Photos can chronicle the history of institutions, and provide arresting details of their origin and growth. Photos displayed at the Gandhi Nagar Cricket and Sports Club do just that. They especially celebrate the cricket ground.
An old black-and-white team photo taken during the 1956-57 cricket season shows those who founded the Club and the talented players who won the league championship in the very first year.
Founder members J.H. Asher, M. Bhaskara Rao, K. Narasimhan, N. Srikanth and R. Ramanath Rao who appear in the photo as young cricketers, continue to lead and guide the Club as senior citizens and members, even today. Seniors G. Vasantha Pai and R. Koteswara Rao, who also appear in the photo, along with Guntur Narasimha Rao and other senior residents of Gandhi Nagar, were responsible for the formation of Gandhi Nagar Cricket and Sports Club.
The second team photo taken in 1968-69 is a record of the progress of the local cricket team in city cricket league.
While M. Vijayakrishna, Sidhhartha C. Buch, R. Ramanath Rao, S. Ramakrishna Rao, C. Lakshman Swarup and G. Jai Shanker guided the younger players, Ashish Das Gupta, M. K. Mohan and K. R. Ananad became household names in Gandhi Nagar even as they were school boys. The Club made rapid strides and promoted a lot of young talent. The ground was put to good use, being used considerably for cricket practice and matches.
The Club’s talented youngsters won state-level and national-level recognition. A photo from 1971-72 has Bharath Reddy who later on represented India as its wicketkeeper-batsman.
Sushil Haridas, Sunil Haridas, P. B. Srinivasan and A. G. Harjinder Singh became State Ranji Trophy players.
With more and more local children and youngsters joining the Club, we had two teams playing in the TNCA League. The combined photo of the two teams has in the background the old pavilion, which doesn’t exist anymore.
The photo showing the cricket ground with the Adyar river in the background is a rare picture that was taken in November, 1985 by my brother-in-law R. Srinivasan, also an old member of the Club, while on a visit to Madras from the United States.
K. Mallikarjuna Rao, one of the old members of the Club and former honorary-secretary, recalls how he along with other young cricketers of Gandhi Nagar toiled to create the beautiful Gandhi Nagar cricket ground in 1954, by filling and levelling the ground.
G. Rangan, who enjoys walking at the ground every morning, narrates his experiences of watching matches at the ground from the 1950s to 1980s.
Speaking on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the Club last year, Shreenivas Raju, a young law professional and now a member of the of the senior cricket team, said the old photos displayed at the Club inspired his team to emulate the glorious teams of the past
S. Vasudevan, former Tamil Nadu State player and a resident of Gandhi Nagar, recalls his association with the ground. He took five wickets in his first league match here, which no doubt helped shape a successful cricketing career.
(V. S. Sukumar is a resident of Gandhi Nagar Fourth Main Road for over six decades)
