The truth about ‘all-rounder’ Satya

For city basketball lovers the Ramu Memorial tournament had to be part of any talk revolving around the Indian Gymkhana And vice versaIn the case of cricket conversations within the fraternity about the Matunga institution would rarely be complete without the mention of K Satyamurthy It was like talking about the glory days of Dadar Union Sporting Club and not bringing up the late Vasoo Paranjape in the discussionIncidentally Paranjape and Satya as people liked to call him were thick friends and it was Vasoorsquos wife Lalita who informed me of Satyarsquos death on May 31 at 86ldquoVasoo and Satya were very close friends right from the time they were coached by Vajifdar Sir at the LR Tairsee nets They played their club cricket togetherrdquo said LalitaSatya was Indian Gymkhanarsquos Mr Cricket and deserved the lifetime achievement award bestowed on him in 2015In a souvenir to mark the occasion the Gymkhanarsquos president Jayyannt Lapsiaa wrote ldquoCricket has been his Satyarsquos first and last love Testimony to this is the fact that he got married to this wonderful game at a very young age in short it has been a lsquochild marriagersquo of sorts No wonder he continues to be dutifully wedded to cricket and no one else Breaking many hearts in the processrdquoAllrounder was an aptly used word by Lapsiaa to describe Satya He was an integral part of the Indian Gymkhana cricket team in the 1960s and 1970s It was an era in which the club figured in the senior division of the Kanga League Satya took great pride in often captaining the side He had an eye for talent and was happy to let young players into the Gymkhana set up In later years when his cricketing days ended he managed things from the sidelines He would never tire of talking about how firstclass players like Suresh Shastri Rajasthan and Avadhoot Zarapkar Mumbai took their first steps at the GymkhanaLeftarm spinner Shastri told me on Monday how he was included in the team for the Purshottam Shield as a 12yearold in 1968 The Gymkhanarsquos opponents were New Hind SC for whom famed coach Ramakant Achrekar played It was after this match that Achrekar started his coaching journey offering to coach Shastrirsquos school Dayanand Balak for free Satyarsquos interest in Shastrirsquos career caused him to watch his Harris Shield and Giles Shield matches ldquoWhen there was a break Satya would call me aside and advise me on how to bowl at a particular batsman and what field placements I should haverdquo said ShastriIndian Gymkhana had this great tradition of inviting the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Colts team to play a series of matches in Mumbai during the summer Shastri recalled how one of the visitorsrsquo batsmenmdashLawrence Edmondsmdashscored big runs against all teams on one of their Mumbai tours ldquoTwo days before the TNCA Colts game against our Gymkhana Satya suggested that our pacer VR Vishwanathan bowl a bouncer to Edmonds We would have a square leg in place to grab the hook We got Edmonds out through that strategy Satya was an intelligent captain who would bring me on first change and give me a hardballrdquo revealed ShastriZarapkar like Shastri joined the Gymkhana ranks while in school The Kolhapurbased former offspinner told me on Monday ldquoI always looked at Satya and his band of cricketers in high esteem He was very friendly humble and dignified He was ever ready to help guide and mentoryoung cricketersldquoI made it a point to visit Indian Gymkhana in the evenings and would meet Satya Rajan Bala cricket writer sometimes Vasoo PK lsquoJoersquo Kamat and others Those evenings were filled with cricket anecdotes and knowledgerdquoCelebrated writer Bala who passed away in 2009 was a longtime friend of Satyarsquos He took great pleasure in featuring Satya in his columns during his stint with The Afternoon Despatch amp Courier in Mumbai In a 1998 piece he rightly pointed out how Satya would have been a great administrator for the then Bombay Cricket Association Bala wrote ldquoA saltoftheearth character Satya identifies a humbug very quickly And having done so tells the person that he is one Bombay cricketrsquos administration I believe has lost an articulate knowledgeable and nononsense administrator Of course he would dismiss such a view with a wave of his hand and his characteristic Churchillian rhetoric lsquoNot my loss but Bombay cricketrsquosrsquo But I think he would have loved to have beenasked to serverdquoApart from helping Indian Gymkhana set up its academy Satya also encouraged womenrsquos cricket there Through his association with a NGO free kits and coaching were given to cricketers from poor backgroundsSatya didnrsquot get the credit he deserved for serving Mumbai cricket in his own silent way but he enjoyed the reverence from those he helped At his 80th birthday party in 2017 Shastri got the urge to greet his mentor by falling at his feet He wondered how many more years he would live He lived for six more years taking bouts of ill health in his stride At the Sion crematorium last week memories of those early years came flooding throughfor ShastrildquoAs you know Satya was a bachelor He had no relatives here His friends did everything with regards to the funeral He had so many of themrdquo said an emotional Shastri Indeed And Satya was a great friend of this game It is hoped that Indian Gymkhana will perpetuate his memory in thebest possible waymiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper