Achrekar’s life shows purity of Guru-Shishya bond

The spontaneous and genuine outpouring of grief at the passing away of coach Ramakant Achrekar “Sir” by his disciples, shows that the traditional Guru-Shishya parampara still holds sway in India.
Achrekar Sir, as the wards that include Sachin Tendulkar and many other former Indian cricketers, used to address him, was no trained cricketing coach. He like many others who can be found guiding young aspirants across the country into disciplined students was a father figure to hundreds of Sharadashram Vidyamandir boys in Mumbai.

He was the coach who, without scientific, modern methods or equipment, would impart the basics of the game to young impressionable minds embarking into the “unknown” uncharted world. The “Guru” in India, even if he happens to teach you the rudiments of a sport, seamlessly transforms into a father figure, a mentor who advises you on almost all aspects of life and how to live.

By all accounts, Achrekar was an intuitive person, well schooled in how to rein in the boundless energy of the young. The respect and adulation that someone like Tendulkar or a Vinod Kambli showered on him shows that Achrekar was no ordinary coach and played a significant role in shaping their minds as well as skills.

What is extraordinary, and this holds true for most players across the country, is that even after they may have outgrown those “archaic” coaching methods, their respect for their first coach never wanes. He is, for them, always the man who made them what they are today.

In Chandigarh where I spent most of my early professional years, the late Desh Prem Azad was a towering figure at the cricket stadium, a coach whose word was the law. Unlike Achrekar, he was a former Ranji Trophy player and had got his coaching diploma at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala. His coaching centre was a more formal training centre run by the state. 
The Azad academy’s most famous “product” is Kapil Dev and includes other names like Ashok Malhotra and Chetan Sharma. What is touching is that Kapil, even after he had become an international star and had outlived Azad’s basic, rudimentary coaching methods, held him in the same esteem and respect as he had done as a child.

He was the first “guru” whose feet had to be touched to seek his blessings every time he would meet him. This is a tradition that has deep roots in the collective Indian psyche and goes well beyond sports and permeates all walks of life. In Delhi, Sonnet Club’s Tariq Sinha symbolises what is so beautiful and almost spiritual in these coach-disciple relationships in sports.

The first coaches are, in the mind of the players, larger than father figures, someone who channelized their unruly inclinations and gave them a wholesome direction. Stories of a Virat Kohli presenting a car to his coach on the occasion of his birthday or a Sehwag publicly acknowledging his debt to his first formal coach are no exceptions.

Even if “Guru” and “Shishya” relationship may have outlived its utility, their bond remains strong. In giving their Achrekar Sir a tearful farewell, Tendulkar and other Indian cricketers were reaffirming a long-lived tradition rooted in gratitude, love and respect.