He taught me the nuances of scoring. He was instrumental in appointing me as a scorer for the Press Box for the match between Visiting Australian Eleven and South Zone Eleven at Central College in December 1969. I am now in my 50^th year of my cricketing career and would be completing the same this December 2018.

I still can visualize Ian Chappell leaning on the wall sitting on the rolled mat in dressing room allotted to Australians.

There were many occasions where in both of us scored the same match at Chinnaswamy Stadium – I as an official scorer and he as the scorer for Radio Commentary team. Believe me – there was not even a run difference between our scores. It was so accurate.

Cavale had passed the Umpiring Examination conducted by the Mysore State Cricket Association and was enrolled as an umpire on the panel of the Association. He influenced me take up the Umpiring Examination conducted by the Association.  He taught me Laws of Cricket threadbare which helped me to pass the Umpiring Examination conducted by the Mysore State Cricket Association with distinction. I was only one to get through the examination out of sixty and odd persons from Bangalore Centre in the first attempt. His words of advice still ringing in my ears – He impressed upon me that in Umpiring Examination  is not  like  an University Examination where 35 percent is  enough  to get  through. In an umpiring examination you should always get one hundred percent as one error would have a bearing on the result of a match. It can also make or mar a cricketer’s career.  Hence you should get 100 out of 100 in an Umpiring Examination. I took his advice in right earnest and prepared myself well by studying the Laws of Cricket twice or thrice a day prior to the umpiring assignment. This practice made me to err less while umpiring.

These were the days when I started breathing cricket and cricket only. We used to have Deccan Herald at home as News Paper. I used to read only the last page – Sports Page and nothing else. Come Nine AM in the morning. I used to disappear from home for an umpiring assignment on my cycle, that too when my father was not in his room.

He was a very strict disciplinarian. He observed all my activities and tried to prevent/dissuade me from cricket. The methods employed were keeping Deccan Herald away  from me by hiding  it  in a place known to  only himself, locking the cycle and keeping  the key in the locked cupboard and deflating the cycle by removing the valve tube and keeping it in the locked cupboard.

When I brought to his notice that the umpiring assignments were paid by the Cricket Association, he allowed me to do the umpiring. He advised me to choose between the two – Engineering Degree and Cricket. I pondered for a while and chose the Engineering Degree first.

After my first scoring assignment in 1969, I never did any matches as a scorer. However, I had to attend to a call from the Association to do the scoring of All India Universities matches played at St. Joseph College Grounds, Bengaluru. These games included Ceylon University.

Scoring these matches made my mark with the officials of the Association. Late Shri M. Chinnaswamy, Late Shri Nagaraj, Late Shri Visweswara Rao, Late Shri M.G. Vijayasarathy and B. Satyaji Rao observed my growth as a scorer and advised me on finer aspects of scoring. B. Satyaji Rao was a helping hand to me – in both fields – Scoring and Umpiring.

During the Lunch break of these games, Late Shri M.G. Vijayasarathy used to have a thorough look at the score book which I used to leave with him while having Lunch. There were occasions he used to ask someone to fetch the score book for him if I had failed to deposit the score book with him. He was kind enough to point certain mistakes/errors which I used to correct. His vigil and advice on the finer points of scoring made me a complete scorer.

Mysore State Cricket Association shifted all its activities from Central College to the present M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. The first official game on this ground was the Ranji Trophy match between Mysore and Hyderabad in December 1970. This game was played on 05^th, 06^th and 07^th of December 1970. I had the honour of crossing the field – from Pavilion to the Score Board. This was my first Ranji Trophy match as a scorer for the Association.