Offered prayers at Lord Ayyarappar and Aram valartha Nayaki alias Dharmasamvardhini, Thiruvayyaru on 20th May 2010. After having dharshan at Swamimalai, we proceeded to Thiruvayaru and it is around 20 kms on the Swamimalai- Thanjavur road. We reached the Thiruvayaru town in around 30 minutes . Inbetween we passed through UMAYALPURAM the village famous for the Mridangam Maestro Shri Shivaraman.The entire route is very fertile . Typical Tanjoor agricultural belt and full of greenary.
I happened to watch a Summer cricket coaching camp organised by Mr.Abdul Jabbar , veteran Ranji trophy player at CLRI grounds, Adyar. My brother's son was one of the trainees. Mr.Jabbar played for State Bank of India for long and represented Tamil Nadu as a middle order batsman and was a consistent performer. He had even scored a double century once and was one of the promising players during late 70s and early 80s. A handsome Jabbar used to resemble Rajesh Khanna of the Aradhana years ! Jabbar was a cool cricketer , always playing a matured and composed innings. Interesting to see so many kids turning up at 6 A.M. during holidays and practising vigorously. I covered some net practice and a match . I can say emphatically that there is enough talent in Chennai . One noticeable aspect was , all the batsmen were wearing helmets which reflects the state of affairs ot cricket today.
One query which I get regularly from school boys today is that whether we had faced such a hostile pace bowling during our schooling days. Yes, I told them that we had faced such pace bowlers without helmet and substandard pads.
