It was a Sunday - a bright and sunny Sunday. India was playing a test match against Australia. We had a group of friends who were in love with cricket. We wanted to" watch" the match. There was no TV those days. We however had a willing neighbor who had a huge Murphy radio. All of us would sit around the Murphy radio. There would be about 15 of us of different age groups. The oldest one sat with a A4 size paper and a pen. We would listen to the radio commentary - usually by the likes of Vijaya Merchant. He would describe the scene so well and one could visualize the whole thing as if it was happening right in front of one's eyes. That was the clarity of language and communication!
Mr. Vijaya Merchant would start "This is Vijaya Merchant from Brabourne stadium Bombay; the sky is clear, the batsman is ready, the bowler is looking around at the field placements; 3 slips, 1 gully, 1 mid on , 1 mid off ......" We would draw the field on the A4 paper, mark out the fielder positions, and track the ball as it was being bowled and played. Another boy would be the "score marker". We would indulge in this for 3 hours before lunch and then reassemble after having food in our respective homes. This was a very satisfying experience. Doubts would be cleared by the older boys. Every one got a rich experience of almost "being there". However, this was possible only on Sundays and holidays.
On all days we would assemble in a compound of a government school whose compound wall had fallen down. At the evenings we would play cricket from 5 PM to 7 PM on all days including the days of examination. There boys of various ages would meet and play together. The youngest (between 6 to 9 years) would be only allowed to stand in the periphery and watch. After maybe 1 year, they would be allowed to pick balls crossing the boundary line and then throw it back to the bowler. Boys who were a little older would be allowed to field. Later, batting and bowling would be permitted. The best ones played competition matches. The others stood watching and cheered hoping to play sometime in future. There was no scope for misbehaviour and cheating. The punishment for cheating would be to get thrown out of the peer group which none wanted and therefore everyone obeyed.
Looking back, these things helped us a lot in shaping our personality. We had seniors to look up to and ask for help. 3 of the boys got selected at various IITs for education. Some became engineers. A couple of the boys became doctors. Some became bankers and one boy in particular did exceedingly well and went on to become a director in the bank in which he worked. One person became the correspondent of the Sri Ramakrishna Vidyashala at Mysore and later went on to become the President of the Mysore Ashram which he still is.Many years ago, he did a ground breaking research on cloning of plants from the leaves in a small, ordinary laboratory at Mysore Vidyashala. He would have figured on BBC had he been in UK.
We were unified by the game of Cricket which we grew up with. We had role models among our own friends and peers. They led by example. We had working models of leadership, camaraderie, sharing, give and take, respecting seniors, accepting verdicts and decisions which may not have favored us, losing a game, and above all, fairplay and truthfulness. I remember one episode when a boy threw a stone at another boy who had lied. The boy got hurt in the head by the stone and bled a little. When the parents asked him how it happened, the boy simply said "hit by a lie!" He recovered uneventfully and such a thing never happened again.
Mr. Vijaya Merchant would start "This is Vijaya Merchant from Brabourne stadium Bombay; the sky is clear, the batsman is ready, the bowler is looking around at the field placements; 3 slips, 1 gully, 1 mid on , 1 mid off ......" We would draw the field on the A4 paper, mark out the fielder positions, and track the ball as it was being bowled and played. Another boy would be the "score marker". We would indulge in this for 3 hours before lunch and then reassemble after having food in our respective homes. This was a very satisfying experience. Doubts would be cleared by the older boys. Every one got a rich experience of almost "being there". However, this was possible only on Sundays and holidays.
On all days we would assemble in a compound of a government school whose compound wall had fallen down. At the evenings we would play cricket from 5 PM to 7 PM on all days including the days of examination. There boys of various ages would meet and play together. The youngest (between 6 to 9 years) would be only allowed to stand in the periphery and watch. After maybe 1 year, they would be allowed to pick balls crossing the boundary line and then throw it back to the bowler. Boys who were a little older would be allowed to field. Later, batting and bowling would be permitted. The best ones played competition matches. The others stood watching and cheered hoping to play sometime in future. There was no scope for misbehaviour and cheating. The punishment for cheating would be to get thrown out of the peer group which none wanted and therefore everyone obeyed.
Looking back, these things helped us a lot in shaping our personality. We had seniors to look up to and ask for help. 3 of the boys got selected at various IITs for education. Some became engineers. A couple of the boys became doctors. Some became bankers and one boy in particular did exceedingly well and went on to become a director in the bank in which he worked. One person became the correspondent of the Sri Ramakrishna Vidyashala at Mysore and later went on to become the President of the Mysore Ashram which he still is.Many years ago, he did a ground breaking research on cloning of plants from the leaves in a small, ordinary laboratory at Mysore Vidyashala. He would have figured on BBC had he been in UK.
We were unified by the game of Cricket which we grew up with. We had role models among our own friends and peers. They led by example. We had working models of leadership, camaraderie, sharing, give and take, respecting seniors, accepting verdicts and decisions which may not have favored us, losing a game, and above all, fairplay and truthfulness. I remember one episode when a boy threw a stone at another boy who had lied. The boy got hurt in the head by the stone and bled a little. When the parents asked him how it happened, the boy simply said "hit by a lie!" He recovered uneventfully and such a thing never happened again.
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