A pile of rundown sports shoes. A mess of battle-worn gloves. A stack of frazzled leg pads. And a lone figure that sits under a rain tree and stitches them. A familiar sight for those regularly passing by the Pattabiram Gate of the Chepauk cricket stadium. Players and administrators of the game know more. For them, the solitary figure is R. Baskaran, deferential, friendly and a wizard at cobbling cricket paraphernalia.
From Mohammed Azharuddin to Dwayne Bravo, a long procession of international cricketers has had theirs mended by Baskaran. Whenever a match or tournament is underway, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) authorises him to attend to players saddled with damaged and worn-out gear.
From Buchi Babu to Test, ODI and twenty-twenty matches, Baskaran has seen them all, at close quarters. He parks himself near the players' dressing rooms and it is common for big players to nod a greeting or raise a thumbs-up to him. Sometimes, they stop for a chat. Sachin Tendulkar once displayed abundant curiosity about Baskaran's trade, asking the cobbler about the amount of work he got and if it was adequate to make both ends meet. Sachin's words of solicitude touched Baskaran.
Baskaran has struck friendships with players at all echelons of the game. In fact, it is cricketers at the lower levels of the game that are a steady source of work. Over the last 19 years, aspiring cricket stars have largely kept the kitchen fires of Baskaran's large family burning.
“After years of struggle, we have found a semblance of economic stability. My two sons and daughter have jobs that fetch decent salaries and I make about Rs. 300 to 400 a day, just sufficient to get by comfortably,” says Baskaran. He shows no regrets at having chosen this line of work. On the contrary, he betrays a hint of pride as he narrates how he began to play cobbler to top-notch cricketers for two decades.
“In 1993, my father-in-law Murugesan, who had achieved recognition as a repairer of cricket paraphernalia, passed away and the mantle fell on me suddenly,” recalls Baskaran. Having watched his father-in-law bask in the reflected glory of associating with cricket greats, he had no second thoughts in accepting the challenge.
Baskaran has in fact eclipsed his predecessor and it is intriguing that he is content with working under a tree and does not seem keen on establishing a shop — or a kiosk at least — that would do justice to his image as ‘cobbler for cricketers'.
“When my father-in-law set up a booth, the Corporation cleared it off the road. Worried the same can happen to me, I decided never to put up a kiosk,” says Baskaran.
Working in modest conditions has only added to Baskaran's aura.
