Peter Roebuck, the scribe who loved the Pongal Test

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“One owes respect to the living; but to the dead one owes nothing but the truth”— Voltaire.

The news of Peter Roebuck passing away has saddened followers of the game. The mystery surrounding his death has made it even more depressing. When someone leaves us he should be remembered for the good deeds he had done.

Like any other aspirant who wanted to make writing or talking about the game his life, I had my share of heroes to follow and I will have to admit that Roebuck made that list a little late and just in time before I became a full time reporter.

It was October 2004 when I was first introduced to the former Somerset captain by R. Mohan during a dinner organised by the latter to Indian and visiting reporters who were covering the second Test between India and Australia. It was later that I learnt R. Mohan’s dinner was as grand a tradition as the Chepauk Test itself.

It did not take much time for me to bombard Roebuck and another veteran, Mike Coward, with a flurry of questions and I would have to admit each one of those answers given was an education in itself.
It was after a while that Roebuck asked me to explain the relevance of the Madras Test coinciding with the Tamil harvest festival. Believe me, it was the first of my 15 minutes of fame although the tradition is almost gone now with the cricket calendar going haywire. It was an unwritten rule back then that every visiting side would play the New Year Test at the Eden Gardens and the Pongal game at the hallowed turf of Chepauk when it was a holiday period in Madras.

I did not agree with all of Roebuck’s views but what he taught a legion of cricket writers was on how to express oneself and not get lost in our endeavour to impress. Simple lines caught the attention more than difficult words that made us rush to the bookshelf in search of a dictionary.

Roebuck’s knowledge of the game was immense and he had no ego and would approach even a junior reporter if he had a doubt he had to clarify.

When Roebuck penned a tribute to Sachin Tendulkar (2008) on his milestone of 12,000 Test runs he had no problem in quoting Anand Vasu who was then writing for the Cricinfo in his lead.

It was during the same series in Nagpur (Sourav Ganguly’s final Test) where I had the opportunity to interact with him on a much closer level where the morning would always begin with a reference with what happened on the previous day.

At the end of the fifth day (busy meeting a deadline) I felt a tap on my shoulder and Roebuck quietly mumbled a few words in his heavy accent. I turned back glanced, smiled and said thanks without quite knowing what he had said.

It was only moments later that a dear friend of mine sitting next to me said: “You have arrived! Roebuck just said he enjoyed your work over the last five days.” It took some time for it to sink in and till date I don’t know whether he was just being courteous or otherwise.

The last I met Roebuck was on April 2 at the Wankhede Stadium. I wished him and he promised to catch up in a while. The chaos after India’s win at the World Cup ensured both of us did not have the time. We never saw each other after that, we never will.