OF ANNIVERSARIES AND BIRTHDAYS

October 2007 marks the 75th anniversary of the Bodyline series. Yet another pretext for reams of articles (including yours truly) and sureshot headlines. As it is, anniversaries are grist to the mill, ranging from 100, 75, 60, 50, 25, 20, 10, 5 and many a time one (one year of the Manmohan Singh government, for example).

It could encompass 50 years after the EMS Namboodiripad-led Communist government came to power in Kerala (1957), 50 years after Roger Bannister ran a mile in less than four minutes (1954) and 60 years after the creation of the bikini (1946). There is nostalgia, there is history revisited and reinterpreted and titillation too (can't forget the infectious enthusiasm at the top level for a special show on bikinis).

Then there is the 'coinciding date' which juxtaposes an incident in the immediate past with another in the distant past. When there is a supreme irony nothing like it, for a two-pronged headline and a discussion on TV. September 11 may be just a date, but it's difficult to imagine that Mahatma Gandhi's first non-violent satyagraha in South Africa was on September 11, 1906. The irony was brought out clearly last year, the 100th anniversary of Gandhi's first satyagraha.

'Anniversary' headlines may ensure that the dust is shaken off the pages of history. But what about 'birthday' headlines? A preserve of film stars and cricketers. Here if you are a reigning idol, it's not just about numbers like 30 (mature actor), 40 (still dapper despite stepping into middle age), 50 (aeging but still hanging on) and 60 (evergreen). Any number, from 30 to 70 to the very end are good enough for 30-minute specials with the same visuals and the same thing said over and over again. Especially if you are Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth or Lata Mangeshkar, just to name a few.

The TV birthday explosion was kicked off by the Big B turning 60 in 2002. There weren't too many players then, but the birthday cult and fans swaying to TV cameras had made their presence felt. Rajini had a major 50th birthday bash in 1999, but he didn't get countrywide attention. (Those were the days when there was only one English-oriented news channel and there was no comprehension about the huge English-speaking 'South India' market)

A dash of trivia helps in no small measure. Rekha's birthday happens to be October 10, a day before the Big B. The perfect excuse to showcase song after song with Amitabh and Rekha ad nauseam (Salaam-e-Ishq meri jaan, Rang Barse, Dekha Ek Khwab etc)

The following years saw the Khans, Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman all crossing 40 and this year Akshay Kumar too has done it. But now 40, 41, 42.......every number is an excuse for a headline and half-an-hour of interviews, film clips and camera-friendly fans swearing undying devotion.

If Bollywood's there, can cricket be far behind? 2003 marked 30 years of Sachin Tendulkar and thereafter every year every Sachin birthday has made it to the headlines. Depending on their form. Dravid and Ganguly too got a look-in. Now it's Dhoni's turn.

And if you need a crash course in how to say the same thing in five different stories spread over 30 minutes, the answer is to celebrate a celebrity birthday.

It's a sign of the times that Rakhi Sawant's birthday can create hysteria among some news channels. She gets her publicity, the channels get (or think they get) their eyeballs.

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75 YEARS AFTER BODYLINE

THE CRACK OF DOOM

THE SPORTING SIDE OF CHE

CELEBRATING RD

75 YEARS AFTER BODYLINE

The late 1980s. I was hooked on to cricket and vaguely heard about a Don Bradman way back in the past with an average that was well, Bradmanesque.

Then Doordarshan stepped in and the word of Bradman was made flesh and dwelt among us in our living rooms. Only that it was a Bradman shorn of myth and instead facing mortal peril. The stage being the infamous Bodyline series of 1932-33.

The objects of hate to my impressionable eyes were the sinister-looking English captain Douglas Jardine and his instrument of doom Harold Larwood. The two villains with the motive of stopping Bradman at any cost. And Larwood pounded the pitch with scary thunderbolts aimed at the body, with a clutch of fielders behind the leg stump. The Australians wilted, their captain Bill Woodfull hit on the chest by Larwood and Bradman managing just one hundred. The result: 4-1 England.

Another enduring image is of an England batsman badly sick and struggling in the dressing room, while the England innings was collapsing. Jardine virtually forced him out to bat and there he was, scoring runs aplenty and bailing England out. Much later, I realised the batsman was Eddie Paynter.

Paynter owed a lot to the 'conscientious objector' to Bodyline, the Nawab of Pataudi. Pataudi started firmly with a century in the first test, but as the Bodyline clouds enveloped the field, he was shown as opposing Jardine's plans. Which meant Pataudi took an early bow.

The serial ended with images of what happened later to the principal players. I remember feeling gladdened by the fact that after the 'vile triumph' Jardine faced brickbats in England, and didn't play too much after. Harold Larwood never played international cricket again, and in the ultimate irony, ended up settling in Australia. And Don Bradman went on amassing runs unhindered, to reach the Bradmanesque average of 99.94.

But now, 75 years after October 1932, when the English touring party landed in Australia, it's time for less outrage and a bit of grudging admiration for Douglas Jardine. Inhuman as it may have been, Bodyline was a tactical masterstroke which achieved the twin objectives of an Ashes victory and containing the rampaging Don.

And how can you not conceal a sense of admiration for someone who never flinched when given a taste of his own medicine? In 1933, Jardine made his only test hundred at Old Trafford against the West Indies , grinding out 127 in five hours battling Bodyline tactics employed by Learie Constantine and Manny Martindale.

Let's also spare a thought for Harold Larwood, the former coal-miner, who refused to apologise to a holier-than-thou administration and hence never got to play for England again.

As for Pataudi, he kept a distance from the fledgling Indian side of the 1930s and captained India much later in 1946 (in England) when he was way past his prime.

Leg theory was banned but intimidatory fast bowling continues to mesmerise and horrify. From Lillee and Thomson for the Aussies to the West Indian pace quartet of the 1970s and 1980s, the legacy of Bodyline lives on.

And here's a trivia question gauging the impact of Bodyline.

Q: The publication of the first supplement of the Oxford Dictionary was postponed for one particular reason. What?

Hint: It was published in 1933. The delay was to include the definition of a new word (a cricketing term)

THE SPORTING SIDE OF CHE

He was an avid rugby player despite an asthma handicap and earned himself the nickname Fuser — a combination of El Furibundo (The Raging) and his mother's surname (Serna) — for his aggressive style of play.
He also founded a rugby magazine, called Tackle. He wrote the entire contents under either his own name or a code name, Chang-Cho, which is apparently a play on one of his nicknames, the Pig.

This question was asked at a quiz I went for a few weeks ago. I knew Albert Camus had played football, Hemingway had a passion for bullfighting and that Conan Doyle and Wodehouse had a yen for cricket. But this was unfamiliar trivia. It had to be somebody with a Spanish language connection but Spain or Latin American countries had no rugby tradition to boast of. Our tame guess was legendary Argentine footballer Alfredo Di Stefano.

The answer turned out to be another Argentine, none other than Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. And 40 years after his death, there is a rugby footnote too to the myth of Che the revolutionary icon. The Telegraph has an evocative piece with a photo of Che the rugby player, who's now emerged as an unexpected icon of the Argentine rugby side.

And it's fitting that the 40th anniversary of Che's death coincides with the Pumas' (Argentine rugby squad) surprise entry into the ongoing Rugby World Cup semifinals. A year the outsider breached the inner circle.