Of dreams and nightmares

[1]

By Aakash Chopra [2]

Rs 299

In these air-time obsessed days of cricket, where events like the Indian Premier League (IPL) are discussed in greater details than any other format, could there be hope for cricket to survive in its pristine form? Chances are that you’d say “no” in the blink of an eye, but if you happen to read Out of the Blue, Aakash Chopra’s book on Rajasthan’s road to the Ranji Trophy, you’d take a moment or two before answering. Better still, after living the journey along with Chopra and others who scripted Rajasthan’s maiden Ranji triumph, you’d think there’s hope for Test, cricket’s purest form.

A Delhi lad who donned the Indian colours for just 10 Tests, Chopra’s writing, much like his cricket, is in the classical mould. Match reporting has been the mainstay of sports writing in India and unlike, say, the United States, there haven’t been many tales that celebrate the underdog. Our favourite best sports stories, thus, are the imagined ones, such as Iqbal and Chak De India. It’s in this context that Chopra’s book truly shines. He wistfully brings together his personal story — that of a talented cricketer who never got a real chance to prove his mettle — and the tale of 14 others like him for whom playing cricket meant everything.
Out of The Blue: Rajasthan’s Road To The Ranji Final is not just the story of an unlikely team that came together and witnessed the aligning of stars that make dreams come true. It’s also the story of millions of young Indian boys from small towns and villages whose favourite colour isn’t blue but the white that lasts for five days. Chopra writes about gifted sportsmen who might not have made it to the Indian Test side but spent every moment of their lives dreaming about it. This is the story of people like Madhur Khatri who, as a 12-year-old, took a bus from Jaipur to Bikaner and stayed in a dharamshala for `20 a night just to play a match; Vineet Saxena who was jobless as he tried to make it to a team and saw his father and his premature daughter die within a gap of months; Deepak Chahar, whose father requested his employer, the Indian Air Force, to make a pitch for him within the cantonment so that he didn’t have to endure a 15-hour-long day as he travelled across cities to practise.
Many in the current generation might not even know the value of Ranji Trophy or other domestic tournaments like Buchi Babu that provide the platform for players to become the Men in Blue. Chopra, who himself took bus rides during the turbulent Mandal Commission days to continue his cricket, knows the hard work and dedication that goes into the making of a cricketer. And this is where his book scores majorly. It’s honest, direct and lucid in bringing forth the stories of sportsmen who never really thought about anything else but playing for India. Chopra might have played just 10 Tests for India, but he was blessed with a technique and, more importantly, a temperament to occupy the crease long enough to see the shine off a new ball. Many believe that had it not been for Chopra, the one-half of a formidable opening combination with Virender Sehwag, India’s Australian campaign of 2003-04 wouldn’t have been as successful.
Before the arrival of IPL, which is today not only a viable career option for a professional cricketer but also an accepted path to make the cut, the robust Ranji circuit gave us many greats. There are hundreds of players who spent all of their cricketing lives playing Ranji and this book celebrates them with interesting trivia about the tournament on every alternate page. Like his blog, Chopra’s style is simple and straight when he tells the story of the underdog, a team made up of players who saw all doors close on them before getting together and rising from the bottom of the table to the top. Rajasthan took on teams like Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, and, 38 years later, won their first Ranji. The journey becomes more fascinating when you know that just a few weeks ago the same team retained the trophy for the second year in running.
If you grew up in India in the late 1970s or the early 1980s, you know that it was almost impossible to take sport as a serious career option. And if you did, the people around you constantly reminded you that there were just a handful who were lucky enough to make it and you, well… you just weren’t the fortunate one. Some who continued to live the dream managed to make it to the national side while many just played domestic cricket and Chopra brings out both, the dreams and nightmares. Many of the stories in his book may sound similar and you might find it hard to stop yourself from skipping a few pages, but nevertheless, Out of The Blue is worth a read.

Gautam Chintamani is an award-winning Indian writer/filmmaker with over a decade of experience in print and electronic media