Memoirs of a Mylaporean on Mottai madi cricket !

Mottai  madi  Cricket  in our old Mylapore  House – memoirs of a Mylaporean

Everyone loves cricket  and that too in Madras it is  a fever  that catches the fans and players of younger age  once a year during the summer holidays .When we were  studying in  high school and college we used to play cricket in our house terrace ( mottai madi ) at 16 , Thiruvalluvar Koil Street , Mylapore , Madras 600004.

The terrace concrete  pitch  / ground is of 20 X 30 feet ( 1950 construction ) and I would like to list out the names who played , scored centuries , got many wickets in our mottai madi cricket ground!!! They are now old enough to watch cricket ! The great persons who played a solid game of cricket in our terrace are now in big positions in our society .

Myself ,  a retired Sr.manager and  now working as a Consultant to Schwing Stetter ( India ) Pvt. Ltd., a German Company manufatures concrete machineries at Sriprumbudur , near Chennai.

Gopinath ,DGM ( HR )  , Hinduja Foundries ,Chennai,( my younger brother )

Capt. Dr.V.R.Vijayaraghavan ,  Leading Opthalmologist  and a visiting faculty lives in Coimbatore ( Gopu’s brother )

S.Chandrasekaran , Retired manager of IOB , who served in Singapore also.

V.R.Gopalarathnam , Sr.Advocate , who served in Banking sector as a Legal expert .

Dr.Suresh Kuppuswamy , Professor & Dean , School of Architecture & Planning, Chennai , who had his own firm (DKR ) with partners and landmark buildings in Chennai to his credit. He was an inspiration to my daughter from her childhood to choose Architecture for her graduation and she has become a Post Graduate in Architecture in Iowa State University and works for an American firm there.

S.Gurumurthy , Charted Accountant , journalist and renowned economist . A popular person and was one of top ten Indians to name . He was two years senior in Vivekananda College to me and junior to  Arunachalam and  classmate of Rajagopalan of Kambar Vilasam,Mylapore.

K.Muralimohan, Retired manager of UCO bank & International Arbiter for Chess tournaments

                                                                  ( Suresh Kuppuswamy’s brother )

Rajagopalan (  fondly called by all as  Appuchi Raja ) , Retired Accounts Manager, lived in  Kambar Vilasam ( neighbor ) - Photo not available

S.Arunachalam ,  A Charted Accountant and a retired General manager of Indian Bank,Chennai

S.Aravindan , Retired

Manager of EID Parry ( brother of Arunachalam ).

Mostly under arms bowling nicely done by the bowlers and the 4 line is the straight hit on the parapet wall and if the ball goes out of the pitch without a bump , it is declared as “ Howzthat?” . Smash hitters were there and I  also played  without knowing how to play cricket ! Vijayaraghavan  always bowls well and hits hardly allowing the ball to reach the our road junction. There were ball picking kids , who waits for their turn on the road.

Gurumurthy’s comment of Raja’s batting position is always in memory and very recently Raghavan recalled it to me. “ Enna Raja, Battai kathi mathiri pidikiriye ? “ and when  he hits the ball, “ Raja , Plumn yah , vaa veliye !!! “  Whether Gurumurthy remembers this or not, I do not know. But the thrill of playing cricket by  all the above 11 never erased from my memory and very few  of them may  also cherish the past.   Raja , Arun and Arvind are tall figures and many times  they push the ball outside the terrace. Raghavan and Sekar hit hard and the sound of the tennis or rubber ball on the parapet  for every 4s’ comes like a thunder . Torn rubber balls and tennis balls were many . Raja shows us his talent by throwing the ball 90 degree to the height of two coconut tree and we love to watch it.

Some times my kid brother Ramesh , who now lives in USA , will not allow us to play  in the terrace. He will be bribed by our friends to clear the pitch !!!

Many  positions will be filled in the  terrace pitch , like slips &  wicket keeper  . Of course we play without  leg guard , gloves and helmet !!!!

When the great players run for runs , the thumping sound disturbs the elders  and tenents in the ground floor of my house.  Occasionally my dad used to call to call off the game . But he is a good company to talk  with all of my friends.

Diagonally opposite to our house in door no. 3 ( Moonam number veedu ) , Chettiar’s house first floor , there were three college going girls , always standing in the balcony and watch us playing. Many of us were thrilled to show off  and  more unscheduled matches we played just for fun !

On the sad side , the terrace cricket ground is no more exists since the new millennium . My father was an ardent admirer of cricket and just an hour before he died of cardiac arrest he was watching the Sharja cricket match , on 20^th April 1994. My memories recall many past events and many I forget due to aging.  However I thought this one may interest the listed players !.

I close with this to continue with some other interesting news to share later .