SR Prakash ICF Pachaiappas Cat Lover

Mylaporean SR Prakash was an enthusiastic school boy cricketer in the late 1960s and early 70s. Coached by AG Ram Singh at Hindu High School, where he started out, he drew inspiration from Gary Sobers’ two terrific innings in the Pongal test of 1967 that he watched at Chepauk. Sobers’ fielding too created a special interest for him in cricket. In the decades that followed, he himself turned a ‘Panther’ (nicknamed by his teammates at ICF) on the field and very few balls went past him. The southpaw moved to MCC School and scored a lot of runs for them as well as for Pachaiappas at the College level.

As a 16 year old, he scored a terrific unbeaten century for TVS MSC in the second division cricket in December 1972 that captured the attention of the powers that be. He played two years for Senior Colts. In his final year at college in 1976, playing in a selection match for ICF against a strong MCC XI at the University Union ground, he scored 36 while his team was bundled out by VV Kumar for just 100. Within the next week, he was offered a sports quota job at ICF for whom he played a decade and a half of first division cricket alongside the likes of S Balaji, Doraiappan and M Arunachalam.

He recalls his battle with  S Venkataraghavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/venkataraghavan75.html). The legendary off spinner would lovingly call cricketers by ‘names’. Bharat Kumar was Kurungu….When Prakash came into bat that day for ICF, he referred to the youngster, fresh into first division, as ‘Kaattaan’ but he took it in his stride and remained cool “I was the youngest kid in the team. S Venkataraghavan was already a legend then having captained India in the World Cup. When I came in, he set an umbrella field, something that I had never seen before. He wanted to psyche me and test my mental strength. I drove him for two fours and scored over 30. Later that evening, he came up to me and praised my gutsy knock and my fearless approach to batting. It was a great feeling to have been praised by such a legend.”

His biggest moment in cricket in 1984-85 season in the inter Railways tourney at Hyderabad. Against a strong Northern Railway comprising of Hyder Ali, Hansraj and Vedraj among others, Prakash scored an unbeaten 91 to help South beat North for the first time to win the national tourney. His teammate S Kalaimani recalls that day “We were chasing a big target of well over 300 and had lost early wickets. He came in at No.6 at a time when we were struggling. The two of us put on a big partnership. He batted brilliantly that day and helped up beat North (I scored70). He was a witty fellow and had a good cricketing mind. He was highly rated and an integral part of our through the late 70s and 80s.”

Prakash has always been fearless in life and he recounts the moment when he came up against the fastest of the time at the Railway Stadium “TA Sekar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2013/08/ta-sekar-fastest-indian-bowler-of-1980s.html) was the fastest bowler in India at that time and when he finished on his follow through, he was almost next to the batsman. I had to face him that day when he was at his peak and his fiercest. He picked up 8 wickets and bundled us out for 100 but I was delighted that day to have withstood his demolition act and scoring 30+ on that (railway) stadium wicket gave me a lot of satisfaction.”

S Balaji played for the Railways through the 1980s and watched Prakash from close quarters through that cricketing phase. He told this writer that ‘SRP’ was a wonderfully talented bloke who sadly could not make the cut and go to the next level. He was a truly classy player and we were involved in several partnerships 

Kalaimani also remembers him as a brilliant fielder “While he was a certainty in our playing XI through that phase, he distinguished himself as a brilliant fielder. He had a special liking for fielding and always fielded in the Cover and Point region. He was well respected by the opposition for his fielding.”

His high point in his fielding achievements came in the final of the inter-collegiate tournament in the early 1970s. AC Tech was chasing just 98 and with Captain R Ravichandran (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/10/r-ravichandran-madras-university.html) back after stitches (he was hit on the thumb by Pachaiappa’s captain Ramanujam), they were on course to lift the trophy. With just a couple of runs to win, Ram Mohan hit the ball to point and almost lifted his bat in a celebratory moment only to find Prakash knocking down the stumps with a direct hit “It was my best fielding moment in cricket. My throw helped us win the tournament and I savour that moment to this day, five decades later.”

IOB's opener Rocko M Sundar has known Prakash since 1972 when they were part of the TNCA colts team  that toured Bombay. He remembers  Prakash as a fine, gritty left hand batsman & an excellent fielder particularly at covers. "He was always on the prowl waiting to run the batsman out. He had been the backbone of the ICF team for quite a long time. With cricket behind him, he is still in the limelight as “catman” & a familiar face in Mylapore."

Like most cricketers of the time, he settled down in his job and his cricket faded away over a period of time. But by now, he had developed a big interest in a completely unrelated field. He was always an animal lover and had great compassion for dogs and cats. His office at ICF was abound with cats.

He recounts as to how it all started in the 1990s “When I went to the Kapali temple, devotees used to stack the entrance of the Murugan Sannidhi with milk for the abhisekam. The thirsty looking cats that were present in good numbers used to keep looking at the milk. I felt saddened at the state of these cats but it also provided me with an inspiration (just in the same way that Sobers inspired his batting and fielding approach) to feed them with quality food.”

From that day, he has been feeding cats at the Kapali temple. In addition, he has also expanded his service to cats to the Navasakthi Pillayar temple at the Luz Junction and at the Nageswara Rao Park. Over the last 25years, he has been feeding around 50 cats each day of the year, rain or sun. The moment he arrives, they all run up to him.

Of course, for years, he has had his detractors at the temple and the park.  This section featured a story last year on a young girl taking care of cats every Pradosham evening (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/12/kapali-temple-pradosham-love-for-cats.html) at the Kapaleeswarar temple. While there are such animal lovers, there are those devotees who think that temple is not the place for cats and feeding cats inside the temple is not the way it should be. That is a call the temple authorities should take.  But like he was at the batting crease in the 1970s and 80s, Prakash is unfazed at the criticism. He was affected by the Pandemic and his BP shoots up high whenever there is this opposition to his feeding either at the temples or at the Nageswara Rao Park, where too the presence (of the cats) has shot up. He says he is taking care of the cats that otherwise don’t find takers within the temple. He spends several thousands of rupees every month feeding these cats at the temples and the park. In addition, he has also had a cat at home for the last 20 years. He says when you shower love on them, they seem to live forever. The Chairman of the Kapali temple, Vijayakumar Reddy, too handed him a cat to take care of and that too resides at his home near Mundaka Kanni Amman Koil.

He enjoyed his cricket on the field for over 20 years and over the last 25years, he has found happiness with a life that has centered around the cats.