Remembering the game of the Very Very Special Laxman

Remembering the game of the Very Very Special Laxman: Life and time are rocketing with bundles agonizing hours and pit falling in ecstasies. Aren’t they? Added to that, is the slumberous stillness of this summer’s dreary heat. Back home, from the work at my lab, I grabbed the emptiness that engulfed me and my chair, and occupied it. Feeding myself with three fingers of banana, I slowly moved back into time, reminiscing my childhood, my parents and those never ending evenings of playing and talking and rejoicing the game we all love, cricket. One familiar sight during my childhood was completing those long lasting train journeys during those summers which offered nothing but prickling heat. Those were the days where I was in awe to those sweet lullabies and tales coming from my grandparents. I, like a neophyte, always lent out a good ear. One such piece which I reminisce even today happened to be related to cricket. I kept travelling back in time, and remembered and rejoiced the successes all the greats who have represented our country with immense pride and honour have achieved. The modern-day kids maybe addicted the shortest format of the game, for the hasty entertainment it gives, but, for us, it’s the effortless square cutting of a turning Share Warne leg spin, and gracefully leaving an out swinging Waqar Younis’s delivery, that bring eternal joy. And boy! What great times were those? I hope, you would have got who is referred to, here. If not so, he is a, sempiternal erudition, a graceful doctor of the game, who mended those gaps in the midfield with an effortless ease, V V S Laxman.

So then, what memories do you lot have about him and his presence in the game? Is it that eternal 281 against one of the finest test cricket teams ever in Kolkata, that 167 down under, or that 73* with a sore back that has for long kept giving him afflictions and spasms? If you ask me, my fond memories of this lad were his grace in defending the good delivery and respecting the bowler, pushing that odd delivery to a clean corner in the fence, and above all being loyal to the team, and being humble despite his immortality. Isn’t it? We, the cricket fans are forever grateful to him for all his services to the game. It’s no wonder that he gets full credit for the popularity of the game in his era. He made the difference in the game and played a pivotal role in being there for the team when the patience’s thin and confidence’s torn.

As a player, he would never blot one’s copy book, and I can nothing but assure you with astute confidence. As an eternal think tank in the game, Laxman buried many a hatchet of his insecurities, and rose to the occasion. As supreme pace bowlers of his generation kept asking questions with their pace and swing, he stood at the pitch, thought elegantly and replied with exquisite timing, if only with unswerving confidence and an undeniable artistry. Indeed, he is gifted to do so. His individual personalities complete with likes and dislikes shone through any of his weaknesses. However, as time kept passing by, it soon became clear that in spite of all his insecurities and weaknesses, what laid at the crux of his problems was his righteous boldness.

There are many occasions, where he would cut the cackle, guiding and helping his peers in their professional personal lives, if only to succeed. As a generous man, this dignified student of the game would give his shirt on the back when in dire need of assistance. On a rich note of amiability, cricket will forever be a bee in his bonnet, for he has got a rich haul of experience in the most sought after techniques in the game, which are, in notion, used today to re-call the orthodox perfection of batting, and to pass it on to many a budding batsman.

His’s is a work that would produce an audible debauchery, if only you can understand dear reader. His knack and dexterity in draping the game in black and white is second to none, keep alone his expertise on the field. The above said and done, he would never wool-gather in febricity. Laxman’s bat has got an attractive voice in answering the bowler to distinction and putting him to shreds.

Last but not the least; his silent departure from the game, taught us priceless lessons in humility and compassion, in leaving the game on an undeniable high.As Rahul Dravid in his epic Bradman Oration down under in Canberra, 2011 says, “As individuals, we were asked to play to the absolute outer limits of our capabilities and we often extended them”, I hope, Laxman leaves an indelible impression wherever he speaks, would be an epitome of professorship and above all, would add even more magic to “The Laxman Effect”, that once prevailed on this planet earth.

I’d off my bonnet off for you dear Laxman (elder brother).