Maidan memories rekindled for Papa Gavaskar

Manohar Gavaskar had a surprise in store on Sunday, his 85th birthday. The father of cricket legend had a few visitors. One was Strategen's Navin Shetty the new sponsor of the Kanga league. The other was Ashish Shelar, the BJP corporator, who was brought by MCA joint secretary Hemant Waingankar. Shelar represents the Rajasthan Cricket Club at the MCA annual meetings.And Rajsthan was the local club which Papa Gavaskar represented and then operated in the 50s-70s era.
"I only mentioned the name of our club and Mr Gavaskar began relating one tale after another about the club and its players," said Shelar.
The Gavaskar family happens to be the only one in the city which played good class cricket across three generations. The Palwankars, Jadhavs, Pais, Aptes and Patils have been the principal families of Mumbai's cricket.
Sunil Gavaskar was a legend in his lifetime. Son Rohan played ODIs for India and represented Bengal for a long time in the Ranji Trophy. And great-grandpa Manohar? Well, he was a Dadar Union player, a contemporary of Test players Madhav Mantri, Naren Tamhane (a keeper like them) and Ramnath Kenny. But played mainly for the Rajasthan Cricket Club and for Forbes in the Times Shield.
Going down memory lane, Gavaskar senior said, "I was a member of Dadar Union where Mantri, my brother-in-law was the keeper, also Naren Tamhane. I would be in and out of the side, keeping wickets when the two were not around. That time a new club was being formed, Rajasthan Cricket Club by PM Rungta, the BCCI President-to-be. I was asked if I was interested. Mantri said if I was getting a permanent position I should grab it."
"I opened the batting for the club and kept wickets. Rungta had formed the club so that his brothers Kishen and Raju would get exposure to big cricket. Vasant Mashruwala ran the team, later it was GR Sunderam the Test opening bowler. I then took over the role after which players like Prakash Shenai and others took over."
Another thing Manohar Gavaskar remembered was how most of the Dadar Union played for Rajasthan. "In those days the Purshottam Shield was restricted to Hindus. Dadar Union was a cosmopolitan club so they boycotted the tournament. Their players came to our side."
Sunil Gavaskar has been in and out of the town and country but made it a point to be in town for the birthday. So what does Sunny remember about his father's cricket skills. "I know it from other sources. The great Vinoo Mankad was our coach at St Xavier's College in the 60s. He would ask me 'How is danda master?' That was the name he had given baba for his big hitting. Baba once hit Vinoo Mankad from the Hindu Gymkhana pitch into the old roof of the old Islam Gymkhana before the new building came up. I guess Vinoobhai, like all great players, remembered the times when they didn't play well."