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| Pre-event report in The Hindu 'Ex-pacers ode to Doc' |
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| Deccan Chronicle |
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| Telangana Today |
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| Times of India |
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| The Hindu |
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| Sakshi |
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
'The Renaissance Man' - Press for the Book Launch Program
Anjali - Selling the Old Cycle
Anjali's old cycle has become too small for her. This was a fancy one with all the colors and trappings that we had bought five years ago. She learned to ride on it, had some fun times on it but these days finds it too small. She initially said she would like a new bike for her birthday but then she decided to go for a new one right away after a few days. We went to Decathlon and bought her a new one. This one looks sleek, fast and has big wheels. It's just a little taller for her and she has to reach down with her toes - but she is happy with it and it flies like the wind.
Now, what do we do with the old cycle? One of the ideas apart from our regular 'give it away' plan was to sell it on OLX, an idea I dropped. She caught on to the idea - and forced me to sign up on OLX. Seeing my reluctance she took my phone and in five minutes I was registered and we needed to upload photos.
'Let's clean it up,' I said. 'So it looks good in the picture.' She got a cloth, some water and I sat down and started cleaning it up. Suddenly I noticed what a beautiful bike it was with its colored wheels and stuff and as I cleaned it some more, it really started to look good.
'I cannot believe that I am taking care of it now before we sell it,' I said. 'I never took as much care when it was with us. Maybe that is what we do with all things in our life.'
It was harsh, and the reality sunk into both of us.
'Don't say things like that,' said Anjali. 'I feel really bad.'
I know, I felt bad too. Not so much about the bike as much as the realisation. I remembered a vague story I had read somewhere - about this poor woman who dies penniless, hungry and homeless and after her death the local moneylender and others get some money together and give her a good funeral including new clothes etc. No one cares for her when she was alive.
The moment will stay with me and hopefully I will be more careful with what I have, and treat them better, before its time for them to go.
Funnily, I have not sold the bike on OLX despite a few calls. I don't think I will. I like the idea that Anjali got that business figured out quickly, registered etc but I feel that my biggest learning is from this - to take care of it when it is with me.
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| New bike (2019) |
'Let's clean it up,' I said. 'So it looks good in the picture.' She got a cloth, some water and I sat down and started cleaning it up. Suddenly I noticed what a beautiful bike it was with its colored wheels and stuff and as I cleaned it some more, it really started to look good.
'I cannot believe that I am taking care of it now before we sell it,' I said. 'I never took as much care when it was with us. Maybe that is what we do with all things in our life.'
It was harsh, and the reality sunk into both of us.
'Don't say things like that,' said Anjali. 'I feel really bad.'
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| Old bike (2015) |
The moment will stay with me and hopefully I will be more careful with what I have, and treat them better, before its time for them to go.
Funnily, I have not sold the bike on OLX despite a few calls. I don't think I will. I like the idea that Anjali got that business figured out quickly, registered etc but I feel that my biggest learning is from this - to take care of it when it is with me.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Anjali - Van Monitors
Anjali and Brahmani are the seniors in their school van. She spent a whole evening regaling me with the kind of problems the younger kids have. 'Akka, she took my pen,' or 'Akka, she called me a non-living thing,' or stuff like that. She imitates the younger kids and its hilarious.
While all the fun and stuff is good to laugh at, keeping them under control is a big thing for the two young ladies. The biggest problem is that the kids throw wrappers out of the window. They get a snack - chips or biscuits or whatever - eat and throw the wrapper out of the window.
The two monitors were unhappy with this and asked them not to throw wrappers out of the window. The young kids stopped throwing them out of the window and instead, starting throwing them inside the van. Which would have been okay if the van was cleaned on a daily basis. The van was not being cleaned.
'It's so dirty Nanna,' she complained.
I told her to complain to the transport in charge. So they dutifully went and complained to the in-charge. They listened promised action but nothing happened. The two ladies got down to the job and started cleaning up the van themselves. When I heard that I said that was fine, but they still needed the right person to do the job - so they complained again. It worked. Now the van is clean and the kids are not throwing stuff out. Good job.
I like what responsibility does - I feel that after her van monitoring, she is being more aware of the little things - like stuff on the floor, her bed, her shoes, thanks to her experience with the younger kids.
Everyone should be given an opportunity to lead.
While all the fun and stuff is good to laugh at, keeping them under control is a big thing for the two young ladies. The biggest problem is that the kids throw wrappers out of the window. They get a snack - chips or biscuits or whatever - eat and throw the wrapper out of the window.
The two monitors were unhappy with this and asked them not to throw wrappers out of the window. The young kids stopped throwing them out of the window and instead, starting throwing them inside the van. Which would have been okay if the van was cleaned on a daily basis. The van was not being cleaned.
'It's so dirty Nanna,' she complained.
I told her to complain to the transport in charge. So they dutifully went and complained to the in-charge. They listened promised action but nothing happened. The two ladies got down to the job and started cleaning up the van themselves. When I heard that I said that was fine, but they still needed the right person to do the job - so they complained again. It worked. Now the van is clean and the kids are not throwing stuff out. Good job.
I like what responsibility does - I feel that after her van monitoring, she is being more aware of the little things - like stuff on the floor, her bed, her shoes, thanks to her experience with the younger kids.
Everyone should be given an opportunity to lead.
Book launch of 'The Renaissance Man - Doc MV Sridhar' at Uppal Stadium
The book launch of 'The Renaissance Man - Doc MV Sridhar' was held fittingly at the Uppal stadium Hyderabad which provided a fabulous backdrop to the event. The clubhouse overlooks the lush, green ground to the side and it was a superb setting for the book. Dr Pushpa, Sridhar's mother said this was Sridhar's favourite ground - it was where she wanted to host the launch. VVS Laxman, Doc Sridhar's unabashed fan was there to launch the book as the Chief Guest, with Venkatapathi Raju, CV Anand, G. Vinod, Dr. Neeraj and me as Guests of Honour. Dr Pushpa joined us on the stage. The event was at 11 am.
Suresh offered to pick me up and that was a huge relief for me. Shobha and Anjali joined in and off we went to the stadium - a little earlier than we thought - we were there at 10 am. As we entered we saw Sagarika's parents Shankar and Rama Melkote arrive at the same time. Uncle gave me a big hug and said he loved the book. 'Unputdownable' he said. Aunty said she liked it too. That was a good start.
Sagarika, Bobby, Narsing Rao, Ravinder Singh and others were working at getting the venue right. Lakshmi of Akshara Book Store had deputed her man Vijay to ensure smooth sale of the books. Mahendra was overseeing things. One could sense the moment growing bigger.
Soon the cricketers trailed in - Noel, Kanwal, NP Singh, Yuvraj, Venkatapathi, Chamundi, Ramesh, Parth Satwalker, Nanda Kishore, Ramesh Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Akshat Reddy. From All Saints there were Joel, Joseph Fernandes, Bro Joseph, Denzil Balm, Masood (who came from the US), Madgusudhan Suri and others. CV came dressed nattily, VVS arrived, Vinod arrived. Neeraj came with his recording equipment.
I saw Das who gave me the project, VV Subramanyam who had thoughtfully and kindly put up a pre-event article in the Hindu that day. There was Ramaraju, Benhur. Dr Pushpa and several of her relatives.
Veena Kondapalli who wrote a poem for Sridhar. Yogesh, Ajitha, their son Yash, Eunice who was compering the show.
Chandu, Sanjay, Vardha. Pankaj came. Mythily and Chanti my sisters, Shrinjay and Shashank my nephews, and Mythily's friend Nagalakshmi came as well.
As the guests were being called on stage there was a quiet presence in the audience and we saw Md Azharuddin quietly make his way and sit in the second row. We invited him to the dais. All it needed was a call from Dr Pushpa inviting him and he came - beautiful. were all invited on the stage, lamp lit, a prayer song sung and the proceedings were on.
The book was released up front and the media took pictures.
Dr Neeraj opened the proceedings with a short speech and a fantastic video that he had made a year ago 'Sridhar we miss you' - a tribute by the OMC batch of 1982 to their dear friend Sridhar. It was the perfect set up for the morning as everyone turned emotional as they saw Doc smiling, laughing, singing and were wiping away tears.
Dr Pushpa who sat next to me was in tears. You can watch it here. It set the mood perfectly as everyone could see snippets of Sridhar's life, pictures, videos, voice overs, singing...it was like he was in the room. Many got emotional and I could see them drying their tears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-Niu1SjK8E&feature=youtu.be
After that emotional video, CV Anand, who was Vice President when Doc was part of the HCA administration spoke about Doc and his contribution first. He spoke about how he first met Sridhar, how Sridhar invited him to the HCA, how they worked on the ground, the relationship he shared with Sridhar. G Vinod, former Labour Minister and President of HCA, who was a great friend of Sridhar spoke about how Sridhar had some wonderful qualities and was a great friend and professional. Venkatapathi Raju, former Test player and a great friend of Doc spoke and recalled how Sridhar pushed them to do better, the camaraderie in the team.
Azhar, who was senior to Sridhar at our school All Saints High School, spoke about how he knew Sridhar from the time he was 10, how his father and Sridhar's grandfather worked in the same department and how he just came because Sridhar's mother invited him, Dr Pushpa spoke after Azhar and thanked everyone and gave us mementos.
I spoke next - mainly bout why the book came to me, the reasons why I was the best person to write it, the process of writing it and my discoveries along the way.
VVS Laxman spoke last and spoke with lots of emotion and passion for a full 25 minutes as he reminisced his early days with Sridhar, how Sridhar mentored him, pushed him to grow, made life more bearable for him, kept them all in good space, how Sridhar had advised his father when they asked him whether Laxman could pursue both cricket and medicine at the same time. The entire two hour video can be watched here with all the speehes etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN5oekYEiOw&feature=youtu.be
The proceedings lasted over 2 hours.
Then we signed copies - Laxman was as usual very obliging and spent a lot of time with people, signing copies, taking selfies and so on.
I signed several copies myself. We all enjoyed a fabulous lunch hosted by Dr Pushpa after that. It was a morning full of great vibes.
The book is available at Akshara Book Store, Jubilee Hills. It is also available at amazon at this link
https://www.amazon.in/Renaissance-Man-Doc-MV-Sridhar/dp/8194191319/ref=mp_s_a_1_153?m=A3MS3B1JTYCGA6&marketplaceID=A21TJRUUN4KGV&qid=1564388987&s=merchant-items&sr=1-153
You could also write to the following email or address to obtain copies
- Global News - globalnews.hyd@gmail.com
or
- Dr Maturi Pushpa, Plot No 29, BN Reddy Colony, Road No 14, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - 500 034
Ph 98495 65000, email maturipushpa@yahoo.co.in
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| The launch of 'The Renaissance Man' by (from left) G Vinod, CV Anand, Dr Pushpa Maturi, Md. Azharuddin, VVS Laxman, Venkatapathi Raju and me |
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| Anjali outside the clubhouse |
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| The All Saints gang - Venkatapathi Raju, Masood Ahmed, Joseph Fernandes, Brother Joseph, Azhar, Denzil Balm and Noel David |
Soon the cricketers trailed in - Noel, Kanwal, NP Singh, Yuvraj, Venkatapathi, Chamundi, Ramesh, Parth Satwalker, Nanda Kishore, Ramesh Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Akshat Reddy. From All Saints there were Joel, Joseph Fernandes, Bro Joseph, Denzil Balm, Masood (who came from the US), Madgusudhan Suri and others. CV came dressed nattily, VVS arrived, Vinod arrived. Neeraj came with his recording equipment.
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| Joe, Bro Joseph, Azhar, Raju, Denzil and Kanwal |
I saw Das who gave me the project, VV Subramanyam who had thoughtfully and kindly put up a pre-event article in the Hindu that day. There was Ramaraju, Benhur. Dr Pushpa and several of her relatives.
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| Lamp lighting - CV Anand, G Vinod, VVS Laxman, Dr Pushpa, Venkatapathi Raju, me and Dr Neeraj |
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| On stage with Doc |
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| A view of the audience from left - Kanwaljeet Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Narsing Rao, Noel David, Dilip, Bro Joseph |
As the guests were being called on stage there was a quiet presence in the audience and we saw Md Azharuddin quietly make his way and sit in the second row. We invited him to the dais. All it needed was a call from Dr Pushpa inviting him and he came - beautiful. were all invited on the stage, lamp lit, a prayer song sung and the proceedings were on.
 |
| Azhar speaking |
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| Me at the mike |
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| VVS Laxman speaking |
Dr Pushpa who sat next to me was in tears. You can watch it here. It set the mood perfectly as everyone could see snippets of Sridhar's life, pictures, videos, voice overs, singing...it was like he was in the room. Many got emotional and I could see them drying their tears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-Niu1SjK8E&feature=youtu.be
 |
| Me and Laxman - nice pic |
After that emotional video, CV Anand, who was Vice President when Doc was part of the HCA administration spoke about Doc and his contribution first. He spoke about how he first met Sridhar, how Sridhar invited him to the HCA, how they worked on the ground, the relationship he shared with Sridhar. G Vinod, former Labour Minister and President of HCA, who was a great friend of Sridhar spoke about how Sridhar had some wonderful qualities and was a great friend and professional. Venkatapathi Raju, former Test player and a great friend of Doc spoke and recalled how Sridhar pushed them to do better, the camaraderie in the team.
 |
| Reading excerpts from the book |
Azhar, who was senior to Sridhar at our school All Saints High School, spoke about how he knew Sridhar from the time he was 10, how his father and Sridhar's grandfather worked in the same department and how he just came because Sridhar's mother invited him, Dr Pushpa spoke after Azhar and thanked everyone and gave us mementos.
I spoke next - mainly bout why the book came to me, the reasons why I was the best person to write it, the process of writing it and my discoveries along the way.
 |
| With the family - Sagarika, Andy and Arnav to the right |
VVS Laxman spoke last and spoke with lots of emotion and passion for a full 25 minutes as he reminisced his early days with Sridhar, how Sridhar mentored him, pushed him to grow, made life more bearable for him, kept them all in good space, how Sridhar had advised his father when they asked him whether Laxman could pursue both cricket and medicine at the same time. The entire two hour video can be watched here with all the speehes etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN5oekYEiOw&feature=youtu.be
The proceedings lasted over 2 hours.
 |
| Ms Rama Melkote, me and Shankar Melkote |
Then we signed copies - Laxman was as usual very obliging and spent a lot of time with people, signing copies, taking selfies and so on.
 |
| Bro Joseph, Clement Michael, Noel, Joseph Fernandes |
I signed several copies myself. We all enjoyed a fabulous lunch hosted by Dr Pushpa after that. It was a morning full of great vibes.
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| Ramesh, Vijay, Parth, me, Laxman, Yuvraj, Nanda, NP Singh |
The book is available at Akshara Book Store, Jubilee Hills. It is also available at amazon at this link
https://www.amazon.in/Renaissance-Man-Doc-MV-Sridhar/dp/8194191319/ref=mp_s_a_1_153?m=A3MS3B1JTYCGA6&marketplaceID=A21TJRUUN4KGV&qid=1564388987&s=merchant-items&sr=1-153
 |
| Shashank, Anjali, Shrinjay, Chanti and Mythily at the Uppal stadium |
- Global News - globalnews.hyd@gmail.com
or
- Dr Maturi Pushpa, Plot No 29, BN Reddy Colony, Road No 14, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - 500 034
Ph 98495 65000, email maturipushpa@yahoo.co.in
Friday, July 26, 2019
Just Look Up - Sadhana Ramchander
Sadhana writes lovely books. They are rooted in life, in nature, and have a quality of stillness about them. By the end of the book you are taken to a space that you experienced in your childhood, of wonder, of being secure, of hope, of being small and being fine with the world being bigger and letting it take over. It's a beautiful thing to do that with your work.
Anyway while working on the book 'The Renaissance Man' she gifted a copy of this book that she wrote, to Anjali. 'Just look up' is about the trees around us. A lovely introduction with beautiful pictures, poems, quotes, trivia and facts. I saw Anjali looking through it the other day and I picked it up today to read it - and loved it. Just as I loved going through the other book she had gifted me 'Hyd and Seek'.
So we look up and are introduced to 28 trees that we see in and around Hyderabad mostly - the Kadamb tree, Badminton Ball tree, African Tulip tree, Flame of the Forest, Rain tree, Coral bead tree, Scalet cordia, Siris tree, Skunk tree, Badam, Gulmohur, Copper pod, Tree jasmine, Bakula, Pink trumpet tree, Tree of gold, Red casia, Jacaranda, Indian laburnum, Banyan, Sandalwood, Peepal, Orchid tree, Temple tree, Queen crape myrtle, Cannon ball tree, Sausage tree and Baobab. With interesting facts and photographs and details where the pictures had been taken - Necklace road, Sanjeevaiah park, Indira park etc.
It's a compact book of 72 pages with lovely pictures and content. She recommends two videos to watch 'The private life of plants' by Richard Attenborough and 'The Inconvenient Truth' by Al Gore.
I was happy to read her blog at the same time. It's so well written, and so complete. Again, that element of stillness comes through and one realises that she does that with all her work. I read her blog about her badminton days, tree walks, travels...do read. While reading her blog I realised she conducts tree walks - to introduce children and adults to these wonderful trees. I'm planning to go with Anjali on one. She includes the book - so one can buy it and get it signed by the author as well.
For more information on the tree walks write to Sadhana at sadhana_bluepencil@yahoo.com or to kobi25dk@gmail.com. There's one at Women's College Koti tomorrow morning at 630 pm.
Sadhana's other books - 'Autorickshaw Blues and other colours' is published by Katha and is really beautiful. The other book of hers, with Lakshmi Prabhala's photographs is called 'Hyd and Seek' and its a wonderful coffee table book about Hyderabad from a different lens.
Anyway while working on the book 'The Renaissance Man' she gifted a copy of this book that she wrote, to Anjali. 'Just look up' is about the trees around us. A lovely introduction with beautiful pictures, poems, quotes, trivia and facts. I saw Anjali looking through it the other day and I picked it up today to read it - and loved it. Just as I loved going through the other book she had gifted me 'Hyd and Seek'.
So we look up and are introduced to 28 trees that we see in and around Hyderabad mostly - the Kadamb tree, Badminton Ball tree, African Tulip tree, Flame of the Forest, Rain tree, Coral bead tree, Scalet cordia, Siris tree, Skunk tree, Badam, Gulmohur, Copper pod, Tree jasmine, Bakula, Pink trumpet tree, Tree of gold, Red casia, Jacaranda, Indian laburnum, Banyan, Sandalwood, Peepal, Orchid tree, Temple tree, Queen crape myrtle, Cannon ball tree, Sausage tree and Baobab. With interesting facts and photographs and details where the pictures had been taken - Necklace road, Sanjeevaiah park, Indira park etc.
It's a compact book of 72 pages with lovely pictures and content. She recommends two videos to watch 'The private life of plants' by Richard Attenborough and 'The Inconvenient Truth' by Al Gore.
I was happy to read her blog at the same time. It's so well written, and so complete. Again, that element of stillness comes through and one realises that she does that with all her work. I read her blog about her badminton days, tree walks, travels...do read. While reading her blog I realised she conducts tree walks - to introduce children and adults to these wonderful trees. I'm planning to go with Anjali on one. She includes the book - so one can buy it and get it signed by the author as well.
For more information on the tree walks write to Sadhana at sadhana_bluepencil@yahoo.com or to kobi25dk@gmail.com. There's one at Women's College Koti tomorrow morning at 630 pm.
Sadhana's other books - 'Autorickshaw Blues and other colours' is published by Katha and is really beautiful. The other book of hers, with Lakshmi Prabhala's photographs is called 'Hyd and Seek' and its a wonderful coffee table book about Hyderabad from a different lens.
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Invite to the Launch of 'The Renaissance Man - Doc M V Sridhar', (and the Making of)
It was mid-October 2018 when I received a call from Jagannath Das (1), senior sports writer.
'Doctor Sridhar's mother approached me to write a book about him,' he said. 'I thought you could help out.' I had no clue what he wanted me to do - perhaps he wanted me to guide him or structure it. 'I said, I will help, no problem.' Das quietly left the ball in my hand and moved out of the project. He told me later that he had no time, had never written a book and thus was not the right person. I said it was ok and I would first talk to Sridhar's mother to understand what was on her mind. Narasimha Rao "Bobby" (2) Sridhar's advocate friend called me and arranged a meeting.
How I Knew Sridhar
I knew Doc M V Sridhar from school. He was two years my senior at All Saints High School. I first met him at Lal Bahadur stadium in the 1977-78 period. I was playing table tennis there after school and he was too. He walked over in his characteristic easy manner, asked me if I was from All Saints High School, made some small talk and left. I must have been in my seventh class and he must have been in his ninth. I'd see him at school after that and figured he was a popular boy - good at academics, sports, extracurriculars. Then, in my eighth class, I saw his name and picture in the Sportstar - playing for Hyderabad in the Under 15 state tournament which Hyderabad won. I had that photo under my bed for a long time - Bro Joseph was the manager, and Ehtesham, Laeeq and Sanjay Bhatnagar were the other members apart from Sridhar. It served as an inspiration for me to play cricket at a higher level.
Sridhar passed out of school and joined Little Flower Junior College. LFJC would play against All Saints on Saturday afternoons - they were a fun bunch. By now I was in my tenth class and had started representing the school side. That year when he was playing for the Hyderabad Under 19's, I saw him bat at that Lal Bahadur stadium - he got 76 against Andhra that day if I remember right. Then he joined Osmania Medical College and we heard he gave up cricket - I thought that he was a studious guy and knew exactly what he wanted to, be a doctor. We bumped into one another at the Inter-varsity tournaments.
When he married Sagarika, my junior from Engineering college, he had just broken into the Ranji team after scoring 13 hundreds in a row in the league games. It was a fantastic achievement - he kept scoring runs at first class level too. I attended their wedding, and they both attended ours three years later, when Shobha and I got married. He scaled great heights as a cricketer in the next decade and became Hyderabad's highest run getter (6701), highest number of centuries for Hyderabad (21) and several records under his belt. I was working at jobs meanwhile - sales, finance, marketing - away from cricket, though I played league matches.
In 2007 my first novel 'The Men Within' was launched and I invited him. When the book was made into a movie Sridhar was part of the movie - as one of the cricketers who succeeded in other aspects of life too. I had a long chat with him and wrote a blog about him then. This was in 2010.
In 2013 he called me at midnight and told me I was Chairman of Selectors - he was Secretary of HCA then. We worked together for a year at the HCA. When my book '50 Not Out' was released in 2015, I met him at the airport, and he hugged me as usual, and even showed me a copy of the book he was carrying to Mumbai to read. In 2017, Sridhar passed away suddenly.
Going by the history we shared, I realised that it made sense for me to write this book because there were many things in common - our school, cricket, people, environment (school, college, HCA). Even if they got a great writer, the cricket part could have been compromised. Being aware of my unique understanding of his space, I felt I should meet his mother Dr. Pushpa.
Making of the Book
I wondered what Dr. Pushpa (3) had in mind when I met her. She was with her friend Dr. Indira and brought out a bunch of carefully collected and organised articles about his cricketing life and other achievements. I asked her what the purpose of the book was and she and told me that since he had some very good qualities as a person and a professional, the book could focus on bringing out lessons from his life to inspire youngsters. I liked that angle because I am constantly looking for lessons to learn.
At that time there was some talk of bringing the book out in 15 days so it would not have been more than a booklet. I spoke to Mr. Shankar Melkote, Sridhar's father-in-law, and he said that it should not be done in a hurry and we should do a good job at it. Dr. Pushpa wrote down a general flow of his life on a piece of paper and a list of people to meet. It looked like there were about 20 people who could give me information - apart from the articles in the folder. I guessed it would take me about a couple of months to get to the first draft, all going well with the interviews.
Family
I read the papers first, and made notes. Then my interviews started - with Dr. Pushpa herself at their home in Banjara Hills. I met her several more times to get perspectives about Sridhar's childhood and his relationship with his parents, grandparents etc. In time I met Sagarika (4), children, Andy (5) and Arnav (6), friend Vinay (7) at home. I met Sridhar's in-laws, Melkotes, Shankar (8) and Rama (9) at their home in Sainikpuri. I spoke to Sitaram (10) their manservant over phone and also met him at Matrusri Engineering College at Nagergul when I visited it. Dr. Indumati (11), his aunt from the UK spoke with me over the phone.
School
To get some inputs on Sridhar's school life I went to Joseph Fernandes's (12) house at Uppal and met him Joel (13) and Bro Joseph (14) to get information about how Sridhar was at school. It was Bro Joseph's birthday as well so we had a long, extended meeting with Bro Joseph recounting some wonderful tales. Joseph and Joel assured me they would set up meetings with others who knew Sridhar! I met Dr. Hariprasad (15) at Apollo Hospitals (with Neeraj), to find about how Sridhar was in his Under 15 days. Hari was his captain at the Under 15 and Under 19 levels. I met Ehtesham (16) at Minerva Coffee shop to get his sense of Sridhar - they played from the Under 10 days onward for All Saints and even played Ranji Trophy together. I called Chatterjee (17) and he volunteered much information about Sridhar and shared pictures. I called Subba Rao Vadlamani (18) in the US over phone. I was getting information on the cricketing aspect, but I had no clue how Sridhar was in class or at home. That was when I met Swaroop Kolluri (19) who was on a short visit to India at his house in Banjara Hills and he gave some great information in that clear and articulate manner of his. It was a wonderful two hours spent with him.
Much later Dr Pushpa found Anil Kaza (20), Sridhar's childhood pal and he opened the floodgates to many school friends. Anil is based in Geneva and was vacationing in Bhutan and we spoke over phone. (This was so amazing because at the end of the conversation, Anil asked me if my sister went to REC, Warangal and when I said yes he said his wife was Chitra Narayanaswamy! She was my sister's close friend and I knew her very well too as she visited us at home quite often. Small world! Now we all plan to meet when they come to India next.)
Anil gave me the contacts of Vijay Kumar Raju (21) who played table tennis with Sridhar and became state champion as well. He was kind enough to get Ravichander (22) to share some more stories. (They introduced me to Premanand who holds the school group together and despite his offer to have a big get together where everyone shares stories, we could never get down to that.) Srinivasa Katikithala (23), IAS officer in Delhi was another who spared time and gave me some stories. Sridar's tenant Subrahmanyam (24) was a great source of anecdotes too. Ravi Kaza joined in later and wrote a note and sent some pictures. By now we had a fair idea of Sridhar's childhood - full of fun and mischief. As his aunt wrote in her piece, he was a terror. Some of his childhood stories were crazy. Not all of them made it into the book of course!
Little Flower Junior College
I realised that a key person to this effort would be Dr Neeraj (25) a close pal of Sridhar and someone who was fond of Sridhar - enough to compile pictures and vidoes. He made a lovely 15 minute video titled 'Sridhar we miss you' on behalf of the medical college gang. I called him to give me time and he asked me to come to his office at Somajiguda. I ended up going there many more times in the next few months. We connected easily and there is a comfort we share - He is one of the best things to have happened over this project. Neeraj is the quintessential artist - he is a gold medalist in medicine and never practiced medicine for a day.
Neeraj was a treasure house of information. He first gave me a copy of Images, their college year book (OMC). He shared contacts of their friends from college. Luckily for me, Neeraj had also gone to Little Flower with Sridhar so we could dig up some more information there. We met Jawahar Mahi (26) at his Banjara Hills house. Jawahar was close to Sridhar and was part of the Lung Fung gang - Srivardhan, Ali Nawaz, and Kamalakar. Harendar Prasad aka Jimmy, another childhood friend, spoke to me over the phone (27). I spoke to two doctors who knew Srivardhan very well at Deccan Medical College - Dr Varda Raju (28) and Dr Srinivas (29) and they gave me many new angles which proved helpful. Such as the fact that Sridhar acted in a movie, been a partner in a restaurant and once bought a pup as a gift for Sagarika!
Osmania Medical College
We moved into the Osmania Medical College days and I established contact with Ananta Parakrama (30), who played cricket for the state too and was my senior at St Alphonso Junior College. Ananta was very close to Sridhar and a sane voice that kept him under control. I connected over WhatsApp with him and we spoke extensively over a period of time. Other close friends included Venkat Nagesh (31), Milind Bhide (32) who gave me stories over the phone. When Ananta came down to India in January 2019 and we met in freezing cold at the Hyderabad Literary Festival - Neeraj, Ananta and I - on Day 1 of the festival. The very next day we met another close chum of Sridhar's - Jawahar Thomas (33) at the same venue, occupying the food court for long hours. Jawahar Thomas's name figured in Joseph Antony's book 'My Way' on my mentor and hero ML Jaisimha and Jawahar said he had helped out a bit there too.
Friends
Among Sridhar's pals from Himayat Nagar was Yogesh (34) who knew Sridhar from when they were six - I met him at his Hamstech office in Punjagutta. Another good friend was Eunice (35) and I spoke to her over phone. I got much information from them.
Cricketers
To get a perspective from the cricketers who played along with Sridhar I fixed up a meeting with Vivek Jaisimha (36), Venkatapathi Raju (37) and Noel David (38). Vivek and Noel scored double hundreds in the match where Sridhar scored that mammoth 366 against Andhra (the third highest in Indian first-class history). Vidyuth (39) was kind enough to host the meeting at Secunderabad Club. We had a very productive session. Others who spoke at length about Sridhar were Nand Kishore (40) who gave a clear and detailed account, NP Singh (41) and Kanwajit Singh (42) - all over phone. I met VVS Laxman (43) at Park Hyatt and he gave me a lot of his time and some very good insights about Sridhar as a mentor, leader and player. Purushottaman Vijay Kumar (44), my classmate from MBA, gave me his insights - he was Doc's roomie when he made his debut.
Satyam Computers
We moved to the Satyam chapter and here we started with Zain Hussain (45) who gave a lovely note about his memories with Sridhar which we retained almost in its entirety. Then Sambit Das (46) who I spoke with over phone at Bangalore. Sambit was a cricketer too and had led Satyam. He shared some fine pictures of Sridhar. Then Anil Dhanasri (47) who came all the way from the USA for Sridhar's anniversary at Sridhar's house. I spoke over phone with AS Murthy (48) for a long chat. I met T. Hari (49) at his office in Madhapur.
Matrusri Education Society
Moving on to the Matrusri story I met Srinivas (50), the current Chairman of the society at his clinic in Vijaynagar Colony. Then Neeraj and I went to the Engineering college at Nadergul and met SGS Murthy (51) and Saibaba (52). I met Sitaram who now works there. We spent half a day walking around the campus, drinking tea at the canteen. It was a lovely campus.
HCA
We moved into the HCA chapter and I met Mahendra (53) at his office at Pragati Printers first. He gave me a lot of time, inputs, as he was the Treasurer when Sridhar was Secretary. He was also a childhood friend of Sridhar's. Bobby gave me his inputs as a club secretary. Narsing Rao (54) was kind enough to come home and give me his inputs - he was the only one who came home. Vidyuth and I met at his office in Banjara Hills once to discuss his association with Sridhar - when Sridhar was Secretary, Vidyuth had been Vice President.
Basava Raju (55) spoke over the phone and so did Girish Dongre (56) who sent me a nice mail. He told me how Sridhar would love going to Cafe Mondegar in Mumbai for his favorite meals (I am amazed at how many things in common Sridhar and I had - including Cafe Mondegar). I met G Vinod (57), ex-President HCA at Boats Club (Neeraj came with me) and his brother G Vivekanand (58) at his residence in Somajiguda. I spoke to CV Anand (59) extensively over the phone. CV had been a Vice President at the HCA.
BCCI
Moving on to BCCI, I did not have much to go on. That was when Nishant Arora (60), Sridhar's colleague at BCCI stepped in and took it upon himself to get as much information as possible. His article in the Quint was wonderful and gave me much information. Nishant called me and spoke several times from Canada. He personally obtained comments on Sridhar from Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Anurag Thakur and from journalists like Gaurav Kalra. Nishant opened a wonderful perspective on Sridhar's BCCI stint. Vijay Tagore of Midday (61) was helpful and shared many details and numbers to contact in the BCCI. Vijay Lokapally (62) shared his insights and was of help when we were seeking pictures from the Hindu. All through the effort Jagannath Das was my go-to man for any information - for cricket statistics he gave me a great lead (S did not want me to put his name out in the credits) and he went and got quotes from Harbhajan, Azhar etc.
Writing Process
I made notes while I interviewed people and at times recorded them on my phone. I realised that the recording makes sense because sometimes we miss nuances. Then I would go home and type them in the appropriate chapter. Later on I would figure out which one to use where, how much to use and what to use. It would still read like bits and pieces stuck together so I had to put it all together, find a suitable voice and make it flow easily as a story. I passed every draft through Dr Pushpa who read every word with great concentration and helped me to pitch it just right.
Book Title
For the book title, we tried several options - my choice was 'Make everyday count' which seemed to be Sridhar's philosophy in life. Neeraj had a few - 'Run getter, Go getter' was what he liked. The man who inspired the final title was, Satish Kolluri (63) who also shared his passion for music with Sridhar. Satish called Sridhar that. (Renaissance Man is used to describe a clever person who can do many things very well.) Dr. Pushpa's friend Dr Indira (64) who was present at the first meeting contributed as well.
Notes and messages
Several relatives and friends sent in written notes, poems, songs - his cousins, aunts, friends and their messages have been included. Sagarika shared the messages sent by James Sutherland, CEO, Cricket Australia and some others which spoke highly of Sridhar's contribution. I used quotes from articles in newspapers and magazines liberally - journalists like Solomon, Rajaraman, Vedam Jaishanker, Valentine Wilson, Das, VVSubramanyam, Nishant Arora - all of them had written extensively about Sridhar.
Editor, proof
The first proper draft was done in April and once it was ok with Dr. Pushpa, I told her we should hire an editor to knock it into shape. We tried a local editor, then another in Bangalore before settling with Keerti Ramachandra, who had edited all my books so far and is a very experienced editor. She brought on another person to proof check. Editing took a month - starting April. I carried my work on to the vacation - Shobha, Anjali and I were off to Pune and Mumbai for two weeks. I returned to Hyderabad for a week, after that, worked on completing the book. had a crazy last day checking the facts and figures before heading off to Pune on May 7 in a bus. I wanted to hand over the final draft to Neeraj who said he would start work on the layout. I worked through the day at Pune and sent it off to Neeraj by evening. Now I could relax for a week.
Book layout and design
When I returned it turned out that the layout was not as easy as we thought it would be - neither Neeraj nor Pragati Printers could do it because it needed detailed work. Finally we hired the services of Blue Pencil and the wonderful Vijay and Sadhana Ramchander came on board to help with the layout, design, ebook version etc. They were very patient and added a lot of value in bringing the book out exactly as Dr Pushpa wanted. For all pre-publishing work I will unhesitatingly recommend Blue Pencil. They are genuinely nice people. Sadhana is a wonderful writer - published books and writes a fabulous blog.
Pictures
Choosing the right pictures for the book took a long time - we sifted through several pictures, found context. A few pictures we bought a few off the net - the Hindu was one source. Since several pictures were not of great quality Neeraj tried to improve them. There was a lot of discussion on color or black and white, inline or as a bunch, and finally we did all types in the book. Once the pictures were put in place we put in captions and here Vijay did a great job coming up with witty captions. We all met several times at their home office in Himayat Nagar and drank wonderful coffee - me, Neeraj and Dr Pushpa with Vijay and Sadhana. They were good times indeed.
Cover design
Sadhana developed two simple designs for the cover as promised. Then Neeraj went and designed a killer cover - an artist's rendering of the 'Renaissance Man'. You must watch it very closely to understand what he has done with the concept of the Renaissance Man, It is beautiful - with the Vitruvian man in the background and the picture in front having strokes in Van Gogh's style. We used a sketch of Sridhar that Neeraj had made in the narrative as well. Mahendra had already said he would print the books at Pragati Printers, one of the best in the country, so that was taken care of. A few more versions, more proofing and checks, and finally we were ready to go to print.
Proofing
Dr Pushpa probably read the manuscript at various stage at least 50 times if not more because every version was run through her and she edited it the way she wanted it to come out. Vijay was another wonderful pair of eyes who caught the minutest errors and I was so happy to have him work on the layout. Sagarika was the fourth pair of eyes who read all these versions. Keerti and her proofreader friend added to the lot at the editing stage. I would seek Shobha's help when I felt stuck.
Print
The book finally went to print a week ago and is now ready.
So it was that after 64 interviews (give or take a couple), several more calls and meetings, the book came to completion. Neeraj was a huge help in this journey which would have got tiring and boring - he came with me to meet Hariprasad at Apollo Hospitals, Swaroop at his house, Jawahar Mahi at his house, Vinod at Boats Club, Ananta and Jawahar Thomas at Hyderabad Public School, SGS Murthy at Matrusri Engineering College, Abhijit Chatterjee at his house in Sainikpuri, many trips to Blue Pencil, several on his own to Pragati Printers. He came armed with his recording equipment, his phone with which he took pictures and videos. A big thanks to him for helping me out, driving me around in his car, where we listened to him and Rashmi sing fantastic Karaoke versions on his stereo!
Dr Pushpa guided the entire process with the greatest of patience, giving me the freedom to write the way I wanted, gently putting her points if view across and making sure that the book turns out as she envisaged it. She had to speak to several people, connect many dots, read many proofs and she made many visits too to Blue Pencil. I was always amazed at her strength and fortitude and her love for Sridhar.
At all times Sagarika was there to close things or take decisions where we were getting stuck and to read all the proofs we kept plying her with. She did say she was not ready to deal with this yet, but she took it on, and it is admirable the way she did it. I also found Andy extremely composed and articulate and Arnav was a revelation!
Release
The release is on the 28th July at the Uppal stadium. VVS Laxman is the Chief Guest, with guests of honour being G Vinod, Venkatapathi Raju, CV Anand, Neeraj. It promises to be a fun event. See you all there.
'Doctor Sridhar's mother approached me to write a book about him,' he said. 'I thought you could help out.' I had no clue what he wanted me to do - perhaps he wanted me to guide him or structure it. 'I said, I will help, no problem.' Das quietly left the ball in my hand and moved out of the project. He told me later that he had no time, had never written a book and thus was not the right person. I said it was ok and I would first talk to Sridhar's mother to understand what was on her mind. Narasimha Rao "Bobby" (2) Sridhar's advocate friend called me and arranged a meeting.
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| The invite to the launch - come one, come all |
I knew Doc M V Sridhar from school. He was two years my senior at All Saints High School. I first met him at Lal Bahadur stadium in the 1977-78 period. I was playing table tennis there after school and he was too. He walked over in his characteristic easy manner, asked me if I was from All Saints High School, made some small talk and left. I must have been in my seventh class and he must have been in his ninth. I'd see him at school after that and figured he was a popular boy - good at academics, sports, extracurriculars. Then, in my eighth class, I saw his name and picture in the Sportstar - playing for Hyderabad in the Under 15 state tournament which Hyderabad won. I had that photo under my bed for a long time - Bro Joseph was the manager, and Ehtesham, Laeeq and Sanjay Bhatnagar were the other members apart from Sridhar. It served as an inspiration for me to play cricket at a higher level.
Sridhar passed out of school and joined Little Flower Junior College. LFJC would play against All Saints on Saturday afternoons - they were a fun bunch. By now I was in my tenth class and had started representing the school side. That year when he was playing for the Hyderabad Under 19's, I saw him bat at that Lal Bahadur stadium - he got 76 against Andhra that day if I remember right. Then he joined Osmania Medical College and we heard he gave up cricket - I thought that he was a studious guy and knew exactly what he wanted to, be a doctor. We bumped into one another at the Inter-varsity tournaments.
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| Meting Jawahar Mahi, Neeraj at the Food Court at HPS, Begumpet at the HLF |
In 2007 my first novel 'The Men Within' was launched and I invited him. When the book was made into a movie Sridhar was part of the movie - as one of the cricketers who succeeded in other aspects of life too. I had a long chat with him and wrote a blog about him then. This was in 2010.
In 2013 he called me at midnight and told me I was Chairman of Selectors - he was Secretary of HCA then. We worked together for a year at the HCA. When my book '50 Not Out' was released in 2015, I met him at the airport, and he hugged me as usual, and even showed me a copy of the book he was carrying to Mumbai to read. In 2017, Sridhar passed away suddenly.
Going by the history we shared, I realised that it made sense for me to write this book because there were many things in common - our school, cricket, people, environment (school, college, HCA). Even if they got a great writer, the cricket part could have been compromised. Being aware of my unique understanding of his space, I felt I should meet his mother Dr. Pushpa.
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| Joseph Fernandes, Bro Joseph, me and Joel - meeting on Bro Joseph's birthday |
I wondered what Dr. Pushpa (3) had in mind when I met her. She was with her friend Dr. Indira and brought out a bunch of carefully collected and organised articles about his cricketing life and other achievements. I asked her what the purpose of the book was and she and told me that since he had some very good qualities as a person and a professional, the book could focus on bringing out lessons from his life to inspire youngsters. I liked that angle because I am constantly looking for lessons to learn.
At that time there was some talk of bringing the book out in 15 days so it would not have been more than a booklet. I spoke to Mr. Shankar Melkote, Sridhar's father-in-law, and he said that it should not be done in a hurry and we should do a good job at it. Dr. Pushpa wrote down a general flow of his life on a piece of paper and a list of people to meet. It looked like there were about 20 people who could give me information - apart from the articles in the folder. I guessed it would take me about a couple of months to get to the first draft, all going well with the interviews.
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| Vivek Jaisimha, me, Noel, Vidyuth, Sanjay and Venkatapathi |
I read the papers first, and made notes. Then my interviews started - with Dr. Pushpa herself at their home in Banjara Hills. I met her several more times to get perspectives about Sridhar's childhood and his relationship with his parents, grandparents etc. In time I met Sagarika (4), children, Andy (5) and Arnav (6), friend Vinay (7) at home. I met Sridhar's in-laws, Melkotes, Shankar (8) and Rama (9) at their home in Sainikpuri. I spoke to Sitaram (10) their manservant over phone and also met him at Matrusri Engineering College at Nagergul when I visited it. Dr. Indumati (11), his aunt from the UK spoke with me over the phone.
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| Running through the manuscript at Pune - early on the 7th May after the bus journey |
School
To get some inputs on Sridhar's school life I went to Joseph Fernandes's (12) house at Uppal and met him Joel (13) and Bro Joseph (14) to get information about how Sridhar was at school. It was Bro Joseph's birthday as well so we had a long, extended meeting with Bro Joseph recounting some wonderful tales. Joseph and Joel assured me they would set up meetings with others who knew Sridhar! I met Dr. Hariprasad (15) at Apollo Hospitals (with Neeraj), to find about how Sridhar was in his Under 15 days. Hari was his captain at the Under 15 and Under 19 levels. I met Ehtesham (16) at Minerva Coffee shop to get his sense of Sridhar - they played from the Under 10 days onward for All Saints and even played Ranji Trophy together. I called Chatterjee (17) and he volunteered much information about Sridhar and shared pictures. I called Subba Rao Vadlamani (18) in the US over phone. I was getting information on the cricketing aspect, but I had no clue how Sridhar was in class or at home. That was when I met Swaroop Kolluri (19) who was on a short visit to India at his house in Banjara Hills and he gave some great information in that clear and articulate manner of his. It was a wonderful two hours spent with him.
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| A cover designed by Sadhana |
Anil gave me the contacts of Vijay Kumar Raju (21) who played table tennis with Sridhar and became state champion as well. He was kind enough to get Ravichander (22) to share some more stories. (They introduced me to Premanand who holds the school group together and despite his offer to have a big get together where everyone shares stories, we could never get down to that.) Srinivasa Katikithala (23), IAS officer in Delhi was another who spared time and gave me some stories. Sridar's tenant Subrahmanyam (24) was a great source of anecdotes too. Ravi Kaza joined in later and wrote a note and sent some pictures. By now we had a fair idea of Sridhar's childhood - full of fun and mischief. As his aunt wrote in her piece, he was a terror. Some of his childhood stories were crazy. Not all of them made it into the book of course!
Little Flower Junior College
I realised that a key person to this effort would be Dr Neeraj (25) a close pal of Sridhar and someone who was fond of Sridhar - enough to compile pictures and vidoes. He made a lovely 15 minute video titled 'Sridhar we miss you' on behalf of the medical college gang. I called him to give me time and he asked me to come to his office at Somajiguda. I ended up going there many more times in the next few months. We connected easily and there is a comfort we share - He is one of the best things to have happened over this project. Neeraj is the quintessential artist - he is a gold medalist in medicine and never practiced medicine for a day.
Neeraj was a treasure house of information. He first gave me a copy of Images, their college year book (OMC). He shared contacts of their friends from college. Luckily for me, Neeraj had also gone to Little Flower with Sridhar so we could dig up some more information there. We met Jawahar Mahi (26) at his Banjara Hills house. Jawahar was close to Sridhar and was part of the Lung Fung gang - Srivardhan, Ali Nawaz, and Kamalakar. Harendar Prasad aka Jimmy, another childhood friend, spoke to me over the phone (27). I spoke to two doctors who knew Srivardhan very well at Deccan Medical College - Dr Varda Raju (28) and Dr Srinivas (29) and they gave me many new angles which proved helpful. Such as the fact that Sridhar acted in a movie, been a partner in a restaurant and once bought a pup as a gift for Sagarika!
Osmania Medical College
We moved into the Osmania Medical College days and I established contact with Ananta Parakrama (30), who played cricket for the state too and was my senior at St Alphonso Junior College. Ananta was very close to Sridhar and a sane voice that kept him under control. I connected over WhatsApp with him and we spoke extensively over a period of time. Other close friends included Venkat Nagesh (31), Milind Bhide (32) who gave me stories over the phone. When Ananta came down to India in January 2019 and we met in freezing cold at the Hyderabad Literary Festival - Neeraj, Ananta and I - on Day 1 of the festival. The very next day we met another close chum of Sridhar's - Jawahar Thomas (33) at the same venue, occupying the food court for long hours. Jawahar Thomas's name figured in Joseph Antony's book 'My Way' on my mentor and hero ML Jaisimha and Jawahar said he had helped out a bit there too.
Friends
Among Sridhar's pals from Himayat Nagar was Yogesh (34) who knew Sridhar from when they were six - I met him at his Hamstech office in Punjagutta. Another good friend was Eunice (35) and I spoke to her over phone. I got much information from them.
Cricketers
To get a perspective from the cricketers who played along with Sridhar I fixed up a meeting with Vivek Jaisimha (36), Venkatapathi Raju (37) and Noel David (38). Vivek and Noel scored double hundreds in the match where Sridhar scored that mammoth 366 against Andhra (the third highest in Indian first-class history). Vidyuth (39) was kind enough to host the meeting at Secunderabad Club. We had a very productive session. Others who spoke at length about Sridhar were Nand Kishore (40) who gave a clear and detailed account, NP Singh (41) and Kanwajit Singh (42) - all over phone. I met VVS Laxman (43) at Park Hyatt and he gave me a lot of his time and some very good insights about Sridhar as a mentor, leader and player. Purushottaman Vijay Kumar (44), my classmate from MBA, gave me his insights - he was Doc's roomie when he made his debut.
Satyam Computers
We moved to the Satyam chapter and here we started with Zain Hussain (45) who gave a lovely note about his memories with Sridhar which we retained almost in its entirety. Then Sambit Das (46) who I spoke with over phone at Bangalore. Sambit was a cricketer too and had led Satyam. He shared some fine pictures of Sridhar. Then Anil Dhanasri (47) who came all the way from the USA for Sridhar's anniversary at Sridhar's house. I spoke over phone with AS Murthy (48) for a long chat. I met T. Hari (49) at his office in Madhapur.
Matrusri Education Society
Moving on to the Matrusri story I met Srinivas (50), the current Chairman of the society at his clinic in Vijaynagar Colony. Then Neeraj and I went to the Engineering college at Nadergul and met SGS Murthy (51) and Saibaba (52). I met Sitaram who now works there. We spent half a day walking around the campus, drinking tea at the canteen. It was a lovely campus.
HCA
We moved into the HCA chapter and I met Mahendra (53) at his office at Pragati Printers first. He gave me a lot of time, inputs, as he was the Treasurer when Sridhar was Secretary. He was also a childhood friend of Sridhar's. Bobby gave me his inputs as a club secretary. Narsing Rao (54) was kind enough to come home and give me his inputs - he was the only one who came home. Vidyuth and I met at his office in Banjara Hills once to discuss his association with Sridhar - when Sridhar was Secretary, Vidyuth had been Vice President.
BCCI
Moving on to BCCI, I did not have much to go on. That was when Nishant Arora (60), Sridhar's colleague at BCCI stepped in and took it upon himself to get as much information as possible. His article in the Quint was wonderful and gave me much information. Nishant called me and spoke several times from Canada. He personally obtained comments on Sridhar from Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Anurag Thakur and from journalists like Gaurav Kalra. Nishant opened a wonderful perspective on Sridhar's BCCI stint. Vijay Tagore of Midday (61) was helpful and shared many details and numbers to contact in the BCCI. Vijay Lokapally (62) shared his insights and was of help when we were seeking pictures from the Hindu. All through the effort Jagannath Das was my go-to man for any information - for cricket statistics he gave me a great lead (S did not want me to put his name out in the credits) and he went and got quotes from Harbhajan, Azhar etc.
Writing Process
I made notes while I interviewed people and at times recorded them on my phone. I realised that the recording makes sense because sometimes we miss nuances. Then I would go home and type them in the appropriate chapter. Later on I would figure out which one to use where, how much to use and what to use. It would still read like bits and pieces stuck together so I had to put it all together, find a suitable voice and make it flow easily as a story. I passed every draft through Dr Pushpa who read every word with great concentration and helped me to pitch it just right.
Book Title
For the book title, we tried several options - my choice was 'Make everyday count' which seemed to be Sridhar's philosophy in life. Neeraj had a few - 'Run getter, Go getter' was what he liked. The man who inspired the final title was, Satish Kolluri (63) who also shared his passion for music with Sridhar. Satish called Sridhar that. (Renaissance Man is used to describe a clever person who can do many things very well.) Dr. Pushpa's friend Dr Indira (64) who was present at the first meeting contributed as well.
Notes and messages
Several relatives and friends sent in written notes, poems, songs - his cousins, aunts, friends and their messages have been included. Sagarika shared the messages sent by James Sutherland, CEO, Cricket Australia and some others which spoke highly of Sridhar's contribution. I used quotes from articles in newspapers and magazines liberally - journalists like Solomon, Rajaraman, Vedam Jaishanker, Valentine Wilson, Das, VVSubramanyam, Nishant Arora - all of them had written extensively about Sridhar.
Editor, proof
The first proper draft was done in April and once it was ok with Dr. Pushpa, I told her we should hire an editor to knock it into shape. We tried a local editor, then another in Bangalore before settling with Keerti Ramachandra, who had edited all my books so far and is a very experienced editor. She brought on another person to proof check. Editing took a month - starting April. I carried my work on to the vacation - Shobha, Anjali and I were off to Pune and Mumbai for two weeks. I returned to Hyderabad for a week, after that, worked on completing the book. had a crazy last day checking the facts and figures before heading off to Pune on May 7 in a bus. I wanted to hand over the final draft to Neeraj who said he would start work on the layout. I worked through the day at Pune and sent it off to Neeraj by evening. Now I could relax for a week.
Book layout and design
When I returned it turned out that the layout was not as easy as we thought it would be - neither Neeraj nor Pragati Printers could do it because it needed detailed work. Finally we hired the services of Blue Pencil and the wonderful Vijay and Sadhana Ramchander came on board to help with the layout, design, ebook version etc. They were very patient and added a lot of value in bringing the book out exactly as Dr Pushpa wanted. For all pre-publishing work I will unhesitatingly recommend Blue Pencil. They are genuinely nice people. Sadhana is a wonderful writer - published books and writes a fabulous blog.
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| Vijay@Bluepencil, Neeraj and me at the wonderful Blue Pencil |
Choosing the right pictures for the book took a long time - we sifted through several pictures, found context. A few pictures we bought a few off the net - the Hindu was one source. Since several pictures were not of great quality Neeraj tried to improve them. There was a lot of discussion on color or black and white, inline or as a bunch, and finally we did all types in the book. Once the pictures were put in place we put in captions and here Vijay did a great job coming up with witty captions. We all met several times at their home office in Himayat Nagar and drank wonderful coffee - me, Neeraj and Dr Pushpa with Vijay and Sadhana. They were good times indeed.
Cover design
Sadhana developed two simple designs for the cover as promised. Then Neeraj went and designed a killer cover - an artist's rendering of the 'Renaissance Man'. You must watch it very closely to understand what he has done with the concept of the Renaissance Man, It is beautiful - with the Vitruvian man in the background and the picture in front having strokes in Van Gogh's style. We used a sketch of Sridhar that Neeraj had made in the narrative as well. Mahendra had already said he would print the books at Pragati Printers, one of the best in the country, so that was taken care of. A few more versions, more proofing and checks, and finally we were ready to go to print.
Proofing
Dr Pushpa probably read the manuscript at various stage at least 50 times if not more because every version was run through her and she edited it the way she wanted it to come out. Vijay was another wonderful pair of eyes who caught the minutest errors and I was so happy to have him work on the layout. Sagarika was the fourth pair of eyes who read all these versions. Keerti and her proofreader friend added to the lot at the editing stage. I would seek Shobha's help when I felt stuck.
The book finally went to print a week ago and is now ready.
So it was that after 64 interviews (give or take a couple), several more calls and meetings, the book came to completion. Neeraj was a huge help in this journey which would have got tiring and boring - he came with me to meet Hariprasad at Apollo Hospitals, Swaroop at his house, Jawahar Mahi at his house, Vinod at Boats Club, Ananta and Jawahar Thomas at Hyderabad Public School, SGS Murthy at Matrusri Engineering College, Abhijit Chatterjee at his house in Sainikpuri, many trips to Blue Pencil, several on his own to Pragati Printers. He came armed with his recording equipment, his phone with which he took pictures and videos. A big thanks to him for helping me out, driving me around in his car, where we listened to him and Rashmi sing fantastic Karaoke versions on his stereo!
Dr Pushpa guided the entire process with the greatest of patience, giving me the freedom to write the way I wanted, gently putting her points if view across and making sure that the book turns out as she envisaged it. She had to speak to several people, connect many dots, read many proofs and she made many visits too to Blue Pencil. I was always amazed at her strength and fortitude and her love for Sridhar.
At all times Sagarika was there to close things or take decisions where we were getting stuck and to read all the proofs we kept plying her with. She did say she was not ready to deal with this yet, but she took it on, and it is admirable the way she did it. I also found Andy extremely composed and articulate and Arnav was a revelation!
Release
The release is on the 28th July at the Uppal stadium. VVS Laxman is the Chief Guest, with guests of honour being G Vinod, Venkatapathi Raju, CV Anand, Neeraj. It promises to be a fun event. See you all there.
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