Ashok Mankad, RIP

Last fortnight saw the passing away of Ashok Mankad. To understand the relevance of Kaka Mankad is to understand what it meant to be a cricket fan in the eighties.

For the cricket-loving Mumbaikars, growing up in the city in the eighties was something to be experienced. Mumbai dominated the sport, and the passion could be seen in every cricket fan. Every match, a Mumbai cricketer was involved, was followed with such gusto. We not only followed the Ranji Trophy and the Duleep Trophy, but also the scores in the Times Shield, Police Shield, and the Moin-ud-dawla Cup. The batting lineups were ready in every building compound, even before the Mumbai selectors met up to finalize the squads for the next match. It didn't matter whether a Ghulam Parkar was good enough to play for the country or his keeper brother Zulfikar Parkar would ever replace the great Kirmani. What every Mumbai cricket fan felt that the Mumbai team was good enough to play as an India X1. I remember an Irani Cup match in the eighties where Mumbai played Rest of India. The Mumbai eleven had Gavaskar, Ghulam Parkar, Vengsarkar, the two Mankads—Ashok and Rahul, Sandeep Patil, Shastri, Zulfikar Parkar, Sandhu & Ghavri. The Rest of India was a virtual Indian XI led by Vishy and had Chauhan, Surinder Amarnath, Ashok Malhotra, Kapil, Madan, Kirmani, Doshi, and Yadav. Mumbai won that match.

Another event one looked forward to was the Times Shield and the four biggies—Nirlon, Mafatlal, SBI, and Tatas. Nirlon was led by Gavaskar, Mafatlal by Mankad, SBI by Vishy, and Tatas by Vengsarkar. Some of the brightest cricketers of the land played in this extremely keen competition. The contests were so keen that a century in this A league or a five-for was considered good enough!

It is with this background, we will come back to Kaka. Kaka and Vasu Paranjape may mean nothing to people outside Mumbai but to an average cricket fan growing up in the eighties, these names meant a lot. Kaka those days held two records—the maximum runs and the number of centuries. More than that, it was the never-say-die spirit that he embodied. Mumbai 66/5 A.V.Mankad 5 n.o. This would unsettle any batting team but not as long as the natural predecessor to Steve Waugh was still batting. You could bet that this man would steer the team to safety. I remember a season when he guided the fortunes of the Mumbai team with the help of rookies like Pandit, Raju Kulkarni, Hattangadi, and Lalchand Rajput. Besides the on-field accomplishments, his views were most-sought after. In fact I remember few years later, I was listening to commentary on AIR, which had both Mankad and Paranjape in the panel. They would have embarrassed disasters like Arun Lal and Siva with their crisp analysis!

Alas, those days are gone! Kaka is no more! Paranjape is hardly heard! Mumbai cricketers no longer capture the public imagination! The Mumbai cricket following is on the wane! And these look irreversible!

Kaka—my memories of you will be that of the running catch you took at the Oval that famous summer to dismiss Underwood!

P.S. I have deliberately tried to exclude Vinoo Mankad from the post—Vinoo Mankad was Indian cricket's first superstar and deserves another post. This is for his son whom he would have been proud of and waiting to receive him at the doorsteps of Heaven, almost like the Captain acknowledging a batsman who has comeback to the pavilion after a fine innings!

Fab Four & the Captain (Part 1)

Another series loss, on a day an Indian made us proud of his exploits at Beijing, and the arch villains!

Dravid must go! Ganguly must go! Fab Four must go! There are war cries already which will soon reach defeaning cries! Wiser counsels, enough of them say, these guys have been such great servants of Indian cricket. Their career needs atleast a decent burial. Besides, Indian cricket will suffer!

My memories went back to 1978-79. I was a tot! Rememeber the Friendship series against Pakistan, when Zaheer Abbas hit the quartet out of the Indian team. It was unthinkable - Indian cricket without the quartet. But Sunil Gavaskar rebuilt the bowling attack within 6-8 months and the void left by these great bowlers were alleviated to some extent!

Remember 1982-83. Vishwanath, the greatest batsman of the times had come back from Pakistan after a rare disastrous tour. He was dropped from a side which was to embark on the toughest tour of those times, the West Indies. To go to the West Indies, without Vishwanath was as unthinkable those days as going to Australia without VVS Laxman these days! But still the decision was taken inspite of Vishy's show in the previous tour to England where he had four fifties in five innings! What probably sealed the decision for the selectors was the one sight of Vishy being hopelessly bowled by an Imran indipper at Karachi!

Few months later, when the West Indies were here for the grudge tour, Mohinder Amarnath was dropped after just a solitary run from six innings. This was the same Amarnath who had a great 12 months preceding this series. Remember that he scored more than 500 runs in each of the twin series in Pakistan and West Indies - the toughest assignments those days. His knocks in Pakistan and Barbados are stuff that legends are made of. Remember his match-winning roles in the triumphant World Cup campaign. But when the West Indies came here, he struggled to come to terms with the short-rising deliveries aimed at his body and he failed miserably. Still the bunch of jokers made the decision. Jimmy, as was his wont, fought his way back to the Indian team and was incidentally the top-scorer against David Gower's English team.

The point is that there have been enough instances in the past when the selectors had to bite the bullet and they have chosen to do so. It's their time of reckoning!

Look at the records of the Fab Four and the Captain!

Let's start with Sachin Tendulkar! Now, I just have to utter Sach, and I know there are people who will remind me of his twin hundreds in Australia. I have some damming statistics - eight innings after that Adelaide knock, he has scored 108 runs at an average of 13.5. What is even more telling is that the manner in which he padded upto Mendis and was adjudged leg before. The whole world picked it! How could he not? Is it not a sure sign that his game is not there? A drive on the rise may gladden few hearts but not good enough to make a serious contribution.


Anybody who has had a serious decline over the last 12 months, it is Dravid. What a fall from those glory days. A year back, he was India's best one-day batsman and prior to that the torch bearer of Indian batting for five years. Victories at Adelaide, Kingston, Rawalpindi, and Headingly were built around his batting. Now you look at him and you shudder where his next run is going to come from. He looks like the Dravid who went to Australia in 99-00, pretending as the best batsman after Tendulkar and scratched around for runs. I recently read a piece from Roy Dias, which opened my eyes. According to Dias, if a cricketer begins to struggle with his fielding and catching, it's a sign that your game is not there. You can scratch around for a hundred but your (lack of) athleticism will show up. In Dravid's case, some of the catches he has dropped can only be an indicator about his lack of fitness, if not form. Since the match-winning knocks at Kingston two years back, he has scored 1197 runs in 40 innings at an average of 33.25 (almost down 23 from his career average of around 56) and a strike rate of 27 during the same period against a career strike rate of 41. What it tells you is that Dravid doesn't know where his next run is coming from.

When I saw Laxman walk to the crease, I was astounded by what
I saw. A seemingly-portly figure walked into bat. Guys, we are in modern sport! A player's body language sends signals to the opposition - either positive or negative. Laxman's body language clearly suggests that he is a bunny! The flicks to midwickets, and the off-drives are all there but what is not there is athleticism. He was never athletic, but with advancing (sounds old, yes old) age, this looks HUGE! Thank you, sir for all the entertainment. It's time to move on!

The last two actors in the drama shall be dealt with in the next post!

Bowlers are not complaining...........

Yesterday, something unusual happened. I am not referring to an Indian loss - there is nothing unusual about it! Virendra Sehwag padded up to an innocuous delivery from Murali. Mahela Jayawardene asked for a referral and third umpire gave him out. No on-field umpire could have given him out - to a naked eye, the ball was missing leg stump. But the replays showed otherwise! Wow, I like it.

Because the referrals will bring spin bowling back to the fore. Marginal decisions, such as bat-pad decisions, and leg-befores could be increasingly decided by referrals. Referrals will more often than not mean wickets.

Because thanks to the referrals, no batsman will thrust his pad to block innocuous deliveries. Far too long, batsmen have got away. Now, they will only be forced to play with their bats instead of their pads.

Because batsmen will need to have good footwork to play spinners. This will make spinners think of ways to prise out batsmen with flight and pace variations. It will be a good contest.

Because pacers will also come to the party and be aided with close (otherwise drifting-down-the-leg side or touch too high) decisions.

Because batsmen will need all of technique, application, and luck (40-40-20) to survive, it will good to watch. Far too long, batsmen have used heavy bats to make the game lopsided. You needed some balance to spice up the game. Gosh, you may end with very few draws!

Because Test cricket needs that little bit to stay in limelight in these T20 times! Referrals could just one of the tonic. There are some obvious ones, some other time!

I know the batsmen are complaining. Bowlers are not.......that's refreshing!

Mumbai, Mum-bye!!

This is not on cricket or Hindi movies – far more fundamental!

As usual, the other day, I was getting back home after a busy day. The office bus leaves the premises at 6.45 p.m. and usually I reach home by 8.15. (It is actually a 45 minute ride!) That day, I reached home at 10.15 p.m. – a good four hours. The reason for the delay – the entire 3 km stretch of the Jogeshwari link road, facing the Powai lake was blocked and we took 2 hours to cross that stretch! The story didn’t end there – the next day too we reached home past 10 p.m. I was sharing this with a US-based friend. He said, “You’re not serious. It’s Mumbai and not a Jhumritalaiya!” I shrugged helplessly – it didn’t matter as he couldn’t see me.

I came back home and decided, “Mumbai was dying and that was irreversible.”

Why did I feel so strongly?

Because Mumbai has become a filthy city. I dare you to walk 100 meters at a stretch and not find a garbage dump and an open gutter. That this city has millions of them unattended to is a matter of great concern. Outside my office, after a wet day, I saw the workers going into the gutter and removed a big pile of garbage, which had evidently choked the gutter. To this day, the removed garbage still lies unattended to. That the city’s streets were swept thirty years back is an old grandmother’s tale.

Because Mumbai has become a squatter’s city. I dare you walk 50 meters at a stretch and not find a squatter. That 50% percent of the city lie in slums bewilders me! How could things come to a pass? First the immigrants from Bangladesh, and then from the North began to squat on any available land with the help of thekedaars who promised them and got them ration cards in exchange of their support during elections. Somebody told me, “The Government is obliged to provide them housing.” “Yes, but not at any cost.” A look at these areas will tell you how the backwardness of the North Indian states, coupled with lawlessness is rampant in most of these slum colonies. The city fathers and members of the civil society must come together and put 1985 as a cut-off date and free the land from the slum dwellers. I know there will be a clamour to show humanitarian concern. My point is that when I go to another land in search of job, do I squat? Don’t I follow the law of the land? Why are these people lionised? Government, don’t stop anybody from coming here. Whoever comes here must follow the law of the land.

Because the city is overburdened and waiting to explode, on the brink. You ask anybody who has seen it in the last 25 years or so (that includes me), they will tell you that the city can only manage 1985-level population. Perhaps Mumbai of 1985 with infrastructure of 2008 is the fix. What do you to the five-six million who have come since then? Allow them a breather to regularize and then...... Somebody told me that the city will miss its vegetable vendors, auto rickshaws, milk vendors, and presswalas. I say that that is the best thing that can happen to the city. 1 BEST bus can hold as many people as 40 rickshaws – this means fewer vehicles on the road! As such, BEST buses run on CNG – less polluting! Anyways, out-of-work rickshawwallas can be absorbed by BEST, if they fit the bill! The milk and vegetable trade can only get better organized. By the way, the attack on slums is not an attack on any community. That it turns out to be one is thanks to our rabble-rousing politicians.

Because there is no ownership in the city. Look at the state of the roads, you will see why. Roads are a mirror to an administration. I travel everyday from Thane to Andheri, travelling through Jogeshwari Link Road, Saki Vihar Road, and then finally Andheri-Kurla Road. The Powai stretch from IIT to L&T is probably the worst stretch in the world, save the Baramulla road in J&K (that’s to do with nature, stupid) – here it is pure inaction and bad project management. It should have taken 18 months to build the stretch – I saw the first pillar being erected in 2000 and eight years on we are still a year away from completion). It’s a shame that Mumbai deserves such apathy! Go further ahead and enter the Saki Vihar Road – it’s a nice stretch with footpaths. What you see is that vegetable vendors and other squatters have taken over the footpaths and people are walking on the roads. It’s not the only road in the city in such a state. Here governance is the issue.

Because Andheri-Kurla Road offers a unique insight on how the city is run. The road was widened two years back – it should have solved the traffic chaos. What you will see on the nicely constructed footpath are wires and cables of different agencies. I fear what if there is a short circuit somewhere. Stop dreaming, where’s your spirit of Mumbai?

Because the rains on July 26, 2005 and also the train blasts on July 11, 2006 offered a wonderful opportunity for the city guardians to look at the problems and take radical steps. That barring the token step of Mithi river project, there is little action. The talk of Mumbai to Shanghai is plain “empty talk and no action.” A metro here and a link road is just more antibiotic treatment! The citizens need a better quality of life. Otherwise there is going to be a migration of sorts – the educated middle class leaving the city. As such, Mumbai missed the IT boom – a real shame and more such misses are likely to happen. Increasingly, there is a chorus that in a few years time, there will be nothing more to Mumbai other than the film industry and the stock exchange. There is no new industrial activity happening, much like the other great decaying city, Kolkata. In fact, Mumbai today reminds me of the Kolkata of the seventies! Is it coincidence that Kolkata of the seventies faced power cuts and that Mumbai is beginning to experience that!

Because I am reminded of a scene from the Amitabh classic, Deewar. Amitabh’s girlfriend offers condolences on hearing about his father’s death. He says,”Mera baap toh bees saal pehle mar gaya. Aaj toh sirf use chitah di gayee.”

Abbas can direct saala!!

I watched Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na last evening. And it was a nice experience because I had a smile on my face throughout the evening.

Few stray thoughts (in Busybee style)!

- That Imran and Genelia are here to stay. Watching them is like watching a young Aamir and Juhi twenty years back. Probably they will mistakes on the way, but boy, right now let's take a bow at their performances! To me it's Genelia, who despite her accent, lights up the screen with her subtle emotions. I hope she doesn't lose her way like Amrita Rao and Ayesha Takia (both talented actresses)! Look at her in the scene when she drops Imran and his girl friend. When Imran offers to drop his girl friend, she says,"Kitna drop karega? " Jealousy written all over the face, but still the lines are understated!

- That I was wondering where the hell was Abbas Tyrewala all these days. Few years back, when I saw Munnabhai MBBS, Maqbool, and Main Hoon Na, I felt like many others that he was a serious talent in the otherwise neglected field of screenwriting. And that he along with Jaideep Sahni, Prasun Joshi, and Anurag Kashyap, could be trusted with bringing back content to the Hindi movies. Phew! He is back with his writing (I am not discussing his direction!). Some of the scenes are so well written that you feel like getting up from your seat and applauding. Like the whole characterization of Meghna, Imran's girlfriend—boy, what details! Like the caricaturizing of the Rajput culture—the writing is so clever that it doesn't cross over to being a point of ridicule—it could have been so easily that! It's the writing that lifts the otherwise plain vanilla-style story to greater heights!

- That the movie made relive my college days. I could have easily come back saying that I don't relate to Jai and Aditi. But thanks to Abbas' vision, I didn't feel so. It tells you that a story realistically told will always touch a chord somewhere in the audience.

- That Abbas must never give up writing in his drive to make films because Hindi movies needs the writer in him!