गावस्कर श्रेष्ठ बल्लेबाज है

 गावस्कर श्रेष्ठ बल्लेबाज है l

One of my very close friends Kiran is the keen follower of cricket since many years. He meticulously maintains all the scores by pasting news paper cuttings in his record books. I consider his word is the last word whenever there is any dispute regarding cricket scores. Since  I was in HSSC , to be precise in 1970, I know about Kiran's  hobby and later I came to know from my father that  Kiran's father also used to maintain records of all the test matches, Kiran therefore has records from the day   India started playing Test matches.


In 1971, the star cricketer Gavaskar instantly became hero of every cricket loving Indian as he arrived with a bang in his debute seriese against mighty  west Indians. We all friends who were  in college then regularly used to meet to play under arm cricket. Hardly there was any day on which we didn't discuss cricket and Sunil Gavaskar. The conclusion always used to be " No match to Sunny."  Those were the days when batsmen used to  bat without protective helmets  and west Indies had fast ballers like Hall and Griffith and  we had world class spinners. There was no TV  and we used to listen to  cricket commentry on radio without  missing any ball . There were great commentators in those days including Tony couzier, Vijay Merchant, Sardendu Sanyal  . Many of them were so good in their english vocabulary,  that   they rearly used to repeat any adjective in their commentry which used to be of 15 or 20  minutes of duration in  rotation for  description of the game.


 Sunil Gavaskar was the hero and unfortunately at that time Indian cricket team was over dependent on one single batsman. ....There were other good players like Gundappa  Vishcanath, Mohinder Amarnath,Dilip  Sardesai and Eknath Solkar  but most people used to have far  more trust or faith on the little master.

Later in1975, our friend circle   dispersed and we went for higher studies in  prestigious Institutes like  different IITs and IISc Banglore. 

My friend Kiran, whom I mentioned in the beginning went to IIT Kanpur. He ,as usual , continued his habit of maintaining cricket scores without missing any test match played anywhere on the globe.

KIran  was extra ordinary in academics and he got an opportunity to work with Dr. Rajaraman who was then well known  in the field of computer science and was one of the experts in computer software. Dr.Rajaraman was not only expert and pioneer of developing software but he developed many students who later became role models of several software engineers and brought laurels and fame to our country in the field of software engineering.

First time software to use "Devnagari" script was developed on computer by my friend with Prof Rajaraman  who was his Guide for his M.Tech  thesis.  Please note that the  title of this post was the output of the M.Tech. thesis. 

When the software was developed successfully....my friend got the output on the printer and the first ever sentence he printed systematically was 

                          गावस्कर श्रेष्ठ बल्लेबाज है

He then proudly shared the results with his professor guide and the guide  rightly suggested that my friend  should get the print out of some  "Sanskrut  Shloka" instead of what was shown to him.

Kiran accepted the suggestion gracefully and spent his entire week or 10 days in getting desired output.In those days there were no desktops or Laptops and interaction with mainframe computer was by feeding huge deck of computer cards about which current generation have no idea. The following was the output

या कुंदेंदुतुषारहार धवला या शुभ्रवस्त्रावृता|

या वीणावर दण्डमण्डितकरा या श्वेतपद्मासना||

या ब्रम्हाच्युतशंङकरप्रभृतिभिर्देवै: सदा वन्दिता|

सा माम पातु सरस्वती भगवती निःशेषजाड्याऽपहा||


 Kiran then submitted the draft copy of thesis to his guide again. The output displayed was above  "Shloka of Goddes Saraswati.... and  Kiran's guide was pleased to read the flawless Shloka.  When the guide turned the page he again found 

गावस्कर श्रेष्ठ बल्लेबाज है....

Then came the suggestion from the guide that earlier output can be omitted.As soon as the suggestion was given my friend was deeply hurt to the extent that tears might have rolled down !..Professor ,who too was fan of Gavaskar ,could read Kiran's  face and quickly withdrew his suggestion.

 I am sure that for Kiran , the joy of   completion of  thesis was negligible and   more excitement and happiness was because  of the  fact that his  M. Tech Thesis included the name of his most  adorable  cricketer !

 Very few people may be knowing about this  first ever  "Dev Nagari "script  Print out  by computer in India which was done  way back in 1977. .....Hence this post.

               -----Rajendra Phansalkar

                       Feb 23,2023.

-----------------------------------------------------



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Enough and Plenty

  ENOUGH  AND   PLENTY Let us first understand ' dictionary  meanings of enough' and plenty seperately.  The word “enough ” can be used as a determiner, pronoun, or adverb, and its meaning depends a little on context. General  explanation... As much or as many as is needed; to the necessary degree. Examples in use: Determiner: “We have enough food for everyone.” (sufficient quantity) Adverb: “She is old enough to make her own decisions.” (sufficient degree) Pronoun: “I’ve had enough of this noise.” (a sufficient amount) So in simple terms, “enough” means sufficient, adequate, or as much as required — not too little, not too much. About Plenty dictionary explains following Plenty means a large or sufficient amount of something — more than what is just enough, often suggesting abundance. Usage: Noun: “There’s plenty of time to finish the work.” (a large amount) Adverb:  He is  plenty smart to handle this job.” (very, more than enough) Pronoun: ...
Read more

Decision Making

Decision Making A decision can be defined as the best course of action—or inaction—perceived by an individual or a group of people at a given time in a particular situation. Interestingly, sometimes the most appropriate decision is not to act at all. Choosing inaction consciously is, in itself, a form of decision-making. Since time, circumstances, and people’s needs constantly change, no decision is ever permanently right or wrong. A choice that seems correct today may appear inappropriate tomorrow. Today’s comforts may become tomorrow’s needs, and what we see as luxuries now may turn into necessities in the future. A particular course of action that suits one situation may prove unsuitable when the situation changes. Moreover, individuals think differently—what one considers right, another may see as wrong. The real nature of a decision becomes evident only after it is implemented, by which time the situation itself may have changed. Every individual faces many challenges in life, and...
Read more

FALL IN LINE

FALL  IN   LINE 43 years back I attended one lecture of noted management expert and teacher , Professor Sharu Rangnekar and later  read his  one small and wonderful   book titled " In the wonderland of Indian Mangers".I honestly feel that no one has described  management style and work culture of  Indian Industries better than professor Rangnekar. Since then I have been a silent observer of the people I have met in various industries. RANGNEKAR described  in the book how people avoid work in the systematic manner.He also mentioned  about 90 /10  formulae stating that  in almost all Indian  industries and offices 90 percent work is done by 10 percent of the employees and balance 10 percent work is done by 90 percent of the employees .When I observe people I try to place them in either 90 percent or 10 percent category . In most Indian industries the basic  management style continues to be " Either you fall in lin...
Read more