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.

I joined the Pre University course at Vijaya College, I befriended Cavale Sundar Raja Rao who was my class mate. He was selected as a wicket keeper in the college cricket team. The college team comprised of stalwarts like M.R. Sridhar (who represented Mysore University with distinction and later played Ranji Trophy for three states – Madras, Orissa and Maharashtra), Geeka, H.R. Venkatesh, M.S. Madwesh, Pachu, L. Nagabhushana and A. Jagannath. The last named was a forceful wicket keeper opening batsman and was selected for the All India Universities which toured Shri Lanka. Sunil Gavaskar was also a member of this All India Universities team. M.R. Sridhar led State Juniors Team. He represented Mysore/Bangalore University Team for three years in different capacities – as batsman in one year, as bowler in one year and as wicket keeper in one year. It’s a pity that this talented cricketer did not play for Mysore State in Ranji Trophy.

After completion of my Degree Examination in the same college with Physics and Chemistry as Major Subjects in April 1965, I joined the R.V. College of Engineering to pursue the Engineering course.

When I was doing my Degree course in Vijaya College, Cavale completed his Diploma Course and there was not much of a friendship between us as we did not meet very often.

I was a regular scorer for my R.V.C.E. College team. I wish to recall an incident to show how much I was accurate in scoring. R.V.C.E. was playing in Sub Metro League Competition of Mysore State Cricket Association League matches. There was one such match at Binny Grounds. The match went to wire and the opponent team’s scorer declared his team as winner. I was confident that our college team had won. Opponent team went on appeal. K.S.C.A. Authorities called for the score sheets of both the teams for adjudication.

Cavale was the adjudicator and the result was ruled in favour of R.V.C.E. Cavale counted the number of fours scored by the batsmen and also the number of boundary fours conceded by the bowler. My score book tallied, while the opponent score book showed a boundary four more in the batsman’s tally and a boundary four less in the bowler’s tally. Later on Cavale congratulated me for my accurate scoring in a pressure tight situation.

One of my close friends, Sarvottama Rao, a leg spinner, was to tell thus, “R.V.C.E. should get the credit for your upbringing in the field of scoring. Had we not made you to score the matches, you would not have come this far in this field.” He breathed his last a few years back and I recollected his words in an Alumni meet recently.

Cavale and me used to meet occasionally, in the evenings and walk down to Vokkaligara Sangha field – near City Market, where Bangalore Cricketers used to practice. This team had many cricketers who represented Mysore in Ranji Trophy. G. Kasturirangan, K. Rajagopal, L.T. Subbu, C.M. Varadaraj. I and Cavale used to watch the practice from the sidelines. Cavale identified the names for me.

Cavale had already made his mark in the field of scoring with his impeccable handwriting and had scored many Ranji Trophy matches and was familiar with many of the cricketers.

I failed in third year B.E. Examination which consisted of eleven theory papers and five practicals in April 1967. I took the examination in September and came out successfully. From October 1967 to June 1968, it was all Cavale and me. We became inseparables and spent time together during the day and also late up to 11.00 PM in the night. At home, people were not worried. If I was late, they knew that I was with Cavale. Sometimes at the corner of our house – culvert used to be the chatting place or sometimes in front of his house on Kanakapura Road. There are several occasion when both of us went to a second show Cinema. Cavale  has  an advice for me always – to preserve the half ticket of the second show cinema to show  it  to the beat Policeman who use to intercept me on my way back home from Kanakapura Road to  my home in  Jayanagar Seventh Block.

In a retrospect, I opine that Cavale’s friendship was the best thing happened to me in furthering my cricket career – both scoring and umpiring.