Shyam Sundar Mitra: an artist who never compromised

When cricket connoisseurs including Sunil Gavaskar talk of Shyam Sundar Mitra invariably they remember him as the most deserving middle-order batsman who never represented India.  His career ran along the lines of Veda Vyas’ heroic warrior Karna: forever in neglect, but cannot be disregarded for his outstanding merit.

SS, to his friends and foes, did not believe in joining groups; had no desire to have ‘backers’; hated sycophancy. He was his own man: aware of his capabilities and in complete control of himself. Destiny decided that he be neglected and rejected by the mediocrity around him. But again like Karna, SS stood tall and independent on his own merit.

In a sea of corrupt influences, invariably enough, he paid for his uprightness. While Shivalkar and Goel lost out on a Test place because of the looming presence of Bishan Bedi, SS was tripped for a strange reason. A very domineering national selector hailing from Bengal wanted SS to play for his club in Calcutta. But SS preferred to be loyal to Mohun Bagan AC which he adorned with dignity and pride from 1964 to 1974. The price for his integrity was to remain in oblivion forever.

SS graced Bengal and East Zone teams for more than a decade. An aggregate of 3058 at 50.13 from 59 first-class matches is a phenomenal feat on uncovered and spinner-friendly Indian pitches of the 60s and 70s. His 7 centuries included two against the might of Bombay of those days. He had two more against Indian Railways in one match as well.

As if this was not enough, he scored a masterly hundred against the great Vinoo Mankad on a matting wicket at Udaipur. Those who thought he was weak against genuine pace got their answer when he notched 98 against the fiery and fearsome West Indies fast bowler Roy Gilchrist who had sent shivers down the spine of our Test batters.

Exemplary concentration, unruffled temperament, cultured stroke-play and an impregnable defence were the hall marks of his skills. His batsmanship was based on classical lines. He preferred the ‘back and across’ movement at the crease but whenever the opportunity arose he would go half-forward and drive on the up. Like the persona, his bat was always straight. That most difficult of cricket strokes – the on-drive off the back-foot – was his copyright trademark and he accomplished it with rare grace. His batsmanship was a visual delight. Handsome of bearing, the chiselled face topped a lithe physique of 6 feet.

SS had a terrific sense of humour: the dry, cultured wit of PG Wodehouse, whose books he would read on tours. Someone once mocked, “Shyamu, tui boddo kaalo.  (your complexion is very dark).” Instantly he smiled, “So would you be, if you were to bat in the sun for as long as I do.”

His straight face sarcasm we relished. Once he remarked to a batter, who was out off the first ball he faced, “If you keep batting in this way, your bat will last a lifetime!” His dry wit extended to the ground as well. “Two on his shoulders, one on his waist and one on his lap!” was a typical skipper SS’s way of setting the field for two slips, one short leg and one silly-point!

Bapu Nadkarni’s accuracy made batters impatient and invariably they perished trying to hit him across the line. So SS’s prescription was, “Don’t you know that Bapu is non-violent? He does not like violence; so don’t try to hit him!”

My first real look at him was at Mohun Bagan AC, a club I joined at 17 after my ISC exam. He was our captain. It was a delight to see him use the bat as a violin. Melody flowed as he middled the ball. My impressionable mind realized that this man was different, far ahead of any of his contemporaries.

 I became the Ekalavya to his Dronacharya. Tried to pick up the finer points by observing, evaluating and practising. Subconsciously the style became ingrained. One championship-winning partnership with him against Guha and Doshi taught me more about batting than anything that I had learned earlier.

Mohun Bagan lost 5 wickets for 70 odd, when I joined him at the crease. I asked him what I should do? He replied, “Use the bat to survive.” I again asked, “But there is a crisis. Any instruction?”

He furrowed his eyes, “What crisis? If others fail, that’s not your problem. Can you take the responsibility of all other batters? If you are not good enough, you will also get out. That’s it. Arre, baba, think of yourself first. If you score runs, those runs will be added to the team’s total.”

I reckon SS never took a fancy to me when we were together in Mohun Bagan for about 3 years. Not that he criticized me, but he would never praise. Nothing I did seemed to satisfy him. He seemed to have no time for others. Probably his approach was the correct approach. Why would he come forward with suggestions, when not asked?

Years later, after I got a match-winning 99 against Kapil Dev and Rajinder Goel at Eden Gardens, SS – at the time a Bengal selector – wryly smiled, “Ah! Captain, I see you have got the right role-model. I quite like the style.” That was enough for me. High praise from a man who was unaware that he was my batting idol ever since I first saw him bat.

Yes, Shyamuda, you were my role-model. God has taken you to a better place.

 

 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!

                                                                                 

 

Kailash Gattani: a pioneer mentor of cricketers

His name is not in the record books. His name did not make the headlines. He did not fish around for compliments. He never stayed close to power-centres. Never received any official awards or accolades. Our Kailash, like Mount Kailash, forever retained a dignified presence.

Kailash Gattani was destined to remain behind the screen and guide others to stardom. Now in retirement, in his heydays too the man was a primal force to help others achieve and fulfill their dreams.

Consistent in his performance at the first-class level for Rajasthan for nearly two decades, many thought that he would become an international cricketer. However, no call ever came to Gattani from the national selectors.

 While many would have left any association with the game in sheer frustration, the social worker in Kailash brought his misfortune to a positive end. He stayed on with his favourite passion and served cricket with full sincerity and integrity.

He conceived of a plan to help young Indian cricketers to thrive and prosper. Kailash decided that he would give exposure in foreign lands to unknown, young Indian cricket talents by taking them abroad. He himself was a beneficiary when he had led the Indian Schoolboys team to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1963-64 under BCCI’s junior tours programme.

While playing for Kent 2^nd XI he had developed important contacts in UK. With their assistance, he meticulously organized the trips for more than a decade giving rare opportunities to young talents from all over the sub-continent. Star CC would play matches up and down the British Isles in about 25 days at top-quality venues against strong oppositions. Many of the promising players graduated to international cricket and almost all of them achieved first-class status at cricket.

Outstanding cricket patrons like Bhupindrasingh Patiala, Berry Sarbadhikari, Vijay Anand Vizzy and Maan Singh would also organize unofficial tours earlier. All these private cricket teams had established players with a sprinkling of youngsters. But with Kailash Gattani the teams were exclusively for under-19 year olds. This novel concept gave Indian cricket a most distinguished service. The example of Sachin Tendulkar is a case in point. Even before Tendulkar embarked on his international career, he already had the experience of overseas exposure. All this was because of one man’s ingenuity.

 In 1988-89 while involved with India veterans’ matches against Majid Jahangir’s Pakistan, Kailash and I shared hotel rooms. One day he asked me to suggest a few names from among the under-19 east zone talents. That year all-rounder Sourav Ganguly and wicket-keeper Sanjoy Das had done exceptionally well in the under-19 national championship. Accordingly I mentioned their names.

 Next day he had the invitation papers for the two boys ready and requested me to hand it over to them personally at Calcutta on my return. I was indeed pleasantly surprised by his efficiency and his positive spirit. He had not seen them but he selected them without any hesitation entirely on my suggestion. That’s the kind of confidence he reposed in me. There and then I realized that he was a selfless soul without the slightest of silly pretensions.

Kailash never stooped to authority to ‘curry’ favours. Never bothered about media publicity. Cricket enthusiasts came forward on their own to help his team with funds. Even modest amounts and help-in-kind for the young were welcomed by Kailash. I happen to know two of them, Pranay Mondkar and Saktibrata Ratan Dutta. Both deserve my salutes for helping unknown, young talents.

He remains a magnificent example of a man who can turn his own misfortunes to help others fulfil their dreams. A rare individual in any sphere of life. I am proud to call him my friend.

Kailash Gattani is one of the great contributors to Indian cricket. A mentor of many; a role model for many more. May his spirit of selfless service survive in Indian cricket.

 

Miracle at Eden that changed a British tradition

Three Indian cricketers got together to change a British tradition. We are all aware that the Britons are a conservative people, who take great pride in their age-old customs. They are extremely proud of their heritage and their traditional practices.

 But an event that occurred thousands of miles away helped to change the Brits of a practice that remained active for more than 100 years! VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh were involved with a miracle in a Test match in 2001 at Eden Gardens.

Following-on, India raced to a decent total and had the Aussies in all sorts of problems as they collapsed on the last day. The victory from imminent defeat by a team after following-on was only the 3^rd instance in the annals of Test cricket since the first Test match in 1877 at Melbourne between Australia and England.

The 1^st instance was in 1894-95 when England captain Andrew Stoddart’s team defeated Australia at Sydney after being asked to bat again. The 2^nd occasion was in 1981 when Mike Brearley’s team had the measure of the Australians at Leeds.

Thankfully neither captain Stoddart nor captain Brearley claimed any undue personal credit for the miraculous victories. They were magnanimous enough to give credit to the principal architects as well as to mention the secondary roles played by the other members of the winning team.

My readers, of course, do remember every detail of that stupendous victory which just celebrated its silver jubilee early this year. Yes, 25 years ago at Eden that miracle of a Test match left behind a whole lot of memories. Even books have been published to highlight the Test victory. Very deservingly so. Ironically a very vital issue related to the Test has been completely ignored in our own country.

Our media hardly realized that that particular victory changed the course of a British tradition of more than 100 years! Britons are a highly conservative people and rightfully take great pride in their traditions and heritage. To alter their own practice reveals the exceptional respect they have for the event and also their liberal views in the face of reason.

The point I am trying to highlight is about Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, an annual that has been in existence since 1864 and is considered to be the ultimate reference book by all cricket lovers all over the globe. Some even call Wisden, ‘The Bible of Cricket’ such is the reverence for the reference annual.

In every edition Wisden chooses 5 ‘Cricketers of the Year’ from those cricketers who performed in England the previous season. For instance Wisden 1984 selected 5 prominent cricketers who played on British soil in 1983.

But the copy of Wisden 2002 had VVS Laxman as one of the 5 ‘Cricketers of the Year’. This was extremely strange indeed. For Laxman did not play in England at all in 2001. How and why did he figure in Wisden 2002?

The Wisden’s editor of 2002 Graeme Wright was magnanimous and knowledgeable enough to make an exception and had VVS Laxman as one the 5 picks. This was certainly at odds with a very old British tradition.

But it also goes to show how much of respect Laxman received from very knowledgeable quarters. Let Graeme Wright take over, ”…Initially his mission seemed impossible; after a while it had become unbelievable…Despite the tradition that Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year have played in England during the year under review, Laxman immediately became an exception.”

This particular incident happened to be a great contribution of that Test match. The unique victory altered a British tradition. VVS was certainly the chief architect of that miraculous victory with Dravid and Harbhajan in wonderful support.

In India, the artistic genius Laxman’s magnificent prowess has never been properly acknowledged. His superlative performances have attracted only cursory glances as the publicity machinery concentrated on players who did not deserve half as much. That’s the actual culture of Indian sport…