365 Day -Blog Challenge-Day 3-Vijayalakshmi-The Story of an Indian Mad Head Cricket Fan

When I started to think about the 365 Day Blog Challenge, I knew that it would take a huge effort to accomplish it. Each day would be a fresh drive, barriers to be overcome namely: Motivation, Topics, Mood Swings, Laziness, lack of creativity, not being in the right frame of mind, all creating mental disturbances. While thoughts crossed the mind on what could prevent me from writing, I decided to close my eyes for a few minutes and seek some kind of a divine intervention on what could help me to write each day of the 365 days. I have successfully completed three days but need to keep the flow on.

It was at this moment of time that a thought struck me out of the blue, to write about my own Mother, a sort of tribute to her unwavering spirit. Now I was sure that this would keep me going for the next six months at least. She is all of 78 years old today. Her name is Vijayalakshmi. Every human being is born with some unique talent and passion. For Her it was the game of Cricket. To Tell her story I would need to take you back in the late 1950. It was about the time that the Indian mind was preoccupied with a lot of things. We had just gained our Independence from the British on August 15th 1947. Pakistan had become an independent country on August 14th 1947. Hyderabad where Vijaya, my mother was born and brought up had its own set of problems, to cope up with the Razakar movement. It was extremely difficult for a young lady to set out from her home, let alone spend time all alone in an obscure Cricket Ground.This whole Jigsaw puzzle had to fall in place of having to govern an Independent India. There was also the deep sense of patriotism in every Indian mind, as well as the urge to master the Game of Cricket that the British had left the Indians with.

Hyderabad at that point of time was not the place to be because of the communally sensitive issues. For Vijaya it was no different. Born and Brought up in an orthodox family, not so small, consisting of Kittu,Cheenu,Chamu,Vasantha,Lalitha,Padma and Vijaya of course the protagonist of my story. Ramanathan the Head of the Family and Gnanambal the First Lady-Vijaya's mother. In the late 1950, Vijaya joined the Osmania University to complete her modest degree a BA in History,Economics, Sociology. For a girl of that age there would definitely be rising ambitions and the need to pursuit her own interests. The Household demanded that she be back home in the evening before the sun set to help the other ladies of the house with regular household chores.

Vijaya was destined for far greater things in life. She was definitely ambitious but a stubborn kind of positive ambition. If she decided to take up something, she would not leave it until she had mastered it.If She made up her mind there would be nothing in the world that could change it. Gnanambal had taught her and inducted her in rich family value, sown into her mind the fear of God and the Power of Prayer. Her brothers were more outgoing and flashy like any other youngster of that age. Kittu was a rock star, looks included. He modelled his appearance based on Dev Anand, a popular Bollywood Hero of those days. Cheenu had nursed ambitions to become an Air Force Pilot. Chamu being the youngest in the family was everyone's favorite and the hearthrob of the family.

So while life meandered along it was Chamu(Sambamoorthy) who introduced both Vijaya and Padma to the world of Cricket. Padma was more the movie types, while she liked the sport it was Vijaya who took to the sport like a fish takes to water. Chamu would bring stories from the Cricket world, about how he had close brushes with the likes of Tony Greig and Jaisimha. Vijaya would be transported into the surreal world of cricket. For Vijaya it was baptism by fire into the game. She had to pick up the finer nuances of the game, the players, the teams, the rules and regulations, the fielding positions, et all. The Parade Ground in Secunderabad became her favorite jaunt. She would be the single lady watching the game among a crowd of men. All alone she would watch, observe and learn ably aided by her brother Chamu.

Learn as much as she did, she was hampered in certain ways. Vijaya had no access to matches being played in other places, national and worldwide. Readers here can empathize with her predicament. She was in love with the game, wanting to expand the horizons of her ambition but with no means to do so. Vijaya was not aware that silently from behind the stands someone was watching her enjoy her game of Cricket. It was none other than her own father Ramanathan, an avid sports lover himself and a lawn tennis player. Ramanathan used to work for APSRTC as an inspector, salary was meagre , mouths to feed were many. In between all this he wanted to support his daughters fledging interest for the game. In those days the only mode of communication was Telegram, No TV, No Internet, No Mobiles, even electricity was a rare commodity. The only form of entertainment being the Radio.

The day dawned 5th August 1956. It was Vijayas birthday. The 6 ft 2 Ramanathan walked into his Marredpally house with a broad grin on his face and a cardboard box in his hand. Family members gathered around with curious looks on their faces. What could be there in the mystery box. Ramanathan flexed his muscles and tore open the box, wished his daughter"Happy Birthday Chinni,(This was how Vijaya was called in her mothers house.) this is a gift for you." It was a Murphy Radio. A Table was quickly bought in, the electric cord set into the Plug point, a green box lit up, the Radio crackled till the Tall Man Ramanathan set his large fingers and tuned the Radio. "This is All India Radio. Now you can listen to the News in English" There were claps around, curiosity still writ large on each of their faces, as to how a voice could come out of a box. For Chinni the Rs 35 Radio was a treasure for it bought Cricket into her life, a companion up until the late 70's when televisions invaded the households. It was not until October 19th 1956 that Vijaya had her first taste of Cricket Commentary- India Vs Australia- in India. India at that time was captained by Polly Umrigar and the Australians by Ian Johnson

-To be Continued