted by this scandal. Imagine an 18 year old playing in a U17 match against a 15 or 16 year old boy. The over aged boy is clearly at an advantage and with an exaggerated performance through such methods at the U15 and U17 levels, he is likely to get more opportunities in cricket including a quicker jump into the first division league while the talented boys who lost out through such unfair methods would possibly have quit cricket in frustration and gone on to pursue academics.”
“Clearly it had a big psychological impact on many children and forced them out of cricket sooner than they would have expected.”

Promodh looks back at that year and says that the TNCA acted in a way to protect their interest like every other governing body has done over the years when staring at a crisis. “They took a decision and drafted in replacements as part of their damage control. In the process, some were lucky and others not so.”

Over age issues in Tennis in the US
R Vijayakumar, who was coached by AG Ram Singh and Rajan Bala in the 1980s and was a Tennis Coach in the US just over a decade ago, has been witness to a rampant over age issue in tennis in the US. He told this writer many years ago that there is a method to the madness. "Those that start this process at the U13 level carry this right up to the U17 level. In that period of 5-6 years (having started out at 11 or 12), the over aged kids would have won all the tournaments in U13, U15 and U17. Hence by the time they are 18 or 19, they are already seen as a local champion having achieved big success in the age group tourneys. That boosts their confidence levels as a winner. Hence there is a distinct advantage in playing against those aged way  below you especially in the 12-19 age group."

Bharath Reddy says that this over age issue was not restricted to Madras and that in the days he played for South Zone schools there were over aged boys playing from other states"‘Even though they had passed the schooling age, they would get back into school when they saw an opportunity to play at a national level like the Zonal Schools tourney or the Indian Schools trip or a schools match against a visiting team.”

Ranji Trophy winning captain and current Chairman of Selectors S Vasudevan too remembers the Schools match in Hyderabad in the early 1970s when school boys looked much older “Some of them seemed like they were 20 year olds!!!” 

How was the over age issue handled
As soon as the issue came to light, there was a lot of rumbling all around. While the players were replaced for the particular tournament, they came back later. Ramakrishnan is disappointed at the way the TNCA handled it then “The powers that be at that time had the opportunity to nip it in its bud at a very early stage.They should have taken strong action against the players. The TNCA should have arrested it then and there. It deserved big punishment in the longer term interest of the game, but really the TNCA did not do what it should have done at that time. ”

TNCA should have banned the school(s) for three years
Hemant Srivatsa who captained and helped districts beat the city captained the U19 TN team as a player from the Districts (he was at GCT, Coimbatore) in the mid 1980s. He says that the moment this came to light, not once but on multiple occasions, the TNCA should have banned the school(s) from participating in inter school tournaments. "That would have set a strong precedence and been a deterrent. But tough decisions were not taken at that time.”

Has the cricketing system changed since?
Promodh, who was impacted in the over aged issue back then, continues to play cricket now in Hongkong aged 50!!! He looks back 35 years after the over age issue first came to light and asks if the system in Madras / TN has changed at all in the period since he graduated out of school “The important question is what has been done since then to change the way the system works and to provide equal and fair opportunity to the talented. The system is changing albeit slowly with more accountability being brought in thanks to corporates who play a significant role in today’s cricket and being in the glaring eye of the social media.”

There have been cricketers who have reached the top even in recent years /decades bypassing the ( over age) system.

Bharath Reddy says that it has taken many years for a solution to be found.“It is only in the recent decade that bone test has come into play.”

Former Ranji Cricketer and coach of TN DJ Gokulakrishnan said the age old Issue of overage cricketers still  persist. "That's one of the reasons why on Rahul Dravid's recommendation, BCCI has come up with restrictions on a cricketer playing in only one u19 World Cup."

He says that the above restriction combined with a stringent punishment like a life ban for those found guilty is a welcome development.

Promodh(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/05/promodh-sharma-cricketer-turned.html), who has faced many a corporate challenge in building a 80 million dollar global business in the garment sector, says that the system of bias and the role of godfathers still exist but he is confident that sooner than later this too will evolve and change to a format to reward the meritorious alone “We must believe we will see a day where talent has the final word over the power of position or social standing within and outside the confines of the ruling body.”

Chidambaram Deekshithar TNCA Umpire

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The Deekshithar in TNCA Cricket

Kalyana Venkatesa Deekshithar of the Chidambaram Nataraja Temple became a TNCA Umpire last decade and wanted to pursue his ambition of becoming a BCCI umpire but the Mega Kumbabhisekam of 2015 meant he had to focus for a full year on the consecration work ahead of the exams

The Deekshithar's family have around 200days of annual service at the temple

In 2011-12, BCCI Umpire R Rajesh Kannan (BCCI Umpire Rajesh Kannan) visited the famous Nataraja temple in Chidambaram following a cricket training camp he had overseen in Cuddalore. That is when he met S Kalyana Venkatesa Deekshithar who was in his early 30s then. Moved by his interest in cricket, Rajesh Kannan initiated the thought in him of becoming a cricket umpire. He handed him the laws of cricket and mentored him to take up the examination conducted by the TNCA. Kalyana Venkatesa Deekshithar came through the examination and much to his delight began umpiring league matches in Madras. Many times he would take a bus from Chidambaram on Friday night, umpire the matches over the weekend and return on Sunday night. There were times he would come in from Bangalore to umpire a cricket match. At that time, he cherished the ambition of becoming a BCCI umpire. But temple work in the middle of the last decade led to his return to Chidambaram and put paid to the mega umpiring ambitions of the Deekshithar in TNCA cricket!!!

A 1000 year tradition
Kalyana Venkatesa Deekshithar belongs to the hereditary family of Pothu Deekshithars who have been performing pooja at the Nataraja temple for over 1000 years. His grandfather performed service at the temple for over five decades, while his father Sethu Mahadevan, who has initiated a large number of students into Vedas, continues to perform archaka service at the temple having started out in the 1970s.
Kalyana Venkatesa Deekshithar learnt the Vedas for about five years from Parameswara Deekshithar in Chidambaram. Given the financial challenges of the time and the huge joint family that he was part of, he pursued his academics and completed MBA in Finance from the Annamalai University. While his father and grandfather along with his uncles continued the temple service, Kalyana Venkatesa Deekshithar went into the corporate world for a few years. It was also a period when there was severe pressure from the HR & CE to take over the administration of the temple and the mood inside the temple was unsettling with most unsure as to how things would unfold. 

Deekshithar anchors the Chidambaram Koil Team
As a young school boy, he had been active in cricket and played a number of tennis ball tournaments in Chidambaram. “I was a medium fast bowler and a middle order batsman and an integral part of the team.  With our good performances in those tournaments, our team came to be popularly known as the ‘Koil Team’.” 

Deekshithar in the TNCA league
He wanted to pursue his cricketing interests but the financial challenges of the time led him into the corporate world.While he could not move to Madras as a teenager to explore his cricketing interests, later on he joined the lower division league team Madras Indians, one run by Indian off spinner R Ashwin and practiced with the team in Madras. However, a ligament tear and aggravation of that injury cut short his playing days in the TNCA league“I had the joy of playing in the league for Ashwin's team and interacting regularly with his father Ravichandran. It was to overcome the disappointment of the leg injury and to continue to be associated with the game that I took to umpiring, inspired by the motivational words of and encouragement from Rajesh Kannan.” 

Kumbabhisekam work cuts short his Umpiring Plans
Following temple activist TR Ramesh’s (Worshippers Society TR Ramesh) ground work at the Chidambaram temple and Subramaniam Swamy’s handling of the case, the court directed handing back the temple to the Pothu Deekshithars earlier last decade after HR & CE had taken charge for a few years. When it was time for the Kumbabhisekam in 2015, the draw of lots at the temple turned in Kalyan Venkatesa Deekshithar’s favour and he was to be part of the committee for the consecration. This meant a lot of preparatory work through the year and he could not prepare for the Umpiring exam that was coming up at that time and he thus let go his umpiring ambitions. 

Having been in the corporate world and on the cricket field the previous decade he is now back full time in Chidambaram to continue the archaka service. During the pandemic, he has also been taking online Vedic Classes for about 15students to try and get the next gen entrenched in the Vedas.
                      With S Ravi in Madras

In the past the family had had around 100 days of annual archaka service at the temple. With his two sons becoming eligible for service,  the period of service in a year is likely to double to around 200days. This will keep Kalyana Venkatesa Deekshithar full time at the temple even though the last 12 months has been a tough period for him financially with restrictions on devotees’ entry into temples and consequent reduction in Kattalai. He is hoping that this will turn around soon with the reopening of temples.

While he is now focused on archaka service, once in a while he lets his mind get back into memories of the matches he played in Madras for Ashwins’ team and his days on the cricket field as a proud TNCA umpire that gave  him a lot of joy. 

Truly, one of a kind Deekshithar!!!

Kedarnath S Opener from the 1970s

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In great form in 1977, he believed he was on the verge of a Ranji Debut until the Selector broke his heart with an open declaration
After watching him bat, I was confident he was State material as he was technically very sound and invited him to come to Bangalore so he could play for Karnataka in the Ranji but he could not make it. It is a pity he did not play Ranji Cricket - Batting Legend Gundappa Viswanath

A Dominating Opener, there was a Lazy Elegance to his Batting - Abdul Jabbar, his teammate of a decade at SBI
40years as PSBB Coach, 300 kids/25 coaches at his two decades old cricket academy, 5years promoting music artistes and a joyous Mimic of old cricketers
In 1977, a young batsman came back to the pavilion to rapturous applause after almost scoring a century in a city vs districts match at the beginning of the season only to be greeted by a selector with a ‘you will not play for the state till I am here’. He was almost in tears when he came back that evening to his palacious home on Nair Road in T. Nagar, Madras only to be told by his father too that he would not be selected till that man was on the selection panel. Later that year, he scored a big century at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in front of the legendary GR Viswanath, who immediately asked him to take a transfer and move to Bangalore so he could play for Karnataka. His father asked him to stay put in Madras and there ended this man’s Ranji hopes. He went on to score over 30 Centuries for SBI and has over the last two decades been running a cricket academy where there are now a whopping 300 kids and 25coaches!!! Here’s the story of an opener for whom State Cricket remained elusive. 

Another one from YSCA’s Guru Team
Like for many T Nagar based cricketers from the 1960s and 70s, cricket began for S Kedarnath at the Somasundaram Ground with YSCA Gurumurthy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/11/ms-gurumurthy-ysca-somasundaram-ground.html) playing tennis ball cricket at the West end of the ground alongside his school mate TA Sekar. It was playing the five day test cricket at that ground did Kedarnath build a strong technique especially facing the fiery tennis ball bouncers of Sekar. Alongside practicing and playing matches at the Somasundaram ground, he was also initiated into Mirudangam under the mentorship of Acharya T. H (Vikku) Vinayakaram. For a decade, cricket and music went side by side. Kedarnath also played a bit of tennis at School. Hi

His father, who was a pretty good tennis player in his younger days, worked at the Railways, initially with the Eastern Railway and later at ICF in North Madras. His elder brother S Badrinath too was a good opening bowler at school and college. 

SBI's Chandru provides him the league break
When Kedar was 13years old, R Chandrasekaran of SBI (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/r-chandrasekaran-sbi-globe-trotter.html) who has run many league teams in the city over the last five decades, roped in Kedar for BRC, a team managed by him at that time. Kedar recalls his debut league match “We were shot out for 30 or so at the AM Jain Ground against Globe CC and I ended up top scoring with 13 not out. It was an amazing experience to top score in league at that age!!!”
                                                      SBI's Chandru

“In that early phase, I was moulded by TS Viswanathan (Services) and R Chandrasekaran. It was at BRC that I became an opening bat and began to score runs consistently. After my consistent performances, it was Chandru who suggested to me that I should play higher division”

Create the Next Gen Mathematicians
And thus he joined his brother at Friends XI in the second division league. Strong performances in the league earned him a place in the TN Colts team, the first big recognition of his cricketing abilities.  From a very young age, he had a liking for Mathematics and his ambition was to become a Maths lecturer and develop the next set of ‘Mathematicians’!!! It was with this aim that he joined B. Sc Maths at AM Jain College, where his longtime RKM school mate TA Sekar too became his college and cricket teammate. 

A Devotional and God fearing Person
Once India’s fastest bowler, Sekar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/08/ta-sekar-fastest-indian-bowler-of-1980s.html) recalls Kedar from those early years “He was from a family of traditionalists. Kedar always sported the sacred white ash and the Kumkum on his forehead. He was the ‘credible’ boy for our family. Whenever I said I was going to Kedar’s house, my parents would immediately agree for they believed I was in safe hands at their home. We practiced many hours at his spacious independent house. I would change into whites at his home and go for matches from there.”
Kedarnath did not play for TN schools or any other schools based representative cricket and his years at school were sandwiched between the cricket bat and the Mirudangam. And of course temples! He was a highly devoted boy and with the sacred ash on his forehead would often visit the Vaduvudai Amman temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/04/thyagaraja-temple-thiruvotriyur.html) in Thiruvotriyur and the Kapaleeswarar temple (Kapali Jayakanthan Shivachariar) in Mylapore. He was also a regular at Vaitheeswaran Koil, Srirangam and Tirupathi, something he has continued right into his 60s.

One of the Best Onside batsmen
‘Jillu’ B Ramesh, who played for Jolly Rovers/ Chemplast for 15years, was Kedarnath’s team mate at AM Jain College and also played with him at Friends XI in the TNCA league. He remembers how he secured the opening slot in the college team “Kedar was a devoted guy even as a young boy and was a regular at Tirupathi. When he was on one such temple trip, I opened in his place for the college and scored a big knock that  landed him at No. 3 in the subsequent matches!!!”
“Even in those years, he was one of the best onside players. He had good eyesight and a solid technique. During the college years, he seemed to have more time than most others and it was difficult to ‘remove’ him. He was a classy player and had the makings of playing for a long time for the state.” 

A Terrible Sight- Sekar hits his childhood mate
Sekar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/08/ta-sekar-architect-behind-worlds-best.html) recalls the city college selection trial when he hit Kedar on the forehead with a bouncer “I hit quite a few batsmen in the country with bouncers but this would count as one of the worst. Blood oozed out of his face and the entire shirt and pant had turned RED. When I went home that evening to take a look at him, his forehead was swollen big. It was a scary sight. His mother who had known me from my RKM school days asked me ‘Enna da panneeta’ that left me quite embarrassed.”

Central Zone leg spinner, who continues to play league cricket in Madras aged 65, S Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/11/rbi-madhavan-leg-spinner.html) was at the other end when Sekar's bouncer knocked over Kedar "It was a terrible sight and he was out of action for a while. But when he came back, I remember he hooked Sekar with the same confidence that he had before the injury. Such was his class."

Viveka Performances catches SBI man’s eye
Bombay and TN Ranji batsman S Srinivasan, a resident of Gopalakrishna Road - a few hundred yards away from Kedar’s house - too was a team mate of Kedarnath at the Somasundaram ground. It was he who lured Kedar to Post Graduation in Maths at the Vivekananda college, a decision that resulted in him getting a high profile job at SBI thus putting an end to his Mathematical dreams “Kedar was a free flowing batsman. The ground strokes he played in Tennis kind of helped him in his early free flowing stroke play in cricket. We had forged many partnerships in the ‘test matches’ at Somasundaram ground. When he graduated, I lured him into joining Vivekananda College for I believed that with him at the top of the order, our batting would be strengthened significantly. He was also a brilliant slip fielder and would pluck unbelievable catches. The ball never seemed to pass him, such was his alertness at slip. His presence at the college was a huge boost to the whole side and his contribution was invaluable as the college swept the titles that year." 
Kedarnath thought he would be able to further his interest in Mathematics and agreed to join but his cricket performances that year in 1976 meant that he was to go away from Maths forever. He was also to captain Friends XI to league promotion.

The Delightful flick of the wrist
Speaking from the US, IOB’s M Sundar, who opened with Kedar on a few occasions and played against him many times in the 70s and 80s says that he was one of the finest technically, well equipped and a compact opening batsman. “His strokes were sheer timing & finesse. One stroke that stood out always in his repertoire was the flick of his waist which was a delight to the eyes especially when I was at the other end. Against a formidable Madras University team, we put together a century partnership and won the Ramadurai Trophy match despite being clear underdogs.
Following Kedarnath's performances for the Vivekananda College, it was SBI’s Chandrasekaran, who had given him the first break in the TNCA league end of the previous decade, once again who recommended his name at the bank as a long term cricketing prospect for the Bank. For 15years, Kedar’s academic proficiency was in Mathematics and his mind was clear on wanting to become a Math lecturer. But his appa asked him to forget his dream of becoming a lecturer, for securing a job at SBI was considered high profile in those days for a middle class household and he obeyed his appa’s instructions and joined the Main Branch in 1977 after discontinuing his post graduation after the first year. In his very first match for SBI, he scored a half century against Indian Bank at RKM ground in an YSCA Trophy match.

A Dominating Opener
TN mainstay of the 1970s Abdul Jabbar played for ten years with Kedarnath at SBI. Talking to this writer from Hyderabad, he recalls Kedar's approach to batting He was a natural opener who liked to dominate the bowlers from the word 'Go'.  He played many a good knock in his career but the two that stand out for me were the ones against Rusi Modi XI in the Buchi Babu tournament & against Chemplast in the finals of The Hindu trophy when we were chasing a big target. He was a very wristy player and there was a lazy elegance to his batting. Even his short innings of 20’s & 30’s was a treat to watch.”

A memorable knock but a Cruel Message
Over that 12 month period in 1976-77, he seemed to be in prime form. After strong performances for Vivekananda College, he scored over 200runs in three matches including a knock of 88 against Mafatlal at Chepauk and the knock of 86 referred above by Jabbar against Rusi Modi XI at MCC College at the start of the new season in 1977 in the Buchi Babu tournament. Despite being in the form of his life, what is strongly etched in Kedarnath memory is  that tearful evening in 1977 after what he thought was a memorable innings “In the city vs districts match, I scored 96 under the captaincy of Krishnaswamy. It gave me a lot of satisfaction and I thought I may have done enough to get into the state team. The huge crowd that watched the match shouted out with confidence that I would be in the Ranji team that year.”

Even as he came back into the pavilion to the thunderous applause of the crowd and of his teammates, he was brought down to earth when a voice ( that of the Chief Selector) struck a cruel message right on his face ‘You will not play for TN till I am there’.”

The young man was almost in tears at this shocking statement and came home that evening to narrate the story to his father. Upon knowing who the selector was his father too endorsed that thought, much to the youngster’s shock. There had been a professional incident at Railways earlier involving the selector with Kedar’s father being the investigating assistant and it was unlikely that he was going to forget that!!!

Kedarnath recalls S Venkataraghavan (Venkat@75) wishing him well at the Taj Connemara (Venkat was to tour Australia and missed the Ranji season) ahead of the Ranji season and asking him to bat well in the Ranji matches. But that Ranji call remained elusive.

An impressed GRV calls him to Bangalore
This phase coincided with him joining SBI. Putting behind the cricket disappointment, he began to focus on his ‘first job’. That same year, he had the best experience of his life one that he says is unforgettable. SBI’s CGM Ramananda Rao wanted to watch a battle between two legends VV Kumar and GR Viswanath and organised a Bangalore v Madras bank match at the KSCA. Kedarnath scored 178 in a chase of over 400 against SBI Bangalore. 
A Top of the World Feeling
The batting legend was so impressed with Kedar’s back foot play and his technique as an opener that when he heard of TN’s rejection he asked Kedar to take a transfer to Bangalore so he could play for Karnataka next year as they were looking for an opener. It was a gesture that delighted the young Kedarnath. He was on top of the world as any youngster would be. He came home and announced with great delight to his father this invitation from India’s legend. Once again much to his disappointment, his father asked him to stay put in Madras and to play first division cricket for SBI in this city. The pronouncement put paid to Kedarnath’s Ranji dreams. It crushed his enthusiasm but Kedar has no regrets of his appa’s decision “He was from a traditional family and cared a lot for me. He did not believe in sending me alone to Bangalore at a young age for the sake of cricket. As a dutiful son, I had no answer and followed his directions. In those years, you did not protest against father’s decisions.”  

In any case, it was no straightforward task to get a full time transfer at SBI having been recruited for the Madras branch and to play first division cricket and other tournaments in Madras. Well over a decade earlier, when R Chandrasekaran was asked by Kerala to take a transfer to that state so he could play Ranji cricket there, the bank refused a full time transfer. 

He would have done well for Karnataka in Ranji
On a day when he lost his close friend and team mate of many years B Vijayakrishna, batting legend Gundappa Viswanath told this writer in a long conversation from his home in JP Nagar, Bangalore that Kedarnath was a technically sound batsman and felt that he should have played for Tamil Nadu.“After I watched him play for SBI, I wondered as to how such a player was not picked by TN. He had a frustrated feeling that he was not being picked despite running good scores in the first division league in Madras and also in other top tournaments. I found him to be special when he played in SBI's matches. That is when I asked him to come to Bangalore and play in the first division here after registering himself in the league. I was confident he would do well in the league and that we would be able to pick him for the Karnataka team in the Ranji Trophy. Unfortunately, he could not make it to Bangalore.”

“We played a lot of cricket together for a strong All India State Bank and shared many good partnerships. If he could be part of that SBI team that comprised the who's who of Indian cricket and scored runs in that team, he should have definitely played Ranji cricket for TN and it is a pity he did not.”

"Like KR Rajagopal (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/03/kr-rajagopal-dashing-opener-brilliant.html) who was very unlucky not to have been picked for India and gone on that Australia trip in 1967-68, Kedarnath was unlucky not to have been picked for TN in the late 1970s and played Ranji Trophy cricket" says Viswanath, with a tinge of sadness.

He put the bad balls away
Kedar joined VV Kumar at SBI in the year that saw the exit of the legendary leg spinner from TN cricket. VV Kumar (Spin Legend) him as a technically sound opener with a lot of patience and the ability to put away the wayward deliveries.

Coimbatore's PR Ramakrishnan, who himself was on the verge of a Ranji Debut earlier in the decade, is of the view that while Kedar was a good batsman, "it was a challenging task for him to break past the three openers who had established themselves through the decade for TN. By the end of the decade, K Srikkanth too came into prominence."
NP Madhavan too had come to stake a claim in the TN Squad towards the late 1970s having emerged as a star player from the Chengalpet District. Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/np-madhavan.html)who made his Ranji debut as an opener in 1980 recalls Kedar being a stylish batsman who he says was unfortunate not to have debuted for TN in that phase when he too was aspiring to be a TN opener.
Former India Wicket Keeper Bharath Reddy captained SBI towards the end of the decade. Talking from the US, he said'Kedar was just a notch below Kicha, Shiv and Ramesh'.

It is well over four decades since the time he thought he was on the verge of a Ranji Debut. Kedarnath looks back at that year and says that he was frustrated at not being given a look-in in that phase – at least 1-2 matches in Ranji for him to prove his mettle at the state level. “I was in the best form of my life in 77/78 and not being able to get at least a couple of opportunities at the state level to showcase my credentials remains my biggest disappointment in cricket. But of course, my appa convinced me that I would not get in.”

Sekar says that Kedar was unlucky not to have played for the state “He was very stylish for a right hander. At that time, there were three others as openers and he should count himself unlucky. Though he scored a lot of runs at college and in the first division on matting wickets against top bowlers in a very competitive first division league, that first break for TN remained elusive and he just could not make his debut.”

Srinivasan says that once he met and played alongside GRV, Kedar had become a huge fan of the legend. For him to have gained the confidence and admiration of GRV is a huge achievement and a great feeling. “Unfortunately, for him, the opening slot in TN was not open at the right time. If he had got one opportunity, he may have tried to prove that he belonged to this stage but he just did not get it.”
After 77/78, Kedarnath never really came back into contention for TN with younger players Srikkanth, NP Madhavan and CS Suresh Kumar coming into the fray. Like R Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/r-madhavan-tn-cricketer-1980s.html) who after the dejection of not being included in the Indian team in 1984-85 despite running up big scores did not reach that level again in Ranji cricket, Kedarnath resigned himself to the fact that he would not play again and settled down quietly at SBI. He continued to play for the bank in the first division in Madras. His cherished memories are of playing with his mentor for All India State Bank “It was difficult at that moment but I consoled myself quite quickly and moved on to give my best for SBI and enjoying the moments with my Guru Vishy. I always look back at my cricketing days to remind myself as to how blessed I was that I could watch him bat from the other end.”

Launch of Kedaram
In 2016, he launched ‘Kedaram’, an academy to promote musical talent by providing them opportunities and a platform to perform. S Madhavan who too played cricket alongside Kedar at the Somasundaram ground in T Nagar and for Friends XI in the second division shares common musical interest with him “He was a very good mirudangam player though he did not pursue his interest in that field. However, it was that passion that led him to launch Kedaram and promote artistes providing them with opportunities to perform. Every time I am at his academy, he would always ask me to sing and our discussions would center around Raagams."

Never a wrong word about another player
Sekar says that Kedar has always remained a very nice fellow. “I sometimes felt he was too nice to be a cricketer. He had a terrific sense of humour, was always a good team man, a god fearing person, did not fight with anyone despite the frustrations he went through at that time. At the end of a day’s play, his mimicking of other teammates especially of Chandru and VV Kumar gave all of us great joy.”

Not a Dull Moment with Kedar around
Jabbar echoes Sekar’s sentiments Kedar was a very easy going person and was never taken seriously by anyone not even when he mimicked on the face of the player. He is blessed with a rare talent to mimicking. With him around in the dressing room, there was not a dull moment, not even when we lost a match. He had that special capacity to wittily transform those moments.”

Has given me so much joy through his mimicries
While he may not have earned the recognition he should have on the field at the state level, the best of his off field action was certainly recognised and acknowledged by teammates. Viswanath wonders as to how Kedar pulled this off and continues to do so "I do not know how he does that but in a flash he would change from one voice to another and do that so beautifully. It is always lovely to hear his mimicry. Whenever I feel bored, I call him over the phone and ask him to mimic the old players from the 1970s. And he would immediately take me to a world of joy. He has been blessed with the ability to provide happiness to others through his mimicries."
"Having known him for over four decades, I have always found him to be a nice human being and a very God fearing person" says Vishy. He is also happy that Kedar has been running a cricket academy for two decades. 

He may not have played Ranji Trophy  for TN or Karnataka but Kedarnath is proud to have scored over 30 centuries for SBI including 28 in the first division league. In the week of his wedding, he says he came back from Trichy and scored 186 NO in the first division league. Another innings that instantly comes to his thoughts is the match in the MCC Dyanora Trophy, when aged well past 30, he scored 90 against a strong MRF attack comprising of  Sekar, Zaidi and Razdan and chased 290. He recalls a young Sachin Tendulkar who was then on the verge of his making his India debut coming to him and saying that it was the best back foot knock he had seen. Touching 35, he scored a century against K Arun Kumar  and Niranjan Kumar at their fastest on a green top at SPIC. 
One of the Pillars of SBI Cricket
Abdul Jabbar puts Kedar's contributions for SBI in perspective “He was one of the main contributors in SBI’s success during my time. Both of us knew the importance of our wickets to the team's cause. He was a superb timer of the ball and it was always pleasing to watch him bat. I enjoyed batting with him during those ten years. 

In 2001, he quit SBI and started a coaching academy in T Nagar. While he has now run it for two decades, one does wonder as to how a cricket academy can manage 300 kids at one point of time -  25 coaches at his academy is his answer!!!! 

In important phases in his life, things went against him. Over four decades later, he is truly happy that God has given him lot more than what he may have wanted though he does miss not playing Ranji cricket. He has coached the PSBB School for close to four decades, run a cricket academy for two decades and an academy for budding music artistes now for five years. In his cricketing life, he considers it an honour to have played alongside the greats of Indian cricket for the All India SBI side and particularly savours his relationship with legend and his mentor ‘Vishy’. 

Just before his father’s death in 1988, he expressed his regret at his disapproval in 1977 “He told me with a great deal of sadness that he should have allowed me to go to Bangalore to pursue my Ranji ambition”, Kedar remembers of being by his father's bedside.

An astrologer once told Kedar that he was destined to climb 99steps of the ladder with ease but would always stay one step away (remember that snake at 99 in Paramapadam where one comes tumbling down!!!) and he has for long accepted that as part of his life. 

Even as the Pandemic has kept most of the cricketers, current and former, indoors, he received a call recently from his ‘Guru’ Vishy asking him to mimic the cricketers of yesteryears especially VV Kumar. He looks back at his life and wonders as to what more could he have asked for from God than receiving such a request from the batting legend and giving him delight with his voice four decades after GRV had asked him to join him in Bangalore!! He could not accept that invitation in 1977 but this one in 2021, he surely did and sent him a recording mimicking several of the former players that sent Vishy into joyous laughter at his home in Bangalore.

Srinivasa Perumal Anjaneya Temple Royapettah High Road

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New Sannidhis for Srinivasa Perumal and Alarmel Mangai Thayar are being constructed at the Royapettah Road Anjaneya Temple and the Consecration Ceremony will take place on the morning of July 11
Just under a Century ago, new Sannidhis for Srinivasa Perumal and Alarmel Mangai Thayar were consecrated at the Vedantha Desikar Temple in Mylapore
New Sannidhi for Srinivasa Perumal and Alarmel Mangai Thayar in Mylapore was consecrated in the summer of 1924 at the centuries old Vedantha Desikar Temple (Vedantha Desikar Temple Mylapore) in Mylapore with the help of generous financial contribution from brothers Srinivasan Iyengar and Gopalan Iyengar, the grandfather of former Ranji Cricketer K Balaji (The Hindu Ranji Cricketer K Balaji), of The Hindu family.  Over the last century, the temple has become a very popular one with round the year festivals including Brahmotsavam for Srinivasa Perumal in Vaikasi (there is one taking place currently with simple pallakku procession inside the temple) and Navarathri Celebrations for Alarmel Mangai Thayar. 

In 2021,  the consecration of Srinivasa Perumal and Alarmel Mangai Thayar Sannidhi at the Anjaneya temple near the Sanskrit College on Royapettah High Road, will take place almost a hundred years after the Mega Samprokshanam at the Vedantha Desikar Temple. 

While the restrictions on devotees’ entry still continues in the city, the date of the Consecration has been fixed for Suday July 11. The Chief Priest of the temple, Kannan Bhattachar, told this writer that the sacred events will take place between 10.30am and 11.30am in Kanya Lagnam on Poosam Star. 

Mega Street Procession in 1924
In 1924, a mega procession of Srinivasa Perumal of the Vedantha Desikar Koil took place around the Mada Streets following the consecration. There is likely to be no such processions at the Anjaneya temple next month as street processions are currently disallowed. 

At the moment, the Samprokshanam is planned as a simple internal event inside the temple without  the presence of devotees. However, if the restrictions are lifted over the next fortnight and devotees are allowed inside temples in the city, then it is likely that devotees could participate in and watch the consecration on July 11. However, a Kalyana Utsavam will be performed that evening at the temple.

While this was primarily an Anjaneya temple with Sannidhi for Rama, Sita and Lakshmana and Venugopalan, the trustees came upon the idea of building new sannidhis for Srinivasa Perumal and Alarmel Mangai Thaayar just behind the Anjaneya Sannidhi a few years ago.

B. Balaji, trustee of the temple told this writer earlier this week that the construction work was started in 2019 and has been fully funded by the temple. The Consecration was originally slated for May and then the plan was to hold it this month. But with the lockdown restrictions, work had been delayed. The authorities have finally decided on performing the Samprokshanam on July 11.

The Temple, run by the Chettiar Community since the 18th Century, is one of the oldest temples here for Lord Hanuman. Utsavams include street processions on the occasion of Rama Navami, Hanuman Jayanthi and Vaikunta Ekadasi (Garuda Vahanam).

Nivethan Radhakrishnan Tasmania Tigers

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Former TNCA Player Anbu Selvan's bold early move pays dividend for his son in Australia
18 year old Nivethan Radhakrishnan, who moved to Sydney frustrated at the lack of recognition and opportunities in Madras, bags first Professional Cricket Contract in Australia
The ambidextrous bowler is set to play for Tasmania in the 2021-22 Sheffield Shield Season and lock horns with the who’s who of Australian cricket
"Nivethan has nice skill sets and we want to give the best opportunity to develop his cricket and showcase his talent. He has an exciting cricket career ahead of him in Australia"- Simon Insley, GM - High Performance, Tasmania

Nivethan Radhakrishnan, son of former TNCA league player Anbu Selvan, was set to make cricketing waves at Chepauk such was his talent. He had scored 30 centuries by the time he was into his mid teens but frustration here with the TNCA and the lack of proper opportunities led his father to take him to Australia to further his cricketing interests in a professional set up there. In a significant development, 18 year old Nivethan has last week bagged his first professional cricket contract in Australia. The left hand bat, who bowls spin with both hands, has been roped in by Tasmanian Tigers for the 2021-22 Season and is likely to lock horns with the who’s who of Australian cricket in the Sheffield Shield tournament. This follows Nivethan's strong performances in the first grade New South Wales Premier league in Sydney. He will now move from Sydney where he has been residing for a large part of the last decade to Tasmania for the new season that starts in a few months time.

Away from the TNCA and Madras
Just under a decade ago, the then 26 year old Sriram Krishnamurthy based in Madras elicited interest to play the role of a high performance coach. As a Southpaw, he had played for an Indian Cements run team in the first division league under former South Zone batsman JR Madanagopal, now an IPL umpire(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/05/jr-madanagopal-ipl-umpire-2021-and.html).This section had written a story in 2012 asking the question if the TNCA would utilize his services, lest he be grabbed by overseas talent hunters. The TNCA did not and Sriram moved to Australia and then later to England and has now finally settled in New Zealand. He has been credited with the development of opener Devon Conway, who has been making waves this month with an extraordinary start to his test career. 

Similar to Sriram Krishnamurthy, Anbu Selvan too had faced frustration during his playing days in the 1980s at not being able to break through in any of the age group teams despite running up good scores. Undaunted he played cricket for close to three decades even flying in from the US to play league matches. He also managed several league teams in the city mentoring youngsters, in addition to playing league cricket as an opening batsman. 

He initiated his second son Nivethan Radhakrishnan (named after Anbu’s parents) very early into cricket – at the age of three!!!. He bagged a hat-trick with his right arm off spin aged 8 and scored a century in a U12 match off just 60 balls a year later. The special talent that he was, Nivethan was already a junior Olympiad winner in Maths and Science from Sri Sankara School by then. 

Age restriction in the TNCA league – off to Australia
Just when things seemed to be going in the right direction, a new rule brought out by the TNCA restricting players below 13 years to be registered in the league frustrated Anbu Selvan. Nivethan was just 9 years old and was performing well in cricket. This new rule was likely to put him out of league cricket for another 4 years. Angered at this age restriction, Anbu Selvan went overseas to Australia and his son began practising and playing cricket there.

Impresses Greg Chappell and Glenn McGrath
Aged 11, Nivethan had become one of the youngest to play in the U 16 league in the Green Shield in Sydney. Thrilled at his talent Aussie legend Greg Chappell called Ryan Harris to take a look at him. When a MRF trainee tried to bounce Nivethan out at the nets session at the academy in Madras, he was promptly dispatched away prompting Glenn McGrath to remark ‘You will have to try the spin tricks with him. Bouncing him up will not work on the lad.’ 

Signs up with TNPL at 14
At 14, Nivethan came back to Madras from Australia and registered for the TNPL selections for Karaikudi Kaalai. After Robin Singh watched his stroke play in the selection match, he signed him up for the TNPL that season. However, soon after Robin left for the Caribbean PL and Nivethan did not get to play any of the matches in the TNPL. There were not too many takers for him in the TNCA league as well though he did play a few league matches here before returning to Australia.

Extremely talented player
Former Ranji Trophy winning captain and current Chairman of Selectors of TN S Vasudevan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/vasudevan-tn-ranji-trophy-retirement.html) watched him closely in an inter academy tournament organised by the Gandhi Nagar Sport Club a few years ago just before Anbu Selvan decided to leave for good.  Vasudevan recalls left hand bat Nivethan scoring a lot of runs in that tournament and found him to be extremely talented allrounder and very useful especially also with his ability to bowl well with both hands.
Like Sriram Krishnamurthy, Nivethan leaves the TNCA
Frustrated at the way Nivethan was being discarded here and seeing that the special talent was not being recognized in the way it should, Anbu Selvan did not want his son’s career to go the way of the father and hence moved away permanently to Australia much like another left hander Sriram Krishnamurthy(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2012/05/high-performance-coaching-is-tnca.html), who has now settled down in New Zealand after moving away from his home town following a lack of acceptance of his services. Sriram has coached New Zealand A and U19 teams and been with the Northern Districts (Williamson, Southee and Watling, among others) in the last few years.
Still the Passion to coach TN Ranji Team
While he has achieved fair amount of success in New Zealand, Sriram Krishnamurthy says that the passion and desire to serve Tamil Nadu cricket is still intact, a decade after he left Madras for good!!! He even has his support staff ready, in addition to the documentation of the purpose of what the state needs to do to achieve its goal. 

Sriram’s model is to nurture a cricketing system that produces confident and well rounded young men who care about others and are passionate about playing for the state which he feels is missing now. He is hoping that one day in life he would get that opportunity to do some cricketing work for his home state. He says if it does happen, that homecoming would be the homage to all those people who motivated and inspired him(Madanagopal, RBI’s S. Ramesh and N.S. Ramesh, the late PK Dharmalingam and CB Selvakumar). 

1977 Kedarnath's plea was rejected by his father, 2012 the next gen father takes his son along to Australia exclusively for cricket
Just over four decades ago, India's batting legend Gundappa Viswanath invited opening batsman from Madras S Kedarnath (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/06/kedarnath-s-opener-from-1970s.html) to move to Bangalore so he could play Ranji Trophy cricket for Karnataka. When Kedarnath reported the delightful news to his father at his home on Nair Road, his enthusiasm and hope came crashing down for his father asked him to stay put in Madras and rejected permission to move to Bangalore. And that ended Kedarnath's Ranji hopes aged 22.
Credit to his father the fiery Anbu Selvan, who played TNCA league cricket for over 25 years and at one point in his career managed as many as 7 teams, Nivethan had no such restrictions. Many a time, parents are confused on the cricketing path and opportunities that lie ahead for their children. At an early stage, when Anbu found that things were not going in the right direction in Madras, he took a bold decision in cricket leaving the TNCA, with whom he had been associated for almost three decades and moved to Australia to showcase his son’s cricketing talent there. Also around that time, he quit a high profile job at JP Morgan Chase in the US and has since spent all his time entirely on developing his son’s cricket. 
Big runs - First Grade cricket in Sydney
In the last four years, Nivethan has made rapid strides in Australia. He has been part of the New South Wales Elite Pathway programme that spots and nurtures extraordinary talent. 

In the 2019-20 Season, he scored over 600runs for first grade team Hawkesbury topping the batting charts for them scoring at an average of 52 in the longer version of the New South Wales Premier league. He also topped the batting aggregate in the Poidevin Gray Shield scoring over 150runs in six matches in addition to picking up 6wickets.

Top Wicket Taker for Sydney University Club
In the season just ended (2020-21), playing for Sydney University Cricket Club, he was on the top of wicket takers list picking up 23 wickets including a best of 4/24 in addition to scoring close to 200runs. In the Poidevin Gray Shield, Nivethan was the highest wicket taker with 12wickets including a best of 5/20. He was also among the best batsmen notching up 125runs including a half century.

Quits Academics for Cricket
Like former Tennis Star Nirupama Vaidyanathan(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/05/nirupama-vaidyanathan.html), who quit academics at 17 to pursue a professional tennis career in the 1990s, Nivethan too has quit academics as a teenager to focus full time on professional cricket in Australia. With discipline, commitment and hard work as his hallmark and a burning desire to succeed at the highest level, he has performed well in the first grade in New South Wales and has now been suitably rewarded with Tasmania picking him as a rookie in the state squad for the upcoming domestic season.

An Exciting Career ahead of him- Simon Insley
Talking to this Writer from Hobart, Tasmania, Simon Insley, GM- High Performance, Tasmania said that Nivethan has been picked for Tasmania primarily as a batsman who can also bowl off spin. “While Ambidextrous is a special quality to have, we have not picked him for that” he told this writer late on Wednesday evening from Australia. 

“He was part of the U19 set up in Australia and has been on the radar of Cricket Australia for the U19 World Cup.”
“Nivethan has been a top performer in the Premier league in Sydney and was the Young Player of the Year there. He has nice skill sets and we want to give the best opportunity to develop his cricket and showcase his talent. Like everyone, he too has a dream of playing cricket for Australia. He is young and one has to be patient with him.  If he works hard and plays some good cricket, scores a lot of runs and takes wickets, we do believe he has an exciting career ahead of him.

Following the professional contract, Nivethan has already moved to Hobart last week from Sydney and will be training with the Tasmanian State team ahead of the new season that starts in mid September.

With a strong performance in the Sheffield Shield, this ambidextrous bowler and the top order batsman from Madras could stake a claim to the Australian National Team sometime in the near future. One will have to wait and watch as to how he shapes up in the new domestic season in Australia.

This section will track his progress in Australia.

Palayampatti Shield 2019-20 to be decided in August 2021

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TNCA 2019-20 first division Semi Final and Final to be completed in Mid August
New League season to commence soon after
TNPL to start in Chennai in mid July and will then move to Coimbatore and Salem- RS Ramaswamy, Secretary, TNCA
With the Pandemic taking effect in early 2020, the first division semi finals and final (2019-20 season) that were scheduled to be held in the 2nd week of March 2020 were postponed indefinitely immediately after the league stage of the matches had been completed on March 11, 2020.

In the last week of December 2020, the lower division league matches commenced (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/12/tnca-league-cricket-returns-after-nine.html) and were completed by March of this year with promotions and relegations from second to fifth division decided. However, in this three month period, the two first division semifinal matches relating to 2019-20 were not conducted and continue to be pending completion, to date.

R S Ramaswamy, Secretary, TNCA told this writer on Friday evening that the two TNCA Semi Finals  and the Final will definitely be conducted in mid August soon after the completion of the TNPL “There is no question of cancelling the semi finals and the final. We plan to organize the TNPL from mid July and immediately after the tournament, the first division semi finals and the final will be played and the Palayampatti Shield awarded.”

TNPL to start in Chennai
He said that the TNPL will commence in mid July in Chennai and then move to Coimbatore and Salem  “This week the Covid cases have been coming down both in Coimbatore and SalemWe will start the TNPL in Chennai and then move to these two cities as we expect the cases to be well under control by then.”

R Rangarajan, Manager, Youngstars CC, one of the semi finalists told this writer earlier this week that they would require at least 15 days notice from the TNCA to ensure that all their outstation players were available for the match.
Bharath Reddy(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/11/bharath-reddy-players-man.html), who has been in Charge of Jolly Rovers cricket (N Sankar Jolly Rovers) for the last four decades told this writer immediately after his return from the US this week that they, as a corporate that has invested heavily in its players, are keen to play the semi final and see the first division championship to its natural conclusion.
Over the last few months, he had been unsure of whether the first division matches relating to 19-20 would be completed and this confirmation from the Secretary of the TNCA should be happy news to Jolly Rovers as well as the other three teams that will compete in the Semi Finals.

The entire 2020-21 league season was cancelled because of the Pandemic.

The New First Division season to commence in August
Ramaswamy also confirmed to this writer that the first division as well as all the lower division matches will commence immediately after the first division championship (19-20) match is played out in mid August We should be able to commence the new league season in the last week of August or the first week of September.”

This development and confirmation from the TNCA Secretary should come as sweet news to a host of cricket related parties including the umpires, match referees and scorers who are dependent on these matches for their livelihood. It will also send a positive signal to other states to explore and conduct state level tournaments this new season.

Kedarnath TNCA letter

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In a rather surprising move, former city cricketer S Kedarnath has sent a stinging letter to the TNCA and made several suggestions to improve cricket in TN
Reformat the Buchi Babu Tourney and Get the best out of the 'Failed' TNCA Academy
Former All India State Bank cricketer S Kedarnath (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/06/kedarnath-s-opener-from-1970s.html) has been running a cricket coaching academy in T. Nagar for the last twenty years. Currently there are a whopping 300 students in the academy. He has also been coaching the PSBB School for close to four decades. He has also been a state selector and a coach with the junior state team. During his playing days, he was at the receiving end of selection misgivings and lost out on an opportunity to play for the state. But rarely in the past have cricketers, past or current, taken to writing strongly worded letters to the TNCA. Just over 40years ago, Ranji Cricketer K Balaji (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-blossoming-cricket-career-was-cut.html) raised some important issues relating to TN cricket while still being an integral part of the state team at that time. Another former State Bank staffer R Chandrasekaran (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/r-chandrasekaran-sbi-globe-trotter.html) has been one cricketer who from the 1980s has sent a number of letters to the BCCI.

A Strongly Worded Letter
In a rather surprising move and in possibly a first of its kind occurrence in TN cricket in recent decades, 66 year old Kedarnath has sent quite a hard hitting letter to the Secretary of the TNCA this week. He played cricket for State Bank for close to 15years and after quitting the bank launched his own academy that has consistently seen an overflow of cricketing students.  Over the last couple of decades, he has not sent any such formal and written communications to the TNCA on improvements in TN cricket. Reasoning out the  letter to the TNCA, he says that he wanted to put together his thoughts as a former cricketer who has also served the association as an U19 selector and an U25 coach and was keen to get the talented cricketers in the state to come to focus. 

Reformat the Buchi Babu Tourney
Leading the list of suggestions is the reformatting of the Buchi Babu Tournament. He says that the tourney had served as an ideal platform, during his playing days, to spot players with potential and mould them for the future. In his suggestion to the TNCA, Kedarnath has said that the top two teams in the first division, the U19 state side, the combined districts and the city college team should compete in the tournament along with only two outstation teams. This he says would help spot the unknown potential both from the city as well as the districts 

T20 cricket – An early exposure
Kedarnath has asked the TNCA to identify and select the best players from the fourth and fifth divisions of the league and have a separate team in the TNPL for them to get an early exposure into T20cricket. 

Hits out at the TNCA Academy
In a stinging accusation, Kedarnath says that the TNCA Academy for U12, U14 and U16 have been conducted without any result and the regular camps relating to these age segments have been organised only to give assignment to the coaches ‘There is nothing that is coming out from these camps and it has failed.”

Without naming specific cricketers and citing examples, Kedarnath has said that a lot of potential cricketers had been left out in recent years despite their outstanding performances in all categories and  has questioned the players selected for this academy. He says in the letter that a number of them have been average cricketers. If this be the way of selection, he asks as to how the TNCA would get players to win the Ranji Trophy. He says that these age groups are at the ‘root level’ and the TNCA should give more importance to this instead of ‘filling up’ the candidates for the camp. 

Through the letter, he has also announced his availability to be associated with the TNCA"Cricketers like me are still fit enough to serve the association and those that have not crossed the age of 70 and who are willing to serve should be utilized by the TNCA."

On TNCA League
Kedarnath has made suggestions on the running of the TNCA league. In line with his thoughts on providing early exposure to T20 cricket, he has suggested that the 5th division league be run on T20 format and the 4th divisions as 30overs matches while the 3rd and 2nd division matches could continue to be 50overs.

TNCA to look into his suggestions
When Balaji pointed out some issues all those decades ago, he did not see the desired action from the TNCA that left him frustrated and he quit cricket to move into his family business of running The Hindu. While Kedarnath remained silent for several decades including during the late 1970s when he felt aggrieved at being ignored by the State, he has now chosen to speak out and that has reflected in this rather strongly worded letter. 
In response to Kedarnath's strongly worded letter, RS Ramaswamy, Secretary of the TNCA has said that he would definitely look into his suggestions and that these would be placed in the appropriate forum. 

This section will track the developments. 

Golf Referee K Sundar

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Circumstances forced him to let go his Big Basketball dream four decades ago but Passionate Sportsman Sundar is now back into the serious sporting arena and on the verge of  an overseas debut as a Golf Referee from Madras
Sundar was a Born Leader and the Best Player in our Team in the late 1970s - Former National Basketballer Surya Sekar
He is in the list of Top Golf Referees in India and the opportunity in Overseas Tournaments should come soon - Ishwar Achanta, Top International Referee and Treasurer IGU
In 1977, opening batsman S Kedarnath(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/06/kedarnath-s-opener-from-1970s.html), who was in prime form that year, was invited by batting legend GR Viswanath to move to Bangalore so he could explore options to play for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy. When he came home to inform the news to his father, his enthusiasm was crushed as he was asked to stay back in Madras and continued his work at SBI. And there ended his Ranji cricketing dreams. Hailing from T. Nagar, another youngster from that era could easily have become a member of the Guru team at Somasundaram ground and pursued the favourite sport of the time but he chose one that was played just 50yards west of the YSCA tennis ball team (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/11/ms-gurumurthy-ysca-somasundaram-ground.html). At the turn of that decade, a star basketball player, who was just coming out of his teens cherished dreams of playing for the state. Much like Kedarnath in cricket, he too was told by his father to stop his sporting pursuits and settle down in a stable job. There ended his basketball dream and he almost never entered the court again. Touching 60, he is back now with that same passionate sporting interest that he had displayed all those decades ago and this time is confident of scaling global heights in Golf, if things go his way in the next couple of years. Here is the story.

Another sportsman from T. Nagar but this one in Basketball
K. Sundar,a student of T. Nagar High School, took to Basketball at an early age though he played a bit of cricket and tennis as well during his childhood years. Every evening were spent at the basketball court on Venkatnarayana Road (opposite Natesan Park) with boys his age under the tutelage of JBC Sampath. The bunch of boys took part in many tournaments during their teenage years both at this court as well as the popular one at Somasundaram ground and had become a team to reckon with in the city. His elder sister was a rank holder in Class X and he was constantly told by her to focus on academics. 

While he did follow her advice, his early sporting success easily outshone the performance in academics. By mid teens, he was part of the State Junior squad in Basketball. Sundar recalls the role played by his basketball Guru and coach at the Venkatnarayana court “JBC Sampath was an outstanding example of a selfless coach whose sole aim was to get the best out of his students. He never took money from his wards. In fact, he went out of his way and spent money for us. He would buy shoes for the deserving students. He was a phenomenal disciplinarian and those that did not stick to the timelines had to sit out.”

As seen later in this story, it is that discipline that is currently helping Sundar as he takes a second shot at achieving sporting glory.

57 year old Surya Sekar, who is now a Senior Manager at Indian Bank, played for India in the 1980s ( his wife too was a national player) and looked up to Sundar in his enjoyable teenage phase in Basketball in T. Nagar. He has great memories of playing alongside Sundar in the 1970s While Sundar had a flair for all sports, we were fortunate that he chose to pursue Basketball. He was a toughie on court and easily the best player in our group, and a dominant one at that. He was technically superior. Even at that young age, his leadership qualities came to the fore.  He was an extrovert and his communication was crystal clear. Everyone in the team would quietly listen to his talk ahead of matches or important sessions.”
“If we beat the best of teams in the city in that period, Sundar was the reason. He played a stellar role in all our victories.”

A First -  A Strong Basketball team at Viveka
After having carved a name as a budding talent in the city Basketball circuit, Sundar did his PU at Vivekananda College and found to his dismay that the entire sporting focus there was on cricket. He along with his group of T Nagar teammates who had also joined the college that year met the Physical Director of the college. Sundar remembers those moments in 1977 “When we met him asking for a team to be set up in Basketball, he almost dismissed us as this sport had almost never been played at the college. It was after the endorsement from our mentor and coach that Ramakrishna Raju finally gave way and for the first time in college’s history, a strong Basketball team from Viveka took on the big weights in the inter collegiate circuit.” 

Sundar played for the city colleges team and did well. He was selected for the state U19 team and played for the state in the Junior Nationals in Pune. He was also in the selection camp for the Indian Junior team. At that moment, he cherished ambitions to play at the state (Men's) level and was clearly focused on pursuing his sporting interests “As a youngster, I believed I could reach the national level in Basketball.”

Has to let go his Sporting Dream at 21
His father was a Government staffer and one with sporting interests having played tennis almost all through his life including till just before his death at the age of 78 but through the teenage phase of Sundar, he was completely unaware of the sporting success of his son much like the parents of that generation. When Sundar’s name featured in The Hindu as part of the team chosen for the state, he gathered courage and went up to his father to show the news report to his father. “It was only then that he came to know that I was doing well in the sport. And from that moment would often introduce me to others as ‘State Basketball player’.”

Declines a Sports Quota Job
Soon after graduation, Sundar was offered a ‘sports quota’ job in a Government organisation in Bangalore but his father was keen for his son to explore opportunities and a career in the private sector. He declined the offer “Had I taken that up, my life could have taken a 'sporting turn' as I may have pursued my sporting interests for the rest of that decade.

However, as directed by his father, he took to the private sector and joined HCL in 1982. He did not enter the Basketball court with the same seriousness again. Like any youngster, Sundar was disappointed having to give up a sport he loved at that age “I was hugely saddened that I had to give up my dream for ever and could not be at the court again after having played very competitively for 10years, but in those days there was no choice really. You did not go against the father’s word. Also, I had lost my mother very early and my father meant everything to me. While I was disappointed having to let go Basketball, I trusted my father on his advice.”

Surya Sekar, who joined Indian Bank at 18 on sports quota recruitment, says that Basketball was in a very primitive stage in the country that decade “Basketball was not a financially lucrative sport. We were given a Rs. 120 worth wrist watch or a Rs. 80 worth wall clock for tournament  victories. The player of the tournament would have got a tiffen carrier. If he had pursued the sport, he would have definitely played for the State and progressed well. It is also likely he would have secured several offers from organisations that promoted sportsmen but he had to quit early and moved into business where he became very successful.”

Very soon, he quit the job at HCL and for the next three decades, enjoyed life as a businessman. His elder brother and his friends had set up a marketing venture and then a manufacturing firm and Sundar joined them early. 

Leads T. Nagar Club to Tennis Championships
After staying away from sports for over a decade, he came back and took to Tennis. He played Tennis for several years including captaining the T Nagar Club in inter club tournaments. It was under his captaincy that the club gained promotion from Division E to C in the 1990s.

Addicted to Golf
At the turn of the century, he took a call to move into an unlikely sport, the third of his life. Like many in the corporate circles in the city, playing golf in the local courses was taking off and he too joined the bandwagon “I gave up tennis to take to Golf. I was warned that it would be very addictive but I was up for it. While it was time consuming, I did very well and began to enjoy the sport.”
Just under a decade ago, he shut down his manufacturing business and moved into another area in Golf. It was a ‘semi professional’ call at that time. From playing, he moved into the role of a Golf Referee. Within three years, he had gone through four different levels of exams and was certified in 2015 in Malaysia with one that made him eligible to officiate in international golf tournaments.

In the early phase, he found Golf Refreeing quite challenging “Unlike most other sports, the role of a referee in Golf is extremely challenging. The field here is not clearly defined, there are many variables and no fixed rules. More importantly, Golf is played in different terrains, on different types of courses where the size too varies. One has to be mentally alert and take quick decisions. It is physically demanding as well."

If Sampath mentored him in Basketball in the 1970s, it was Ishwar Achanta, the only Indian Golf referee to have officiated in US, British and Australian Opens, who initiated Sundar into Golf Refereeing “Ishwar is a  Golf Rules Encyclopedia and was the man responsible for my initiation into Golf Refereeing. He has guided me over the last decade and played an important role in this phase of my life as I looked to develop my skills as a referee” says Sundar.

Since 2012, he has officiated in over 50 tournaments in the country and his commitment has led him to travel almost nine months every year. In 2018, he officiated in the Asian Tournament that took place in the Prestige Golf Course in Bangalore, one that remains his favourite todate.  Last year he was to officiate in one of the most prestigious national tournaments – The Hero Open in Delhi - but unfortunately the Pandemic led to the cancellation of the tournament. 
With the experience of officiating in several leading tournaments in the country, he has also moved up to don the role of 'Tournament Director'.  

Should make his Overseas Debut soon
His mentor Ishwar Achanta, who helped Sundar understand the rules better, says that he has all the qualities required to be a top notch golf referee "Sundar is a very meticulous person, organised, process oriented and disciplined in everything he does. Golf rules are typically understood by those who have discipline in life.”
Ishwar believes that Sundar has a good chance of doing well in overseas tournaments as a referee He has the interest and passion to perform at the top level but opportunities will not land up in his lap. He has to stay patient and committed."

"The Indian Golf Union does recommend the top referees to international tournaments based on seniority and ability. Sundar is on that list and should get an opportunity soon to make his overseas debut.”

A Second Coming with Serious Sport at 60!!!
40 years ago, he had given up dreams of taking to serious basketball but at 60 he is now cherishing a new sporting ambition - That of making an overseas foray and officiating in international golf tournaments. Way back then, in 1982, he was just one step away from playing for the Senior State when he gave up Basketball, a sport that he still considers as his favourite. In 2021, he is just that step away from making his debut as a Golf Referee in overseas tournaments. Will it be a second time lucky for Sundar. 

This section will track his progress in the next couple of years.

R Venkataraman Catholic Syrian Bank Syndicate Bank

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The small town school boy in Dindigul who aspired to become a Maths Teacher rose to great heights in the Banking Sector becoming the Chariman and CEO of Catholic Syrian Bank
It is not often that you have someone who has spent the first two decades of his life in a quiet Tier two town in Tamil Nadu with very little exposure to city life reaching the top of the Banking World. R Venkataraman is clearly an exception. While he aspired to be a Mathematics Teacher for all his life, opportunities at 22 led him into the banking space and he grabbed it with both hands and made a mark for himself in four different banks. While he was roped in by the promoters of the Catholic Syrian bank to head the Kerala headquartered bank as its Chairman and CEO in his late 50s, Syndicate Bank remains his favourite bank for it helped him to graduate to what he is today. He also played a role in  the IT industry where for TCS he set up the Virtual Banking Services and Treasury Products. A cricket fanatic right from his childhood days, he watched at the Wankhade Stadium that unforgettable incident of K Srikkanth’s run out in his debut test match in 1981. He remained a close confidant of the late VB Chandrasekar and had met him just a few months before his death.  Here is the story of a remarkable Banker who made his way to top of the leader board without a  God Father.

Early Decades in Dindigul
R Venkataraman’s forefathers hailed from Kodimangalam, a village near Kumbakonam. But his father had moved to Dindigul very early on in his life and served in the Co-operative Bank there till his retirement in 1971. Dindigul was renowned for the historical Sundararaja Perumal Temple in Dhaadi Kombu (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2008/10/thaadi-kombu-soundararaja-perumal.html) that is abound with beautiful sculptures but there was not much of exposure in those early years other than leading a religious life visiting the neighbourhood temples. 

Venkataraman's childhood in Dindigul was largely uneventful and there was no inkling of him becoming a banker for his early interest was in Mathematics. His interest had become so addictive that after his centum in Maths in SSLC, he aspired to spend his life as a Maths Teacher. He was a Gold Medalist in SSLC and a Topper at College as well.

Outside of academics, he was an active participant in elocution contests, where he won many prizes and at the cricket ground where he bowled off spin. Later on, he captained the Arts College cricket team during his three years as a B. Sc Maths student. His association as a lover of cricket has remained right to this day and he rooted for the country in the recent World Championship final watching the entire match from his home in T. Nagar.

His amma’s musical interest led him to attend kutcheris right from his days as a teenager at the temples in Dindigul including Abirami Amman, Mariamamman, Kottaikulam Hanuman and Srinivasa Perumal Temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2012/11/dindigul-srinivasa-perumal-temple.html). “It was the Nagaswaram recitals in temples that led to my decades long interest in Kutcheris.” 

Aspires to become a Maths Teacher
With an eye on pursuing a career in teaching, he moved to Madurai for his Post Graduation in Mathematics under the tutorship of Dr. M Venkataraman. As things turned out, there were no new vacancies for a Maths Teacher in any of the colleges. Around the same time, the BSRB called in for an examination to recruit officers “I got through the competitive examination and joined Syndicate Bank as an officer in Vellore in 1972. While I wanted to explore opportunities as a teacher, my appa asked me to take up the bank job as it offered long term security.”

And there ended Venkataraman’s dream of becoming a Maths Teacher.

Life Changing Experience in Bombay
After a brief period in Erode, he moved to Bombay in 1975 and worked there for a dozen years, one that he considers as a life changing experience “Professionally it was the best corporate experience in my life. The opportunity to interact and work with the top bankers in the country, the engaging experience of travelling to office in a Suburban train and managing tough customers with high expectations taught me a lot in my banking career. It was a very fast paced life there but if someone wants to get to the top of the business world in India, a stint in Bombay will provide a rich learning experience that will stand him in good stead later on in his career.”

Multiple Diplomas
It was also during this period in Bombay that he realized the importance of expanding his Banking knowledge. He completed CAIIB and followed that with Diplomas in International Banking, Business Management and Financial Services. In this phase, he was also a member of the Group of ForEx experts at FEDAI.  While in Bombay, he had begun delivering lectures in Staff Training Colleges on Credit and ForEx. He was also a visiting faculty in the Bankers Training College of RBI.

Alongside his professional growth, he expanded his musical interest and was a regular at the Shanmugananda hall in Bombay during the 1980s.

Srikkanth’s Debut Test
India’s upcoming test series against England took him back to the memories of the test match in 1981. It was during his long phase in Bombay with Syndicate Bank that he had the opportunity to watch that unforgettable debut test match of K Srikkanth (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/abhinav-mukund-bizarre-dismissal.html) at the Wankhade Stadium “It was a great experience to be watching a Test match at the ground in those days. The stadium was packed and we were against Willis and Botham. As one from Tamil Nadu, I was excited to watch our hero Srikkanth open alongside the legendary Gavaskar but was completely saddened by the way he strolled out of his crease to tap the pitch and run out by John Emburey.”

For the first time in his life, he moved to Madras in the late 1980s at the Regional Inspectorate/Vigilance department. After about five years in Madras, he moved back to Bombay as the Divisional Manager (International Banking Division) where he was the head of Systems and Processes as well the ForEx Head. 

He considers his 23years at Syndicate Bank as the best in his banking career “It was those two decades at Syndicate Bank that laid the foundation for my career growth in later years. The solid foundation there helped me graduate the next level in other banks.”

Private Sector Bank offers him a niche role
He had settled down well at Syndicate Bank and was enjoying his role there when an unexpected call came his way in 1995. Private Sector Bank, Bank of Madura, was on an expansion spree and had turned into a popular bank having caught the eye of the customers in that phase. As part of that expansion, they were look for a professional to head their Foreign Exchange Division and  they offer him that niche and specialised role.

He joined the Bank as an AGM in September 1995 and played an important role in their transformation over the five year stint by anchoring the integration of the ForEx and Treasury. At Bank of Madura, Venkataraman travelled to the Middle East and Malaysia to integrate the Rupee Drawing arrangements. He recalls his modus operandi of handling what could sometimes be a tricky operations“I was cautious in my approach and the key was to not incur any loss in ForEx. I had laid out a clear policy guideline and adhered to the safeguards advised by the RBI, especially in ForEx dealings. There was no flashy trading or leveraging opportunities to make quick money for the bank. It was a safety first model of working.”

In this period, he was deputed for a reputed Euro conference organised by Citibank in Thailand. He was a regular at the IFMR as a visiting faculty for management lectures.
With the then PM of India, AB Vajpayee

Seven years at Lord Krishna Bank
The talks of the BOM’s merger with ICICI Bank coincided with a call from Lord Krishna Bank. After one and a half years of ForEx role in Delhi, he moved to the Ernakulam HO as the Head of Operations and worked there till 2007. He made inroads in ForEx profitability despite it being a small bank. It was also Venkataraman who automated the whole operations in ForEx “Even though it was a smallish bank compared to Bank of Madura in terms of size, it was a rich experience for me to manage the operations at Lord Krishna Bank.”

During his time as the ForEx Head at Lord Krishna Bank, Venkataraman made several trips to Saudi Arabia, Muscat, Bahrain and Doha to finalise Rupee Drawing arrangements interacting with Non Resident clients and to bring in Non Resident investments.

Chairman and CEO of Catholic Syrian Bank
Having tracked his progress, the promoters of Catholic Syrian Bank saw him as an ideal candidate to head the bank and roped him as the Chairman and CEO end of July 2007. It was almost a dream come true for the man from Dindigul, where there was almost zero exposure to corporate life. He moved from Ernakulam to the CSB’s headquarters in Trissur. During his three year stint, the bank’s profitability peaked and was able to pay dividend of 30%. 

Doubles Business, Anchors Automation
He had taken over as the Chief when the Bank’s business was just over Rs. 7000cr. Under his leadership, business grew rapidly and doubled. It was a phase that saw a large expansion of the branch network as well as the biggest automation seen at the bank. He anchored three AGMs in a phase when talks were rife of the merger with Federal Bank. He was at the center of attention and for a while was hounded with queries on the merger.

During this phase in Kerala, he was one of the invitees to the Credit Monetary Policy Review in 2008.He also travelled to Greece deputed as a leading banker from India to demonstrate and give feedback about technology products in the banking space. 

Having spent almost a decade in Kerala, he retired end of 2009 around the time when the merger talks had hit a roadblock. He calls the phase in Kerala as a fulfilling experience “I enjoyed working in Kerala. Personally, I was able to deliver results for both Lord Krishna Bank and Catholic Syrian Bank and a fulfilling experience for me to have worked in Ernakulam and Trissur. More importantly, the promoters were very happy with my performance and wanted me to continue for another year but I was keen to return to Madras.”

He was missing the Margazhi Kutcheris as by then he had become a big music buff!!!

From Banking to Teaching
Having worked for almost four decades, he took a short breaking from the Banking circuit and took to his favourite option – Teaching. For a brief while, he served as a guest faculty at LIBA teaching Banking and Finance and enjoyed what was he loved most in life.  

Banking in the IT Industry
However, another offer came soon after this time another unexpected one from the IT industry. TCS wanted him as a Consulting advisor and for three years he worked onsite at the Whitefield center setting up the Virtual Banking services as well as Treasury Products which they  were to cater to many banks worldwide. For another year, he worked offsite in the Banking space at TCS.

Prior to the Pandemic, he would not miss a day of the Margazhi Kutcheri and would jump from one Sabha to another each day of the season.

Syndicate Bank - His Favourite
Despite all his successes at Lord Krishna Bank and CSB at Senior Management roles, Venkataraman looks back at his over two decades stint in Syndicate Bank as his favourite “Syndicate Bank remains my favourite. I joined afresh from College  with all my thoughts till that time having been on wanting to become a Maths Teacher and it was my experience there in varied roles that helped me graduate to what I am today. Syndicate Bank gave me the exposure across departments that were to serve as great value to me later on in my management stints.”
Venkataraman is 73 and the Pandemic has locked him inside his Syndicate Bank constructed Quarters in T. Nagar off North Boag Road for 15months. Just a couple of years back, he lost a long time friend in cricketer VB Chandrasekar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/01/vb-chandrasekar.html) for whose family he had been a close confidant for several years. He himself has also not enjoyed great health in the recent past. Despite the restrictions and the challenges, the credibility he has enjoyed over several decades has led to offers continuing to pour in for consultancy roles in the Banking space. 

It may not be long before he is back to serving the Banking Sector again with his rich experience and expertise. For the moment, he is spending his time listening to the favourite songs of Bombay Jayashree, Ranjani Gayathri and Sanjay Subrahmaniam and is eagerly looking forward to India’s Test Series in England. 
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