On  Polly Umrigar: my idol in cricket

 

Polly Umrigar was the chief architect who laid the stolid foundation of modern Indian cricket. He had time for every cricketer from the junior-most trainee to the senior-most former player. Nothing in Indian cricket was beyond his knowledge and extreme involvement.              

 

Former Test cricketers have been remarkably unsuccessful as cricket administrators. Only a handful has left behind any worthwhile contribution. Most former cricketers-turned administrators generally fell prey to the machination of the officials they replaced. Transparency, visionary approach, cricketers’ welfare, youth programmes were anathema to them. They merely carried out the age-old policies of their short-sighted predecessors.

 

There were some glorious exceptions, though. But none more convincing than the magnanimous visionary Polly Umrigar. As the BCCI secretary, closeted in his small office at an obscure corner of CCI’s Brabourne Stadium, he thought big, really big. As a serious student of cricket, he was the ultimate servant of the game. To use a cliché, he slept, ate and drank cricket.

 

No, he did not stop at that. It was not oxygen but cricket that he drew in with every breath. What came out from him was all-embracing wisdom: youth coaching camps around the country, national cricket academies training of coaches and umpires, improvements in travel and accommodation for youth teams, awards for different age-groups, efforts to promote cricket in north-east India, welfare schemes for former cricketers.

 

Today when former Test and first-class cricketers are enjoying the benefits of the BCCI pension scheme, little do they realize that the man who made it possible was Polly Umrigar with active assistance from Raj Singh Dungarpur, a former first-class cricketer himself. It is my great fortune that both Polly-kaka and Raj-bhai had imposed a lot of faith in me as they meddled around with the modalities of the intended pension scheme in the 1990s.

 

In the mid-1990s when Polly Umrigar was firmly in the BCCI secretary’s saddle, he conceived the idea of providing pension to former cricketers. He had all the papers and files ready with the budgets, eligibility criteria, mode of payment and other formalities for the BCCI top administrators to see and sign. When I raised an issue concerning cricketers’ widows, Raj Bhai joked, “Raju, does not have me in mind!” (As all are aware, Raj-bhai and his lady-love Lataji never got to marry).

 

The BCCI administrators took eight long years to come to terms to assist people who had helped the country’s cricket to prosper. This too came about with the arrival of Sharad Pawar at the helm. Thankfully BCCI’s full-time administrator, the brilliant Professor Shetty was near at hand to show Pawar, the new BCCI president, the documents that Polly Umrigar had so lovingly prepared and preserved.

 

Unfortunately Polly Umrigar’s magnanimous approach to assist former cricketers was never highlighted in India. Even BCCI presidents, who had kept the files under wraps since the mid-1990s, took credit and shelved the name of the genuine creator from the media and the people. Today every former cricketer should take time to say a short prayer for the soul who made so many families happy. I knew I did not make a mistake in identifying my all-time hero. 

 

No schoolboy fiction was ever conceived without the wide shoulders, the clear-cut features and the booming voice which went on to make the hero’s personality. We had come to believe that such qualities were found only in story books. But in Polly Umrigar’s story, it was no fiction. It was as authentic as the city of Mumbai which had nurtured and nourished him.

 

Christened Pahlan Rattanji Umrigar, the man was a larger than life persona. The imposing frame sheltered a heart still bigger. Never, not even once, did those massive shoulders stoop. Rather, those were strong enough to perpetually carry his peers. His magnanimous presence captivated all and sundry.

 

As a child I had often seen him playing the dour role of saving India from embarrassment. But the first distinct impression that remains was that of a leader harnessing his men to victory. The year was 1961-62; the venue, Eden Gardens and the opposition Ted Dexter’s England (then MCC). Polly Umrigar was not the appointed captain. But in skipper Nari Contractor’s absence, he introduced Ramakant Desai from the High Court end and brought about the downfall of the prolific Ken Barrington. Eden’s hero Desai bounced, Barrington hooked and another Eden hero Durani, at square leg, made the difficult catch look easy.

 

That masterpiece of tactics had the floodgates open and England collapsed giving India her first-ever Test match victory at Eden Gardens. As the dignified figure of Polly Umrigar receded into the pavilion, he walked into the pantheons of cricket history. Never before or after has a deputy captain made such an inspiring move to liven up an almost dead Test match.

 

Later I met him in 1976 when he was a national selector. During the course of the Eden Gardens Test match, he and colleagues wanted to have a look at the Test prospects from East Zone. Very hastily a net session was organized. All the national selectors, except the eastern region representative, turned up as did the potential players. But none bothered to prepare the pitch for the net session to take place!

 

Another selector Kisan Rungta was furious at the callousness of the local cricket administration. Polly Umrigar was shocked and sympathized, “Hope you boys are more fortunate next time.” Later as the BCCI secretary, he took every possible step for the promotion of youth cricket so that no cricket talent would be lost through carelessness. This is the kind of care he took for junior players.

 

After my cricketing days were over, I kept in touch with Polly Kaka. I would write to him very often with proposals and suggestions. Not once did he express any botheration. On the contrary he would write back words of encouragement and discuss cricket issues, which included the pension scheme for former cricketers.

                                                                    

Sir Garfield Sobers was undoubtedly the greatest of all-rounders. He was a rare 3-in-1 all-rounder; a person capable of bowling pace and spin as well as batting. But was he the first of the 3-in-1s? Surely not. That credit, arguably, may be conferred on Polly Umrigar, the most underrated of our sporting heroes. About his batting and off-spinning abilities legends abound, but his medium paced out-swingers and off-cutters did not receive the recognition those deserved.

 

At a time when India did not possess top-class pace bowlers, we had to rely on the incisive medium pacers of this burly all-rounder from Mumbai. Hardly ever he disappointed. On the matting wicket of Bahawalpur in 1954-55 against Pakistan he enjoyed his best spell with the new ball: 58-25-74-6.

 

No Indian cricket addict has quite been able to shed the pangs of recrimination at the way Umrigar was treated by the national selectors and the media. He was a natural leader of men. A man of dominating presence and astute thinking. At the same time, understanding and considerate. He was not the kind to create a halo of impregnability around himself to unnerve the uninitiated. Nor would he have a permanent nod for the powers-that-be. He belonged to neither group and invariably suffered the consequences. For his uncompromising posture, he was our hero.

 

Against Harry Cave’s New Zealand in 1955-56, Umrigar’s India won the series two nil. Next winter he went about consolidating the team as the nucleus was rapidly ageing. But constant changing and chopping did not help to cement the team’s morale against Ian Johnson’s Australia as the series was lost.  But the imposing personality never stooped not even against the marauding West Indies, who had the blistering pace of Wesley Hall and Roy Gilchrist and the genius of Rohan Kanhai and Garfield Sobers. The team, under Umrigar’s leadership, brought off an honorable draw in the first Test at Bombay but the strength of the opposition created an inferiority complex among the players.

 

Umrigar realized the problem soon enough and requested the selectors for a few changes. He wanted courageous men who would fight till the end even for a lost cause. But the selectors refused to yield and Polly Umrigar, the man of high principles, relinquished the captaincy. No Indian captain before or since has shown such sterling qualities of character.

 

However to his eternal credit he never bore grudges nor did he brood himself to frustration. Happily he co-operated with every new captain who replaced him and led India: Ghulam Ahmed, Vinoo Mankad, Hemu Adhikari, DK Gaekwad, Pankaj Roy, GS Ramchand and Nari Contractor.

 

He even willingly served under Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, 15 years his junior, and wholeheartedly supported the young captain in West Indies in 1962. In Pataudi’s Tiger’s Tale’, the unhesitating help of Polly Umrigar has been mentioned. Umrigar played under various captains of very average ability but not once did he show any rancour nor did he ever try to scheme to get his captaincy crown back

 

A grave injustice was done to him by a flippant remark which went on to become an international headline. He had a dismal series in England in 1952. To compound matters it was said that he had backed away from the express deliveries of Freddie Trueman. If that was true then so were many eminent names in international cricket. Did not the Australians fall in a heap against Peter Pollock in South Africa in 1970? Did not the Englishmen draw away from Lillee and Thompson in Australia? There are numerous similar examples. Why was Umrigar singled out?

 

But the fact remains that he went back to England in 1959 and collared Trueman and Harold Rhodes and smashed an innings of 118 at Old Trafford. He took on the mighty Wes Hall in his own backyard with an unbeaten innings of 172. Where were those who had derided the callow youth on his first tour in 1952? He was never media savvy and never cared about what the uninitiated thought of him.

 

Against Fazal Mahmood’s men he had his most successful series ever. He reeled off 3 centuries in 5 Tests. No matter the opposition, no matter the conditions, Umrigar was a man for all seasons. When he retired in 1962 he had a fantastic average of 42.22 with 3631 runs including 12 centuries.

 

As a bowler he never got his due. Overshadowed by the presence of Vinoo Mankad, Ghulam Ahmed and Subhash Gupte, he was always considered to be a second fiddle. Yet when the Aussies capsized against Jasu Patel at Kanpur in 1959, it was Polly Umrigar’s 4 vital wickets, including those Neil Harvey and Norman O’Neil that hastened the disaster. As a fieldsman he was of the top bracket, whether close to or far from the wicket. A safe pair of hands, an unerring throw and an impeccable anticipation was his hallmark.

 

After retirement from active cricket, he was still more active in the service of the game. As coach, manager, administrator he left behind his mark in every sphere and was highly respected by all those who came in contact with him. Deep knowledge and a broad mind gave him a wider vision than usual. Remarkably open to views he would take suggestions even from laymen. Very diligently he studied and then made his recommendations to BCCI. It was primarily because of his initiative that former players, both Test and first-class, are receiving pension from BCCI in recognition of their services to Indian cricket.

 

The modesty of the man was profound. Once I met him at Sunil Banerjee’s place in Calcutta. Polly-kaka had read a piece of mine on him in Sportsworld and thanked me profusely, “Raju, that article of yours pleasantly surprised my family. They thought no one remembered me any more. Next time you come to Mumbai you must have a cup of tea with us.” With his demise, I have lost the man whom I respected the most in Indian cricket.

 

Polly Umrigar’s retirement from cricket as an active player had a unique ring about it. After scores of 56,172 not out, 32 and 60 against Hall, Sobers and Gibbs in 1962 when India was black-washed five-love, Umrigar stood stall and fearless as usual.

 

The great persona decided that he had had enough. People were aghast. They kept asking, “Why?” Polly Umrigar’s classic reply was, “Better now when they are asking ‘why’ than later when they would be asking ‘why not’. Indeed, indeed. What a lesson from a champion sportsman. His action taught us what character was; what wisdom meant.

 

He was without any semblance of doubt the chief architect of modern Indian cricket. From the day of his Test debut at Brabourne Stadium in 1948-49, he stood tall and surveyed the proceedings of Indian cricket in a manner no one had done before or since. His sterling qualities, his visionary approach, his magnanimity are unparalleled. He bridged the pre-War era with the post-independent India as a statesman. On behalf of all Indian cricketers I bow down to him in eternal pranam.

 

 

Monohar Aich & BJP

Monohar Aich was among the first sportspersons in India to join a political party. Sportspeople devoting time to political ideologies were almost unheard of in the 1990s. Tiger Pataudi and Palvankar Baloo were exceptions.

 In the 1991 general elections in India, actor Victor Banerjee was a BJP candidate for the parliament from Calcutta north-west constituency. Champion body-builder Monohar Aich, winner of Mr Universe title in US, joined BJP and was at the dais during campaigns.

With his world-wide experience, he harped on the issues of ‘one nation; one law’ (as is normal in almost all countries) and the Kashmir problem (Sec 370). The themes in India were of course originally conceived by Syama Prasad Mookerjee (Bharatiya Jan Sangh) and later advocated by his secretary Atal Behari Vajpayee (Bharatiya Janata Party).

At an election campaign in 1991 when the prominent BJP leader Tapan Sikdar was told that Monohar Aich would be one of the speakers, he politely asked who the gentleman was. One man told him, “Tapanda, ooni amader Pocket Hercules.” Parliamentarian Sikdar was taken aback but instantly recovered, “Great news. My boyhood hero. Sorry, I had forgotten his actual name!”

Sorry we are going ahead of the actual sequence of events.

In 1951 when Monotosh Roy returned from USA with the ‘Mr Universe’ title, the Indians were aghast. No one could visualize that an Indian was capable enough to compete with the world’s best and become a world champion at an international body-building contest.

Thankfully Amrita Bazar Patrika of Calcutta – a newspaper involved with the nationalist movement in the pre-independence days – highlighted the news item to show that the Indians were in no way inferior to any other nationality in the world in any endeavour. Independent India actually had a world champion among us in an individual event.

The Olympic hockey gold medal we were used to, but a world champion in an individual contest, especially body-building, was beyond belief. Born in 1916 Monotosh Roy spent a life in total devotion to his worship of the physical self. He knew and preached that a healthy body meant a healthy mind. He was a trail-blazer as a coach to numerous Indian body-builders.

***

 In the following year in 1952 another man from Calcutta, Monohar Aich created a sensation in US. He walked away with the ‘Mr Universe’ title with ease. Extrovert and demonstrative, he held the audience in awe.

Monohar Aich was just under 5 feet in height. Initially the judges were not too impressed because of his height. But when he began to display the supple movements of his muscles, the crowd went into raptures. The judges were unanimous in granting him the title.

The media in United States began to call him ‘Pocket Hercules’. The name stuck and even today people identify him more by his nickname than by his actual name of Monohar Aich. One really cannot blame Tapan Sikdar!

Monohar Aich continued with his worship of ‘body-culture’. Observing his dedication, hundreds of young men began to congregate at gymnasiums. A distinct culture of ‘body beautiful’ emerged.  Monohar Aich maintained his amazing body till his last breath in 2016 at the age of 104.  Hundreds of his disciples as well as his numerous admirers mourned his departure.  

Both Monotosh Roy and Monohar Aich were not recognized by the Government of India for their exemplary service to the nation. Both gave a distinct respectability to the culture of body-building in India by winning the world crown. But their contribution went unheralded. We seemed to have had no time or inclination to honour our genuine world champions.

The stories of Indian champions should be in the text books of children. Only then we shall be able to spread the sports culture to every nook and corner of the country. High time we highlighted our sports heritage.

In the picture Monohar Aich is in the company of Vishnukant Shastri, myself, Sukumar Banerjee (then president of Bengal BJP) and Tapan Sikdar while campaigning for Victor Banerjee at Netaji Indoor Stadium in 1991.

 

 Syama Prasad Mookerjee and West Bengal Day

20^th June is a very significant date for the residents of West Bengal. On that day in 1947 a resolution was passed in the then Bengal assembly that the western part of Bengal would remain a part of independent India.

Prior to this day, a meeting was held in early April at the temple town of Tarakeshwar by the Bangiya Hindu Mahasabha. The leader was the educationist-social worker turned politician Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

My grandfather Amulya Ratan Mukherji – a distant cousin of Syama Prasad and an active member of Bangiya Hindu Mahasabha – attended the meeting at the Shaiva-teertha and remembered the historic date till his last breath.

That particular conference helped to mobilize public awareness among the Hindu population in Bengal and finally led to the creation of the State of West Bengal. Without the great role of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, there would not have been any West Bengal on the India map today.

Initially Syama Prasad was against the partition of Bengal from the Union of India. Despite his best and tireless efforts, when Syama found that the partition of India was almost confirmed and that the entire State of Bengal would become a part of the new nation of Pakistan, he was at his eloquent and energetic best.

Full of logic and courage, analysis and authority, he declared that if Bengal would have to be divided then the Hindu-dominated parts of Bengal should also have their rightful due. Thankfully the majority of the political personalities involved concurred with him. Thus the State of Bengal was truncated into West Bengal and East Pakistan.

Without him there would not have been any West Bengal at all. Syama Prasad’s idea of West Bengal was not only for Hindus: it was open to all religions as well as to atheists and agnostics. It was not only for the Bengali-speaking population: it welcomed all communities and faiths who wished to make Bengal their home. This was the vital contribution of this exemplary visionary.

In the late 1930s Syama Prasad Mookerjee joined Hindu Mahasabha who were fighting for the Hindu majority of the population in the country. Later he formed his own political party Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the forerunner to the BJP. His personal secretary Atal Bihari Vajpayee always admitted that he learnt political etiquette, ideology and administration at the feet of his guru, Syama Prasad.

My Dadu always maintained, “Syama would never say ‘Jan Sangh’. His booming voice would always say with pride ‘Bharatiya Jan Sangh’. He was that kind of a patriot. For him the word BHARATIYA symbolized national unity. Great soul.”

 Cricket followers may be reminded that Syama Prasad was among the first to raise his voice against inter-community cricket championships in India, which was ultimately banned in 1946. It began in 1892. For him the inter-religious faith competition went against the basic concept of national ethos.

This year – thanks to the political progeny of Syama Prasad – on Saturday the 20^th of June the birthday of West Bengal will be officially acknowledged for the first time. It took us 79 years to celebrate our own birthday!

                                                                                 

 

Syama Prasad Mookerjee: Selfless, Patriotic, Visionary

Did he have any interest in sport? He did. Never wrote on sport but the visionary in him made a startling observation on cricket. I heard from my paternal grandfather Amulya Ratan Mukherji, “As early as 1930s Syama confided in us that the inter-community cricket tournaments fuel friction and divisive tendencies and so should be stopped immediately.” Later with MK Gandhi’s intervention the Pentangular inter-community cricket tournament was stopped in the mid-1940s. But rather too late:  by then the partition was a mere formality.

Thankfully the inter-community cricket tournament was banned and the inter-State Ranji Trophy championship became the most prominent cricket championship in the country.

Syama Prasad’s family members never used his name for personal glory unlike the family members of his political adversaries. Syama Prasad himself never took advantage of his father’s name and credentials. The Mookerjees of Sir Asutosh’s family were at the helm of their respective professions through individual merit. My paternal grandfather was his distant cousin. ARM was 5 years senior to SPM and was very close to his elder brother Rama Prasad, a legal luminary, who was of Dadu’s age.

First-class first in graduation. Repeat first-class first in post-graduation. Vice-chancellor of Calcutta University at 33. Forget politicians, wonder how many exceptional scholars anywhere in the world have achieved such exalted academic status so early in life.

Law studies at Calcutta followed by qualifying for the Bar in UK courts. But law was not his main interest. He went abroad primarily to study the functioning of academic education in UK. Although a die-hard patriot, Syama Prasad Mookerjee had the vision to realize that to succeed in the international arena Indians must be exposed to western education, particularly in technology, science and research.

This approach was unique indeed. Most wealthy Indians would go abroad for higher studies to further their own careers. But young Syama was different. He wanted the best of western education to be made available to all keen Indians here in India. This all-inclusive approach makes him an extraordinary personality.

Syama Prasad’s selfless attitude was the principal difference between him and all his adversaries in the Indian political scenario. Syama was stunned by the self-centred nature of political parties of various hues in the sub-continent. Unity was the last issue they had in mind in resistance to the ruling colonial power. Communal ideas, ‘class’ prejudice and provincial bias seemed to be their main concern. He decided that he would get into politics and fight the problems from within the political domain.

He was quick to realize that the colonial power was determined to drive a wedge between the two most prominent communities. He made desperate attempts to make the prominent leaders of all factions in the Indian political scenario to see reason: We must all unite and not let our country be partitioned. But our leaders had different agendas. So ambitious were they that they could not see beyond themselves. For our leaders the appeasement to one particular community overshadowed all reasonable arguments.

 In 1942 the Bengal Famine – artificially created by the colonial power – made SPM dive into social service on a scale rarely seen in India. He came under the influence of Swami Pranavananda, whose Bharat Sevashram Sangha devoted time and attention to the millions of refugees who came to the western part of Bengal to escape the tyranny unleashed on them.

Despite his best and tireless efforts, when Syama found that the partition of India was almost confirmed and that the whole of Bengal would become a part of the new nation of Pakistan, he was at his eloquent and energetic best. Full of logic and analysis he showed the Brits as well as the major political parties that if Bengal would have to be divided then the Hindu-dominated parts of Bengal should have their rightful due. Reluctantly, all the others had to agree that his points were absolutely to the point. Thus Bengal was truncated into West Bengal and East Pakistan.

Without the magnificent presence of Syama Prasad Mookerjee there would have been no State of Bengal on the India map. According to his biographers Anirban Ganguly and Avadhesh Kumar Singh, “It was his forceful leadership and intervention that saved a part of Bengal and the historic and strategically important city of Calcutta from going to the Muslim League-ruled Pakistan. This was arguably the greatest achievement of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee’ life.”

Without him there would not have been West Bengal at all. Syama Prasad’s Bengal was not only for Hindus: it was open to all religions as well as atheists and agnostics. It was not only for the Bengali-speaking population: it welcomed all those who wished to make Bengal their home. This was the vital contribution of this exemplary visionary. I know because my Maharashtrian in-laws while fleeing from riot-torn Lahore, settled down at Calcutta most willingly. Thank God they did!

In the late 1930s Syama Prasad Mookerjee joined Hindu Mahasabha because they were  fighting for the majority of the population in the country. It was obviously not Syama’s fault that the majority of the population in the sub-continent was of Hindu faith and that the land was known as Hindusthan. The Hindu majority population desperately needed a leader and Syama Prasad was the unanimous answer.

Patriots as diverse as Veer Savarkar and Mohandas Gandhi welcomed his presence at Hindu Mahasabha. By 1948 he resigned on a point of principle and formed his own political party Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the forerunner to the BJP. His personal secretary Atal Bihari Vajpayee always admitted that he learnt political etiquette, ideology and administration at the feet of his guru, Syama Prasad.

My Dadu always maintained, “Syama would never say ‘Jan Sangh’. His booming voice would always say with pride ‘Bharatiya Jan Sangh’. He was that kind of a perfectionist. For him the word BHARATIYA symbolized national unity. Great soul.”

Initially in 1947 he was a vital part of independent India’s first cabinet and was given the most important ministry of industries and supplies. In 1952 as a member of his own party – Bharatiya Jan Sangh – he was in the cabinet, again with the industry portfolio. Almost overnight corporations like Hindusthan Aeronautics Ltd, Damodar Valley Corporation, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Sindhri Fertilizer Plant, among numerous others, came up. In just two years he concentrated on both private and public sectors and gave India the much needed industrial infrastructure for self-sufficiency that the nation required at the time.

Here it may be of interest to know that Syama did not study at the prominent missionary schools of Calcutta. He preferred the Bengali-medium Mitra Institution, which was close to his family residence at Bhabanipur. His major subject in Presidency College and Calcutta University would surprise every reader. It was, believe it or not, Bengali. Yes, Bengali. Amazing love and respect for the motherland by an academic topper.

In 1953 his gruesome death in Srinagar at just 52 is too well documented for further elaboration. Suffice is to mention that he went into Kashmir (an Indian territory), was jailed in solitary confinement (without medication) and finally God took him away. No enquiry was ever conducted!

Syama’s mother’s fervent request to the then PM for a proper enquiry was not attended to. A cabinet minister died under mysterious circumstances and no enquiry was held!

Syama Prasad’s fault was his rational, unbiased ideology:  India is One Nation, no individual State should receive favoured treatment; and that a common civil code should exist for all Indians of whatever faith.

That’s Syama Prasad Mookerjee in a nut-shell: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high… “

 

Bande Mataram & Cricket

Bande Mataram is in the news. Cricket always is. The twain – the highly inspiring ode and the crazy game – once did meet and cause an everlasting flutter. British Raj’s favourite sport had a very deep influence on Bharat Mata’s national song. Amazing, yes; but true.

In the early 1870s Bankim-babu was a highly placed government official as the Deputy Magistrate of Brahmapur (Baharampur) in Bengal. On 15 December, 1873, a drama unfolded which was to have wide-reaching influence on India’s nationalist movement. The Indian DM was seated inside an enclosed palanquin as the vessel-carriers took a short-cut through a field in the then cantonment area where some Britons were playing cricket.

One British player, Colonel Duffin by name, was so furious at the intrusion of the palanquin on the field that he vigorously pushed the passenger in full view of the players and spectators. Bankim Chattopadhyay was not a man to take an injustice lying down. He approached the court with a charge of assault. Although the British judge realized the crime committed, he did not want to punish his countryman. Instead he requested Bankim-babu to withdraw the allegation and settle the dispute through mediation.

Highly principled Bankim Chattopadhyay agreed on one condition that Duffin would apologize in full view of the hundreds of Indians who had gathered at the hearing. To save himself from a prison sentence, Duffin had no other option. He shook Bankim-babu’s hand saying, “With the same hand now I extend my sincere apologies to you, Sir.”  The multitude went into raptures.

The field known as Barrack Square or Parade Ground still exists. In 2007 the place was recognized as a heritage venue. In 1993 the Bengal-Assam Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy cricket match was held on this ground. I happened to be the Bengal coach.

Even as a government administrator, Bankim-babu was always a social activist of the highest order. Moreover he was an exceptional writer and edited a magazine named Bongo Darpan. Most of his essays reflected his own wide experience of people and places; issues and incidents. This particular incident left an indelible mark on the multi-dimensional personality. He began to write against the British Raj more often and with more venom to inspire generation of freedom fighters.

One day the magazine Bongo Darpan required some more written material to fill space. The working editor asked for an article and BC promised to write one that very day. In the meantime the working editor saw a poem on a piece of paper lying on the Bankim-babu’s desk. Promptly he read the piece and mentioned that the poem was good enough for the moment.

Immediately Bankim-babu took away the piece of paper and told him not to worry at all. The genius concluded by saying that after his death the patriotic Indians would learn to appreciate the sentiment involved in the poem, where Sanskrit and Bengali were beautifully twined.

What a prophecy it turned out to be. The awe-inspiring words “Bande Mataram” became the clarion call of thousands of Indian freedom fighters around the country. The lyrics were an ode to his Motherland. In 1882 Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay included the poem in his book Ananda Math, a novel based on the Sannyasi Movement in India against the British crown.

To me Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay will always remain a Rishi in the most appropriate sense of the term. His immortal ode Bande Mataram would probably have materialized anyway, but the strange encounter with cricket surely had a highly catalytic moment.