The moment you enter our institute grounds, of course you will be greeted by a lush green outfield and a good splattering of kids enjoying the game of cricket. More than anything else you will be greeted by smiling young coaches, one amongst them , yours truly. You will into most occasions bump into an elderly, young simple Gentleman, Ravichandran who also happens to be the founder of our institute and Ashwins father.
My encounter with him was dramatic no less. I was walking away from the institute when I found Ravichandran sir seated on one of the steps, when he enquired about me. I introduced myself. Sudarshan our COO was close by and added a few words. My stupid ignorance gave way at this point of time and I had the gall to know who he was. Sir said the following words. "I am Ravichandran, the founder of this institute" I only felt like kicking myself but also was taken aback by his simplicity. From that time I have always wanted to write a piece on Ravichandran sir and I am very happy that this column of "Straight Drive" will be used for the very purpose. At first when i broached him with the idea about the blog, he said that he would tell me about a fathers side of the story, and then it took a few weeks to get there but in between we have had a few sittings where i could really understand why Ashwin reached where he is currently, only because of a uncompromising parental system that worked wonders in the backend.
For us fans it is always about the Idiot box in front of us, cheering our hero as he takes a couple of hundred wickets but hardly are we aware about the making of our hero and his days of struggle, the pains that the family has gone through and the sacrifice that they have had to make. Ravichandran Sir took me through glimpses of his past and his role in all of it. Not many of us would know that Sir is himself is a foodie and food for him has to be sumptuous. He cannot compromise any shortcomings as far as taste is concerned. Indeed we can call him a perfectionist. He tells me "Karthik come over and I will make you the best possible Masala Dosa." He cannot tolerate to see a person go hungry. Whenever he sees a person in hunger he feeds them with food. Noble Quality of the highest order.
Sir is very concerned that just as parents need to take care of children, the role sort of reverses when the parents grow older. It is the turn of the children to take care of the parents. It pains him no less when it comes to his ears of children abandoning their parents.
We spoke at length about Ashwin and here is where Sir let out his emotions. He told me about how he would tutor Ashwin and help him with his lessons. At a stage when cricket became a important priority in Ashwins life, he would have to miss classes. Sir would go to the class take the note books from other children, have them xeroxed and bring them home for Ashwin to study. Sir would himself study the entire chapter, mark out important sections in the lesson so that Ashwin could focus on the same. Later on in the night when the entire world would be lured into slumber, Sir would ask questions from the lesson, the dutiful son would answer the question correctly. Sir stresses that Ashwin has always cooperated as far as academics is concerned and was always studious as a child.
When it came to Cricket Sir would drop and pick up Ashwin from the ground after the match. In fact he comes to our institute sometimes on the same bike that he would use to drop Ashwin. He continues to maintain the same bike till date. These were the days of struggle. There were occasions when Ashwin would be overlooked despite his talent, and the hard decision would have to be conveyed to him by sir. The youngster was quite mature beyond his years and would quite nonchalantly say "Appa, No problem, lets go home".There were times when people around the family would cast aspertions around how Cricket could make a career, today the same people shower the family with praises. An Emotional Ravichandran Sir told me how life has come a full circle for the entire family. I could myself feel a lump in my throat when he was sharing his experiences.
There is always a word of advice about the finer nuances of the game when a cricketer approaches him for his advice. For those of you who dont know, Sir was a fine medium pacer in his heydays. He has always advocated that academics is as important as Cricket and that both should compliment each other. Sir also stresses on the importance of Parents supporting the child by encouraging the talent in him or her. He also adds that when you send your children for cricket practice or for matches, do sit and watch them play. When the child is at the center, he does crave for attention, he looks up at the galleries to see if someone is watching him, at that moment a gentle wave of the hand works wonders.
Of course our philosophy is about "Creating Tomorrows Cricketing Superstars" but the unsaid silent philosophy that is always at the back of our mind is to create a better human being, which was the intention of our founder Ravichandran sir when he was parenting Ashwin, and that is the exact image that keeps coming to TallboyKarthiks mind each time he meets Ashwin, a genuinely great human being. Hats off to Mrs and Mr Ravichandran for giving to us Ravichandran Ashwin.....
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