Ex-journalist and cricket administrator Gopal Krishna GK Menon, who passed away earlier this week, was a been-there-done-that all-rounder.
The late GK Menon speaks to India captain MAK Pataudi at the Brabourne Stadium in the 1960s. Pic/GK Menon's personal collection
The Indian team arrive for their 1952 tour of England. The BBC crew, sent to cover the arrival of Vijay Hazare's men start asking the visiting team members their names and educational qualifications. When it's his turn, a young batsman reveals his identity followed by "MA" without hesitation. A little later, a senior teammate asks him what the MA was about. "MA — Matric Appeared," he replies.
This is one of the many stories Gopal Krishna 'GK' Menon regaled me with in between his drags of beedies when I worked at The Marine Sports bookshop in the 1980s. GK passed away on Tuesday in suburban Mumbai. He was more than just a fine story teller. He was an incisive writer, who knew the intricacies of sport and the background of people who played it. Cricket was his forte and one moment he could mix with some of the game's biggest stars and the next, a group of club cricketers.
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Old timers reveal that GK at times was part of the XI in the star-studded Shivaji Park Gymkhana (SPG) team which included Vijay Manjrekar and Subhash Gupte, two men dear to his heart. He would never tire from waxing eloquent on Manjrekar's technique and how he would bat all day even in street cricket. When Manjrekar passed away in October 1983, GK was in the forefront where the funeral arrangements were concerned.
Invariably, Manjrekar and Gupte would return from overseas trips with little gifts for their George.
India pacer Ramakant Desai, who many reckon was discovered by GK, and Madhu Patil (India batsman Sandeep's father) were his other favourite cricketers.
GK always felt that it was the maidans that produced quality players for Mumbai. "Many talk of the Brabourne Stadium, the proud Bombay Cricket Association (BCA) possession, Wankhede Stadium, the Hindu, Parsee, Islam, Bombay and Catholic Gymkhanas, but these institutions pale in significance when one talks of the growth of Bombay players. The cream of them belong to the maidans," he wrote in the then BCA's 1980 Golden Jubilee Commemoration Volume.
When not assisting the SPG team, GK would do the Kanga League rounds as a reporter, visiting tents, talking to cricketers young and old, and highlighting their performances in the next day's newspaper.
His sporting versatility saw him become manager of the 1952-53 Mehli Irani-led Bombay University team which included five future Test players. One of them was Nari Contractor, who would go on to captain India. "That was a great team with a great manager. I still remember the party he organised after we won the championship. GK was great company and took the team's ups and downs in his stride," Contractor told me on Wednesday. Dr Chandrakant Patankar, the wicketkeeper in that team, recalled: "Menon kept the team in good spirits throughout our one-month stay in Bangalore for the Rohinton Baria Trophy. He was great company and performed his managerial duties in a friendly manner."
However, he was far from friendly when Australia captain Bill Lawry lashed out at GK when he stepped on the Brabourne Stadium turf in the midst of a riot. Mistaking him for an intruder, Lawry let off steam but he may have been surprised when GK, who was reporting that game for The Indian Express wouldn't take it lying down. Lawry apparently used an expletive in the heat of the moment and GK responded similarly, reminding Lawry that his nose resembled a parrot. GK was on the ground to inform the umpires that the scorer in the press box couldn't see their signals.
One cannot say that GK put the Lawry incident behind him, but in 1983 World Cupper Balvinder Singh Sandhu's book, he loved cricketers dearly. "As a reporter, his criticism was constructive. I did not bowl well in one of the matches during my Ranji Trophy debut season of 1980-81 and he wrote that something was amiss. Around the same time, I was on the massage table at Wankhede Stadium's dressing room when Vasant Amladi [noted coach] was talking to our left-arm spinner Ravi Thakkar about a technical issue in his bowling. I heard "front foot" and I realised that my front foot was coming far too across. I worked on it and got wickets after that. GK's criticism played a role in that success," Sandhu told me, while expressing his disappointment over the COVID-19 pandemic preventing him from visiting GK in his final days.
Today, sporting failures are often viewed insensitively but the ebb and flow of sport was never lost on him and "damn good player" were words he used for those whose skills he admired. The last time I heard him use that was for squash great Anil Nayar, whose February book release function I had attended before visiting GK in hospital. We spoke for a while and when it was time to leave I was convinced that I would not see GK again. But his chest congestion was not going to win that easily. GK fought on for a few more months and even going past his 93rd birthday on May 21. He could be that resilient, that firm, that sharp no matter who it was — illness or great cricketers. Like David Gower, England's captain on the 1984-85 tour to India. According to popular commentator Fredun De Vitre in his book, Willow Tales, Gower was reluctant to address the media after England's loss in the opening Test at Mumbai, where some umpiring decisions were not appreciated by his team. He was finally coerced into doing a press briefing on the assurance that it would only involve reporters from his country. But Gower discovered a few Indian journalists in the group and exclaimed: "I thought this was to be an English press conference." And GK was quick to respond: "It is! How many other languages do you speak?"
Rest well, GK.
mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper
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