Well Played Anil Kak - You've Filled the World With a Million Smiles

The first image one gets of Anil from memory is that of this incredibly handsome face that is always smiling. I have not seen him otherwise. Maybe the first time I met Anil was in 1983, when he was bowling in the MCH nets at Parade grounds where Baig sir produced a dozen or more fast bowlers with minimum infrastructure. Anil was there, so was Gavin, Osman and RK said they were there and so was Asad they said. Anil had this bustling run up which ended in an explosive action. He bowled outswingers mainly, got good bounce and was one of those few fast bowlers who could bowl an effective bouncer. Gavin somehow never bowled a bouncer (nor did Sanjay).

Right top Anil - someone shared this pic on WhatsApp

Always polite, smiling, heart breakingly good looking, with light eyes and curly hair, he was easy to get along with. I was senior to him - so he always added that much respect when we spoke. I would go to those nets too and I feel that a week with Baig sir in those nets changed my cricketing destiny - he just made me something else for a season. Next I knew, Anil was playing for Hyderabad Under 19 and was among the new crop of fast bowlers coached by Baig sir who seemed to be running a fast bowling factory.

Marked - Next to him is Asad, Osman to far left (Under 17 team led by Masood, behind the cup)

Anil was my brother Ram's junior at JNTU, 1985-89, so we bumped into each other again. There were parties at home and they would drop in. Anil was just too good looking not to have a girl friend - one would think that with his looks he had his choice - but then I heard murmurs about his lady love and how he was devoted to her. None of us had any love interests so we were always interested in what was happening around. We'd meet at Inter University matches. I am not sure if he was in the JNTU team when the strongest Osmania team that we were part of lost the first match, while JNTU went on to the second round in Calicut before losing to the champions Madras University - which had WV Raman as skipper. Fareed was there, Soumitri was skipper. Ram.

Another one from WhatsApp - Champion

Anil played for Shamnagar (I think) and I remember one match to this day simply because he thought me out. Osmania University (my team) was playing Shanmnagar at OU, A grounds. Anil was bowling (and I remember seeing Asad bowl too and was impressed with his high arm action). I walked in to bat and OU is a good wicket to bat - have three hundreds there. Anil comes in to bowl and against all expectations, bounces at me. Perfect bouncer - coming at my head, aimed at the right shoulder. I was too egoistic to let it go and despite knowing there was a square leg for the shot, pulled at it weakly. Soft as hell, that dismissal. I felt like a fool. But I cannot forget the fact that Anil thought me out, read my psyche well and planned it to perfection. Hmmm. Another thing that I got seven wickets when they batted and we won but it always pricked me - that dismissal. Rare to see a fast bowler who thinks. A person who thinks actually.

Anil, far left, at the PES program

We got through our engineering days. There was a sports tournament that the OU College conducted which had an Old Boys team - we had passed out then but someone had this brilliant idea of playing an Old Boys team. We scraped around somehow and made the final. Ram was leading JNTU and we played against them and won - somehow it did not go well with them because it was not an Old Boy's tournament. Anyway, we didn't complain. Couple of boys from JNTU - Murthy for instance, played for MCC. Wonder why Anil did not play? Maybe he was already playing for Shamnagar perhaps.

PES - Anil, far left

We ran into each other when we played for OUCCMB (OU MBA) while I was studying MBA and we beat JNTU at Parade Grounds. It was a close match and we scraped through but I remember Anil being livid about certain decisions during that game. He was a fierce competitor and hated to lose. Suresh always remembers that - how livid Anil was at the decisions. 

Then it was work and jobs. When I was working with ITW Signode I was surprised to see him and Lalji walk into our Jeedimetla Office - they were supplying some material to ITW. I was highly impressed. Here was a Mechanical Engineer who was plying his trade and working as an entrepreneur. Old school stuff, kind of stuff we heard in the 60s that were drenched with idealism. We chatted for a bit and then he was gone.

He'd drop in at home to meet Ram. And then Ram set up Eersha and Anil and Sumeeta, the love of his life, came back into out lives. Sumeeta worked with Eersha and meeting them was more frequent. Anil was there when I launched my first novel 'The Men Within'. And sometime then, he would bring his ten year old nephew, a bespectacled Kartik, who then lived in Kenya or some place. (Anil's older brother Ajay was a table tennis champion and Kartik was his son.) Anil spotted potential rightaway and would bring him to Baig sir for coaching. He would also bring his young son Aryan, who had an action and run up exactly like Anil had. We'd meet there at the ML Jaisimha Academy those days. Kartik was a serious student even then.

At the launch of my first book The Men Within - 2007, Bhave saab took a shine for Anil somehow

 

After launch party at Sec'bad Club with other cricketers Vijay, Chetan, Bansi, Anil partially hidden 

Then Anil joined PES Engineers, Vasu and Suresh's company, perhaps frustrated with life as an entrepreneur. When I went to Delhi to launch my second book 'If You Love Somone..' he was there at the event. He came with us when we went to D Suresh's house for dinner that evening and the next evening, he took Prasad and me out for dinner in a lovely place. He was part of every single book launch after that I think. I distinctly remember him being part of the gang of cricketers that met at the screening of 'Golconda High School' at Prasad's - we talked until they shut the place down that evening.

In Delhi at the launch of 'If You Love Someone...' in 2010 at Pragati Maidan - Anil, me and Prasad 

At the Hyderabad launch of 'If You Love Someone..' 2010, Bhave saab again

My next significant memory was when I conducted a 'Visioning and Culture Setting' workshop for PES in 2016. The leadership team was there - 12 of them. Anil said something during the course of that workshop that I will never forget ever. After giving the team a job to do I sat back, waiting for them to figure it out in their own way. After the exercise, he came to me and said 'I am amazed at how you stepped back and let us figure it out by ourselves, not interfering, not prompting, just letting us be. It is impressive.' Or something like that. It was highly perceptive of him to notice that - I learned to do that after years of practice - to not interfere with the process. I don't think Anil ever knew how much it meant to me. That program also included playing a game of cricket which everyone played. Anil was his usual self, playing, competing, enjoying himself.

The PES team - Anil third from left

Ranjan worked with him and he would always be amazed at how Anil would not compromise on what he wanted. He would treat himself well, live in comfort, eat and drink the good stuff. That was a sign of healthy self-worth for me. Anil left PES sometime, but he continued to bring Kartik to Baig sir. He would talk to me and to many others about how Kartik was not getting the breaks he needed. Kartik meanwhile worked hard, had the intelligence, the skill and more importantly the performance in big matches and I knew it was a matter of time before he made his 'chachu's' dream come true.

The PES Leadership Meeting

A couple of years ago I heard from Ram that Anil had kidney issues and was on dialysis. That was devastating news. Ram told Anil to talk to me since I had a kidney issue a decade ago. Anil came home and I put him on to my nephrologist and good friend Dr Krishnan. I remembering us talking about working on the illness medically and also spiritually, mentally and in as many ways as he could. I might even have given him a copy of my favorite go-to book 'You Can Heal Your Life'. He was stoic and listened to all I said and said he would stay in touch. 

Out of the blue, a month ago I heard that he got a kidney transplant done miraculously. One of those out of turn things because the ones who were on the list were not available. The surgery was successful, he was recovering and I felt so happy for him. I called him and he said Dr Krishnan was very helpful - I never knew he was still with him. Six months of total care and he should be fine. A miracle. 

The PES Leadership team - Anil in the middle

Meanwhile Kartik made rapid strides and made his Ranji Trophy debut this year which must have made Anil's heart sing. Not just play, he got 24 wickets! I called him after Kartik got seven wickets against Maharashtra and we talked for a while. I messaged him again when Kartik did well and he replied.

But by then, I think the infection must have set in. Out of the blue I heard from Ram that he passed away. That was a shock because I was all set to see him normal. Why this infection suddenly? 

I went to Anil's funeral. Ram said he could not bear to see him like that and did not come. 

I was early at the Moosapet crematorium. I did not realise there was a crematorium there, next to the RTC depot. Vikram Muratee was there waiting. We chatted for a while, went for chai. Kartik and Suresh kept me in the loop. Suresh and Anil were thick - they had a deep friendship and Suresh would do anything for his handsome friend. RK  was effusive in his praise for Suresh - 'he did so much for Anil.' Apparently all his friends stood by him. Heartwarming to see such friendship. Dilip was there, Mahender, Suresh, Lalji, others from JNTU. Ajay, Anil's brother and relatives who came from Kashmir. Osman showed up coming from across the town - apparently he had gone to Bansilalpet that morning. RK was there with his young one Dhanush. Fittingly the cricketing fraternity was represented by four fast bowlers - Kartik, RK, Osman and me - Anil would have liked that.

Well played Anil. You lived life on your terms, something that many cannot claim to have done. I am glad you saw Kartik make his strides and I am sure you will see him fulfill the potential you always saw in him. Keep sending your blessings from up there - and stop worrying about him. 

Always a nice memory when I think of you Anil. So it is now, and I suspect, will always remain so.