International hockey umpire Gurumurthy Pillay no more
November 24, 2020
By Paritosh Pramanik
Mornings at Vidarbha Hockey Association ground off Amravati Road won't be same again.
The Sun would rise as usual but the morning rays will miss kissing the ‘Son of Soil’ Gurumurthy Pillay on the ‘field’.
Guru Anna, as he was fondly called in hockey circles all over the country, peacefully left for heavenly abode on early Monday (Nov 23, 2020) morning at a city hospital.
It was ‘final whistle’ for Guru Anna at the ripe age of 83. The Almighty ‘blew the final hooter’ for the ‘Braveheart of Vidarbha’.
Guru Anna lived for hockey in true sense. In 2004, he fought the pain of losing his son Rakesh to Tsunami only to serve the game. He decided not to go in search of his son, who was swept away by Tsunami, to Chennai and stayed back in Nagpur to overlook the preparations of West Zone and All India Inter-University Hockey competition of which he was Technical Director. (Even after 16 years, his son has not yet returned home.)
Guru Anna could not hold back his tears when this scribe touched the most painful topic on January 8, 2005, when he was busy giving final touches to the VHA field for the West Zone meet which was a few days away.
“It’s God wish (taking away his son). We are all his puppets. What would have I done at Chennai. God willing my son would be back soon… hockey has given me everything and today it’s time I pay it back. This is God’s wish. I am sure he is still alive and will come back soon,” a tearful Guru Anna had said as he minutely watched fixing the goalpost. The All India tournament went past smoothly and Guru Anna earned praise for his organisational skills which he did singlehandedly.
Guru Anna was a guru (teacher) for umpires of the city. It was only because of Guru Anna, after SL Narwaria, Nagpur’s former hockey players took to umpiring and won accolades. Pramod Jain, Ravi Francis, Rajesh Bihari, Sunil Madne late Dharamraj Kanojiya, to name a few, were products of Guru Anna who was always there to help them, day or night. Guru Anna’s ‘classes’ would continue till late night in Sadar until the umpires had received satisfying answers.
The adage ‘age is just a number’ aptly suited Guru Anna. Looking at his fitness and health none would believe that the former India player, who played against visiting Japan and East Germany teams in 1968, had crossed the age of 80.
Since decades, not a single day would pass without Guru Anna visiting the VHA ground in the morning as well as in evenings. Occasionally, he would miss the evening sessions, but never the mornings.
Taking his seat at the corner of approach road of the ground, Guru Anna could be seen reading newspaper thoroughly. In between, he used to glance through his glares and watch players dribble during their morning practice sessions.
It used to be an interesting morning session with Guru Anna as he had bagful of anecdotes from his playing to umpiring days. “While umpiring, you have to be extra smart, more than players,” Guru Anna used to say.
Guru Anna was not keeping well for past couple of weeks after he suffered a fall at his Sadar residence. “He was doing well after that fall at home. But for last few days he was not keeping well. He got weak as he was not taking his daily meals properly,” his daughter Bhuneshwari Mudliar told ‘The Hitavada’.
“Yesterday only Dad said he wanted to go to VHA ground and I was prepared to take him in the morning. But he felt uneasiness on Sunday night and we took him to the hospital. Early morning he passed away,” his son Yogesh informed.
An excellent midfielder, Guru Anna played for Vidarbha and Central Railways headquarters for more than two decades. After he decided to quit competitive hockey, Guru Anna decided to take the whistle and learn the tricks of the trade of hockey umpire. He succeeded in that too and went on to officiate as umpire at scores of Indian Hockey Federation organised nationals. Later, he was tasked with the job of Technical Official. That job too was handled with precision. With experience, Guru Anna was elevated as Technical Director and was handed several top-notch competitions of the country which included Senior, Junior Nationals across the country, Bombay Gold Cup, Aga Khan Gold Cup, Murugappa Gold Cup and many more.
Guru Anna had a knack of handling any situation. Once, while handling the technical table during a match of a local league tournament at VHA ground, one departmental team which was trailing against a club side, claimed bad light and asked to stop the game.
Some 10 odd minutes were left on the clock and the light was good enough to complete the match. But the team did not budge. Guru Anna then decided to stop the match that evening and said that the remaining part would be played next morning at the given time. He also ordered that if any team does not reach on time, the match would be awarded to the team present on the field. The next morning, the departmental team failed to reach on time and the match was awarded to the club side.
“I was sure these indisciplined guys would not reach on time, hence I gave them morning time,” Guru Anna had reasoned.
The mornings won’t be same again.
Rest in Peace Guru Anna!
