07 December,2010 03:56 PM IST | | Clayton Murzello
On one of his visits to cancer-afflicted TE Srinivasan, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar told his former India teammate: "Don't be silly, you will pull through." And in the throes of TE's illness, daughter Shubha said, "Dad, you can be like Lance Armstrong, who triumphed over cancer."
Yesterday, former Test cricketer TE (60) passed away in Chennai after waging a long battle against brain tumour.
Indeed, the disease is known to dash even the strongest winds of hope; the tallest pillars of optimism.
TE fought the fight just like his sport taught him to in a crisis. When MiD DAY interviewed him in 2008, he looked at the bright side. At Tata Memorial hospital he saw kids suffering and soon realised that he was better off in some ways. "When I saw those kids, I thought to myself, 'at least I've lived for more than 50 years,' " he said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's contribution towards his illness has been commendable ufffd a whopping Rs 20 lakh. "Hats off to Sharad Pawar," he said of the then BCCI chief in 2008.
To his teammates, TE will always be known as a character, who entertained them. "Although he played only one Test on the tour of Aus and NZ in 1980-81, he played a lot of side games. He entertained us in the dressing room. I remember he was a great admirer of actor Kamal Haasan. 'Red Rose,' TE used to utter often.
Wonder what he meant by that?" said Karsan Ghavri, the former India all-rounder.u00a0 The anecdote that TE was famously associated with was about the time he landed in Australia for the 1980-81 tour. "Tell Dennis Lillee, TE has arrived," he supposedly told a reporter although TE classified the story as fiction. Wife Mala was his big source of strength. Cricket brought them together. After watching TE score a Ranji Trophy century for Tamil Nadu against Karnataka in the late 1970s, she became an admirer. A fan mail response from TE triggered their enduring love affair.
