WHEN CRICKET BRINGS FOOD TO THE TABLE

One fine morning in April, after the Summer Slam coaching sessions had gotten underway, in walked into our ground a journalist from a leading national daily. What followed were interactions with our head coach Mr. Srinivasan and our COO, Mr. Sudarshan. Today, about three months later, the insights from the interactions have gone into a book titled Cricket Soru Poduma? authored by Bagawati Prasad, senior correspondent at The Times of India in Chennai. The book was launched on the evening of July 19 in Mylapore by a host of eminent cricket personalities.

Before we dwell into the specifics of the book launch event and the book itself, let us analyse, for a moment, the larger context of the game of cricket. Have you ever wondered what is it that makes a cricket match or a tournament successful? What goes behind the scenes to make the match a roaring success? Behind every cricket match is a whole gamut of activities executed by a team of people working in clockwork precision to deliver a world class experience at every level, be it a school level tournament organized by the state cricket association in a city ground or an Ashes Test match in a high-profile Melbourne Cricket Ground. The book profiles 22 such people who have been involved both directly and indirectly to deliver world class cricket experience at all levels.

The book officially launched
Photo courtesy : Srinivasan Venkatachalam

Back to the book launch event, it was graced by Mr. Dav Whatmore, present coach of the Kerala state team and former international coach, Mr. L. Sivaramakrishnan (popularly known as LS), commentator and former Indian cricketer, Mr. V.V Kumar, former India cricketer and Mr. Kasi Viswanathan, former secretary, Tamilnadu Cricket Association. Speaking first, Mr. Whatmore expressed his regret at not being able to read Tamil but he promised he would be the first to hit the stores if an English translated version comes out. Among others, LS narrated anecdotes about how video analysis helped India beat Australia in Australia in 2003-04, Mr. Kumar spoke on harnessing talent in the right manner and Mr. Viswanathan described the constant support the state association was rendering to the game. Finally the author, Mr. Prasad himself, described his experience of penning the book by drawing from his work experience of having interacted with a multitude of people from the world of cricket. Later our head coach was called up on stage, along with Mr. Ramki (cricket data analyst) to hand over a memento to LS.

From left : Mr. Ramki, Mr. Sivaramakrishnan and Mr. Srinivasan
Photo credit : Mahesh Ramesh

We in Gen-Next have every reason to cheer the book since it profiles our COO and our head coach in exclusive chapters. The former’s chapter profiles his journey from a software professional to cricket academy manager, about the power of using social media to promote oneself. The chapter on Srinivasan sir describes his journey from his early days in suburban Tambaram where he coached young kids until he moved on to take up full-time coaching responsibilities with GenNext. To make things sweeter, there is a chapter on Mr. V. Balaji, manager of our chief mentor Ashwin. But topping it all, the icing on the cake, is the book’s foreword, penned by none other than our chief mentor himself.

Photo courtesy : Bagawati Prasad

The event concluded with a photo-op of the personalities, profiled in the book, with the chief guests and the author. 

Standing : Mr. Srinivasan (third from right) and Mr. Sudarshan (partly hidden)
Photo courtesy : Srinivasan Venkatachalam

The title of the book translates into ‘Will cricket feed you?’ This is a common question asked by a majority of Indian parents when their sons aspire to become professional cricketers. The answer to this is a resounding YES ! Read the book to learn about more interesting personalities like video analyst, scorer, umpire, cobbler (yes, you read that right), throw-down specialist and lots more. Available in Amazon here. Happy Reading !

Happy BirthDay Ravichandran Uncle

Its been quite awhile since I tapped on my favourite keyboard, but thanks to Facebook, I was blessed with an opportunity to do what I like best, blogging. A match does beckon me to the screen. Today happens to be the final ODI-India Vs West Indies, however that does not distract me as much as the job at hand.

As I was glancing through the social media pages, I became aware that today happens to be Ravichandran Uncle's birthday. So my smart  device took over my senses as I quickly typed out a customary birthday wish on WhatsApp. Happy Birthday Sir. However I was not satisfied. I wanted to hear his voice today. There were two reasons for wanting to talk him, one to wish sir, the other was to get a few sound bytes from him to pen this blog.

So a call it was and the conversation went like this:

TallboyKarthik: Happy Birthday Sir....How are you doing?

Ravichandran Uncle: Thank you so much, where have you gone missing? (In that voice I could make out his genuine love for me and I am grateful for that loving concern, which is the case with anyone who knows him well, the same kind of loving regards for everyone)

TallBoyKarthik: Sir, work has kept me away from the ground and my sons school, daily routine, life has been quite hectic

Ravichandran Uncle: All that is fine but why are the kids not coming for practice?

TallBoyKarthik: Sir they go to school as early as 6 in the morning and I will have to find a way to get them to practice. I will be soon talking to Sudarshan about it.

Ravichandran Uncle: Oh Don't worry, we will figure out a way to coach them, just send them, and leave the rest to me to figure it out. By the way, How will they come?

TallBoyKarthik: Sir, They have cycles and since they are old enough, I guess I will ask them to cycle down .

Ravichandran Uncle: No don't do that, fix an auto, make a note of the auto drivers number and send them over. We will take care of everything and don't forget to inform Kumar about the auto. Kumar will also ensure that the kids are taken care of.

I was touched and most importantly was left wondering if such kind of love and affection happens anywhere else, I was for sure left short of words for the genuine concern he has for all the kids around. This is the same treatment meted out to each and every child at Gennext Cricket Institute.

So the conversation went on.

TallBoyKarthik: What is special for today Sir? Are you planning to go out somewhere.

Ravichandran Uncle: No Karthik, Today is just another day spent with my family and most importantly grandchildren. Today my granddaughter came running to me from her room singing the birthday song. I was so happy. I blessed her and gave her some money to buy whatever she wants.

TallBoyKarthik: Sir how would you spend your birthday when you were younger?

Ravichandran Uncle: It was just another day when I was young as well. I always go to a temple on this day. I just make up my mind on which temple to visit and then proceed. There was no concept of new clothes or anything like that. As the years rolled by things have changed. My wife would decorate the entire house on my birthday. Ashwin would give me some gift. Even Today morning Ashwin called me up from West Indies to wish me. Then in the evening, these kids always gather together, get a cake and then we have a small celebration. In their happiness lies my own happiness.

TallBoyKarthik: Then it must be a hectic day for you today?

Ravichandran Uncle: Yes it is. I love to see everyone happy. I called up Sudarshan today and asked him to take all the staff out for lunch at Saravana Bhavan. I have told you earlier as well. I take care of all my staff both at the institute and at my house. I don't like anyone going hungry. I personally ensure that everyone is well fed. That is how I spend my birthday. Till my parents were alive, I would fall at their feet and take their blessings.

TallBoyKarthik: As usual I loved having this conversation with you. Thank you sir and Wishing you a Very Happy Birthday once again.

Ravichandran Uncle: Thank You Karthik. Thanks for calling

Each time I have a conversation with Uncle I feel extremely light and then I am left with a valuable lesson of life: How much ever you grow in life, never ever forget your roots, never ever give up on being Humble. This is exactly what Ravichandran Uncle stands for.