While in high school, I used to play for a team called “Kaiwar’s Team”. Mohan S Kaiwar was my class mate. He happened to be the grandson of Late Shri T.S. Venkannaiah, a well-known literary personality. There was match played between Board President Eleven and the touring Pakistan Eleven at Central College Grounds, Bengaluru in January 1961. Board President Eleven was led by Lala Amarnath. Some of our team mates Nagaraja, Prabhu and others decided to garland Lala Amarnath and they chose me to the task. We were allowed to the School’s stand which had a barricade of bamboos. It was decided that I should jump the barricade and run towards the pitch and garland Lala. I was very lean and used to run fast. I did accomplish the job by garlanding Lala but never expected that I would be chased by Policeman. I could not join my team mates in the school stand but ran towards the pavilion. Some elderly gentleman spared me from manhandling from Police and offered me a seat to watch the match after seeing my plight. I was totally frightened.

I for one never expected that I would share this experience with Lala. I had the occasion of officiating a test match between India and Pakistan at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, a few years later. Lala was the expert commentator for All India Radio and I was officiating the test as a Statistician. Lala invited me for a breakfast to the hotel where he was staying. I  had  the breakfast with him and narrated my garlanding him as a school boy when he lead the Board President’s Eleven against Pakistan Eleven  at Central  College grounds a few years  earlier. I had met Mohinder and Rajinder – his two sons and narrated this experience to them also.

Lala used to publish souvenirs ahead of a visiting teams tour to India. When India toured Pakistan in 1978-79, he requested me to provide statistics for the souvenir. I obliged him and he sent me a copy of the souvenir with his autograph with the following words “With all of my best wishes to Dear Gopal” 24.9.79. I had laminated this sheet and preserved it. This souvenir contains the prized possession of the photograph of Don Bradman. This photograph was specially signed for Lala Amarnath by the legend. This was revealed to me by Lala himself in one of our meetings.