It will be a decade on August 29, this year, since our dear friend Ramesh Rajde left us for the Elysian Fields. The Mumbai cricketing fraternity knows that Ramesh and I were two sides of the same coin. We played our cricket together since our school days at Little Angel’s days, and later for Podar College, Dadar Union and Mumbai University. It was tight bonding that lasted for 34 long years.
Ramesh was a fine swing bowler, a brilliant fielder and a very good lower-order batsman. He was a regular in the playing eleven of one of the finest clubs of Mumbai — Dadar Union. A club that boasts of producing hordes of cricketers who went on to play for Mumbai and India. Ramesh was a great team-man any captain would like to have him in his side. He won many matches for Dadar Union and his office team Mahindra & Mahindra and was a consistent performer for any team that he represented. It is unfortunate that, he did not play a single First-Class match in his entire career. Had he shifted base to any other part of the country, he would have been a certainty for that state side.
Ramesh was a dear friend to one and all. He always inspired young cricketers and exhibited all his good human qualities for them to follow. It was befitting that Vijay Chougule and Anshuman Gaekwad formed the “Ramesh Rajde Trust for Young Sportspersons” in the year 2010. The trust gives scholarships to young deserving sportspersons every year in the categories Under-13, Under-16 and Under-19. I think there cannot be a better tribute to our dearest friend Ramesh.
Ramesh was a sport in every sense of the word. I recall an incident when I was the captain of Sunder Cricket Club. Ramesh was also playing for us that year [1988]. The previous season, we always had difficulty in forming a team of eleven. Some of our players never reached before time for the match. Therefore, as a policy decision, we decided to drop any player irrespective of his reputation if he turned up late for the match. Ramesh was never late for any match. We traveled together and always reached an hour before the scheduled start of the match. However, on the first match of the Kanga season at Karnataka ground, Ramesh did not report to the ground till I went for a toss. Ramesh told me that he was travelling independently and would be a bit late. Ramesh reported before I tossed the coin on the pitch. However, as a captain, I decided to drop him. As I entered the pavilion after the match, I told Ramesh in front of all the players that he is the 12th man for the match. Everybody were shocked because everybody knew that we were best of friends and he was an important player for us. I wanted this message to go to all the players that if I can drop Ramesh, I could drop any member of the team for not coming on time for the match. Ramesh, a true gentleman and a great sportsman that he was, did a sincere job of his 12th man duties.
In the evening he did not speak to me. For the next one month, we were not on talking terms, but sat together on the same table at Yezdiar [a restaurant in Parsee Colony that we frequented] to chill out with a few other friends on the table. This cold war ended after a month when I explained to him about setting discipline in the team.
To this day, I miss my dear friend terribly. I’m sure, Ramesh would have made Heaven a better place.
(Avadhoot Zarapkar was an off-spinner who played for Mumbai in the 1970s and ‘80s)
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