Bro. K.M. Joseph - The Beloved Cricket Brother of All Saints High School Heads to Rome

It was a pleasant surprise to hear from Denzil Balm, the committed coach of All Saints High School for so many years, a few days ago. The surprise got even better when Denzil told me the news. 'Bro. K. M. Joseph has become Assistant General in Rome,' said Denzil. A wonderful elevation for our 'Cricket Brother' from my alma mater All Saints High School. The first thought that struck me was one of sadness - oh God, I'll miss having Brother around I thought - in much the same way that one misses a dear friend.

Bro. K.M. Joseph being felicitated by Dhruvaraj sir, our geography teacher

But Bro. K.M. Joseph was not a dear friend really. He was our teacher - and one who encouraged sports and academics equally. Known famously all over Hyderabad's cricketing circles for his commitment and involvement in cricket and other sports, Bro. K. M. Joseph firmly believed that a child's character can only develop if there is development in all areas and not just academics. He was responsible for the building up of teams in All Saints, Boys Town and other Montfort Schools where he served all these years. All Saints, my alma mater, for example has benefited much from Bro. Joseph's presence and has built a wonderful history of sports and especially cricket, throwing up names such as Azharuddin, Venkatapathy Raju, Noel David, Abdul Azeem, Sultan Saleem and many more. Bro. Joseph involved himself actively in the administration of the game as well.

The cricketers who gathered with Bro. Joseph

But let me get to the beginning of the story. It was in 1978 or so when I first came to Hyderabad from Kazipet where I had studied in another Montfort school, St. Gabriel's Boys High School. My first condition to my father was that my school needed to have a cricket ground and we did the rounds of a few schools including Hyderabad Public School. But I fell in love with All Saints, one of the last schools we visited, at first sight. The sight of some disciplined young cricketers playing cricket with utmost seriousness in our little ground, dressed in whites, inspired me no end. Thankfully for me the Principal was Bro. Vincent who was also my Principal at St. Gabriel's at Kazipet and my admission was through as was my brother Ram's.

VVS Laxman, the Primary School Principal, Coach, Me and Bro. Saajan Anthony, Principal of All Saints High School

Hyderabad was a different cup of tea from Kazipet and I was intimidated by the boys (the language which I did not was one big factor) and I never summoned courage to go for the cricket selections for three years. I was happy playing table tennis. Many an hour passed by though, when after a round of table tennis, I would watch the cricketers practice from the ledge on top of the ground. I wished I could be playing with them too. But we heard rumours - they said our team was very strong. We heard of names like Azhar, Milton Balm and others who were our seniors, the members of our formidable cricket team. But mostly, we heard about the Cricket Brother and we saw him down there with his wards. For some reason, I missed Bro. K.M. Joseph totally in those four years I spent at All Saints. He never taught my class and I only played cricket in the final year in 1982 when he was not around. I am not too sure if he was around when he celebrated a famous win over Hyderabad Public School when we got them out for 70 chasing our own low score of121! Our school sponsored a celebration - a movie (we chose Jaws of all pictures) and dinner (biryani at Mohini and lots of ice cream!). Ehtesham was our captain, D. Suresh. Masood, Srinivas Chakravarthy, Iftekhar, Abdul Rub, Sanjay Bhatnagar who pulled off two brilliant catches, Michael, my new ball partner were all part of that team.

In the Rector's room with the Rector, me, Iftekhar and the President of ASOBA

I met Bro. Joseph finally when I was in my Engineering College at Osmania. I was called to play for an All Saints Old Boys XI vs Rest of Hyderabad XI in a one off game in Lal Bahadur stadium. And what a match it was. All Saints led by Azhar, had Khalid Abdul Quayyum, Venkatapathy Raju, Arshad (Little Flower), Vidyuth, Chakravarthy, Ehtesham, Masood, me and a small little boy named Noel David as well. Rest of Hyderabad was led by Narasimha Rao and had everyone from Vivek Jaisimha, Manohar, Anil Mittal. Sunil Phillips and almost the entire Ranji team. We won with two balls to spare when Vidyuth spanked a wonderful cover drive off his older brother Vivek in the last over when we needed nine to win. I got a couple of wickets and hit Anil Mittal for nine runs in the penultimate over which helped our team's cause. That was a wonderful win and I probably have the picture somewhere.

A moment's silence for Bro. Britto

As the years went by I met Bro. Joseph a couple more times - once in Boys Town where we played another game against a visiting English side. But I seriously met him only a few years ago when I wrote my first novel 'The Men Within' which carried many shades of the memories of my stay in All Saints. I was apprehensive of how a cricket novel would be received and wanted a testimonial from an academic who also understood the game and what it could do to school boys. I traced Bro. Joseph in Nagpur and called him up. I told him I wrote a novel and would be glad if he could read it and let me have a comment for the blurb. He was very encouraging and asked me to send it over to him and I did. In a couple of weeks I got a wonderful quote from him which I was proud to put on the back cover of the book.

His quote which was on the back cover read - The author has amply demonstrated through the pages of this fast paced novel that cricket - or any sport - for that matter, is played not only with hands and feet but also with the mind and heart. The skill with which the author has combined cricketing lessons and personnel management techniques is highly commendable. A very useful and effective handbook for every aspiring cricketer and coach. A must have for every school library. 
 
Now as I read it, I still wonder anew how perfectly he captured all I wanted to say through that book. When we released the book in Hyderabad, Bro. Joseph was one of my special invitees and I was glad to present both him and Baig saab a copy of the book. I was glad that he made it to a remote book store in Marredpally for the event - with Denzil for company.

Bro. Joseph at my book launch at Akshara Bookstore(March 2007)

My interactions with Bro. Joseph increased from then on and I spoke to him often over the phone. He was transferred to Hyderabad and I met him again when we were scouting for grounds for Golconda High School. He was kind enough to accompany us - Sashi Sudigala, Prasad and me - to Gannavaram in Vijayawada to check out grounds there. We had a wonderful conversation on the way where he shared much of how he could see the potential in Azhar even in middle school. But Bro. Joseph in all his modesty probably told me only a small part of the story.

A hint of how modest he was can be gauged from this story. I asked him during that conversation what the hierarchy of the Montfort Brothers was in India and how they managed such a large estate. He said that there were Provincials for each zone of the country and they administered the estate. I was curious to know who the Provincial was for South and when I asked him he was smiling. I was shocked - and I am sure Bro must have laughed at my expression. 'It's you Brother?' I asked. That is how modest he is. Journeying with us and sipping chai with us, chatting with us, while being the big boss of the institutions. He never ever lets you feel that he is the boss.

On stage: Principal of Primary School, Noel David, Venkatapathy Raju, Bro. Saajan Anthony, Rector, Bro. K.M. Joseph, Dr. M.V. Sridhar, V.V.S. Laxman and President of ASOBA

I asked Brother during that visit a question - what was your biggest learning in all your years as a teacher. What Brother told me is something I will always remember especially when dealing with people. He said when a child makes a mistake or fails, we should never condemn the child. We must only condemn the act and show the child how to rectify it. That was wonderful learning for me. It was wonderful to see how the school left the bottom three feet of the primary classes walls free for children to scribble what they want in that Gannavaram school. In little things like these, in the orderly way that the trees had been planted by Brother almost two decades ago, in the joy in his face and those of the people he met, we could see the difference Brother Joseph makes (and has made) wherever he goes.

All cricketers on stage

I took him along to the shooting of Golconda High School when we shot in All Saints - or rather he took me. And it was one of the best evenings we spent when Bro. Joseph joined a whole bunch of cricketers when we all went and watched Golconda High School at Prasad's IMax and hooted like hooligans. Iftekhar, Noel, CV Anand, Clement Michael, Vijay, Sanjay, Anil Kak, and many more cricketers joined us as we watched the movie and had a long long discussion afterwards in the coffee shop - almost until they shut shop. No one wanted to go it seemed and Bro Joseph was there till the end. My biggest disappointment of that evening was not having one picture of that wonderful get together. But I do carry the memory of Bro. Joseph smiling and enjoying every moment as he sat with all his wards.

When I walked into All Saints a couple of days ago alongwith many other cricketers Venkatapathy Raju, Noel David, Dr. M.V. Sridhar, V.V.S. Laxman (Little Flowers), Yuvraj Singh, Iftekhar, Abu Backar and new cricketers like Ahmed Quadri and Akshat Reddy along with many others to felicitate Bro. Joseph, I recalled a picture from the Sportstar in the early 80s that I kept with me under my bed for many years. Of an Under 15 Hyderabad team which won the inaugural tournament in Madras. Hyderabad led by Hariprasad had Sridhar, Subba Rao Abhijit Chatterjee, Bhatnagar and had won the final against a formidable Tamil Nadu side that had L. Siva, W.V. Raman and others. Sitting in the midst of this team with the Cup was their manager Bro. Joseph.

Me sharing my two bits

Memories of the years flooded me as we sat in the Rector's room chatting with one another, making fun and recalling the old days. Bro. Joseph hugged us all warmly as we came and we finally made it to the stage. All cricketers accompanied Bro. Joseph after which he was invited along with Bro.Saajan Anthony, Laxman. Venkatapathy, Noel. The rest of us watched from the audience along with the whole school as everyone spoke in glowing terms about Bro. Joseph and their interactions with him - none more emphatically than our teacher Martina who gave a dramatic speech laced with lots of anecdotes. I was asked to speak a few words and I kept it a few words literally as the kids were sitting a bit too patiently for All Saints standards.  As expected Bro. Joseph in his speech exhorted the children to not merely excel at studies because that is only one part of their growth but to play as well and play for the country.

We wound off the day with a small cricket game in the grounds. True to his spirit Bro. Joseph quickly changed and went to open the innings. He held me by the hand and dragged me down to the ground saying 'when will we get this chance again?'. I stayed for a while and watched the game before leaving the ground, shooting backward glances as Bro. Joseph effortlessly cleared the ground with straight sixes. To be the legend of the Cricket Brother is no mean achievement and one knows why Bro. Joseph rose so high and so quickly up the order. As Assistant General he becomes one of the five, who are third in the Montfort Brothers hierarchy, who administer estates in over 33 countries. For someone who had the vision to see how important sports is to the development of  a child, who never shied away from responsibility as shown in his taking up the challenging manager's role for the first tournament in Madras and his immense love for children which is exemplified in all that he has done, Bro. Joseph truly is deserving of his elevation and more.

Some more from me as Bro. K.M. Joseph looks on from behind

For me he always passes the gold standard of greatness as I read in a quote somewhere - that a great man is one who makes one who is lesser than him feel like an equal. If there is one thing about Bro. Joseph that defines him, it is this quality, this humility, modesty and complete security of knowing his place in the scheme of things. We can talk to him with the comfort of being his friend, but we all will always respect him from the deepest parts of our souls. From Azhar down to the youngest child in the school.

Bro. Joseph and I had planned to write some stories for children based on certain ideas he had,, and that was the first thing he mentioned when I called to congratulate him. I told him that we should write those stories - he could send me the themes and I will develop the stories even now. And that I will. Meanwhile wishing Bro. Joseph a wonderful tenure in Rome and wishing him many more years of wonderful work, where he touches many more people's lives in the only way he does - with great love. Thank you Brother for everything and it shall be my honour to write those stories we had planned to! Also, I hope to always access your wisdom, guidance and affection which you had so generously given me.