In the biography of ‘Doc’ MV Sridhar, Harimohan Paruvu captures the essence of why the late cricketer was loved and respected by all

Former cricketer Harimohan Paruvu was in a dilemna when Dr M Pushpa came to him with a request to write a biography on her late son, the former Hyderabad cricket captain and cricket administrator, Dr MV Sridhar. Harimmohan was not keen on writing biographies, but when she said, ‘Youngsters could learn from his life and be inspired,’ he saw reason enough to take it up.

The book The Renaissance Man – ‘Doc’ MV Sridhar released recently, narrates the life story of the late cricketer.

Interspersed with photographs and anecdotes, the book focusses on the man and the way he excelled in different roles —as a doctor, a Hyderabad first-class cricketer, corporate executive and cricket administrator.

Being his junior, Harimohan Paruvu had known Sridhar from his school days. “I knew a lot of his schoolmates and teachers too but when I interviewed 64 people for the book, several new facets were revealed to me — his passion, his humility, his focus, concentration, his intelligence. So many people had been so deeply impacted by him,” he shares.

Chronologically divided into different chapters, the book narrates his childhood, schooling at All Saint’s High School, his jazz years, getting high runs for Hyderabad, family bond, corporate stint, cricket administration and BCCI stories. His medical college days not only make for a fascinating chapter but were also arguably the ‘best phase in Sridhar’s life, full of fun and friends’. When Sridhar entered a room, people’s faces would light up; he would make everyone laugh with his jokes.

Being a cricketer had been Sridhar’s dream, but his grandfather was keen that he study medicine; Sridhar accepted the decision without any protest. “Without complaining or cribbing, he studied medicine and the best thing was he focussed only on studies for five years,” says Harimohan. The author recalls how he was surprised to learn of Sridhar’s dancing skills. “He was in the singing team; He was not a trained dancer but had a great sense of rhythm. He would write scripts and stage plays in college and excelled in all of these.

With a foreword written by VVS Laxman, the book documents interesting facets of his life. He was a Hyderabad Ranji cricketer, doctor and turned into a corporate when he joined Satyam and then finally became a cricket administrator. Sridhar’s mother shares how people would enquire about the hospital he was working for.

People recall that Sridhar had always been a team player who kept his problems to himself. At the same time, he wouldn’t talk about any of the problems he faced or worries he had; he would only become thoughtful and take responsibility for it. His way of handling a crisis was just to move ahead, taking along everyone in the team — whether in the corporate company he worked in, or in the cricket team he captained. He had a tremendous ability to understand people, without judgement. He was the glue that held people together”

Most of Sridhar’s friends discuss how he pushed them out of their comfort zone to excel, but was always around when they needed help. In the last chapter ‘A star returns to the Pavilion’, Dr Pushpa pens her shock and pain on her son’s death. “We picked up his best qualities and constructed his life so that others can imbibe them,” explains Harimohan.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Biography / by Neerja Murthy / August 19th, 2019