Breaking barriers: Ex-England cricketer Mike Brearley's romantic connection with Ahmedabad

Ever since England landed here on February 18 to play their two remaining Tests and five ODIs against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium Motera a WhatsApp message concerning former England captain Mike Brearley is going viral among cricket loversWhat is Brearleyrsquos connection with this series is a fair question to ask oneself on receiving the messageAfter all he is not associated with the affairs of English cricket and one hears that he has stopped writing on the gameBut then most cricket lovers lap up trivia And then as we got reminded in the WhatsApp forward Brearley married a lady from AhmedabadThatrsquos when the penny droppedBrearley is the soninlaw of Gujarati businessman Gautam Sarabhai The exopening batsmanrsquos wife Mana is the niece of Dr Vikram Sarabhai hailed as the father of Indian space researchSaroop Dhruv PicHarit N JoshiBrearley met his life partner when they studied at Cambridge University in the 1960s and it must have been special for him to play a tour game in Ahmedabad during MCCrsquos 197677 tour of India English Test teams toured under the Marylebone Cricket Club banner till that seasonBrearley vicecaptain to Tony Greig on that tour played at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Stadium where he only batted in the second innings He scored 59 before being dismissed hit wicket off Parthasarathy SharmaAstute captainAlthough he did not score a century in any of his 39 Tests Brearley 78 was an astute captain who led England to three Ashes wins in 1977 197879 and most famously his comeback one in 1981 before retiring from international cricketBrearley regularly visits his inlaws in Ahmedabad and is known to enjoy spending Christmas in Manarsquos home cityA renowned psychoanalyst Brearley wanted to meaningfully engage with his inlawsrsquo family but his limitations with Gujarati prevented him Thatrsquos how Brearleyrsquos fatherinlaw hired a tutor Saroop Dhruv to teach him the language Dhruv 72 a poet writer activist and a PHD in Gujarati folklore took up the challenge to teach Brearley ldquoWhen I came to know that I have to teach simple Gujarati to the England captain I was a bit shocked I had apprehensions how will it be possible to teach such a great personality But as soon as I met him he put me at ease and starting our conversation with lsquoNamaste Sarooprsquo I used to call him Mike bhai and thatrsquos how the entire Sarabhai family started calling him that later onrdquo she recalls in a chat with midday at her residence Brearleyrsquos fatherinlaw felt Brearley was isolated from the family due to the language barrier ldquoThere was a strict practice in the Sarabhai family that everybody would have lunch and dinner together And at home everybody had to speak in the mothertongue Gautam bhai felt Mike was a bit isolated whenever they met for meals and during general conversations at the home So my job was to ensure Mike learnt basic conversational skills in Gujarati For example how he would instruct the staff at home in Gujarati if he wanted something or find some stuff for him If they are on the dining table Mike should be able to ask what he wants or if they go out to sayManek Chowk or Law Gardenhe should be able to order his food or give feedbackwhether it is moru sour teekhu spicy or mithu sweetrdquo says Dhruv who has been teaching nonGujarati speaking people since 1974Dhruv would meet Brearley thrice a week for one hour in the day during his one monthrsquos stay here in that particular yearTo make learning more interesting Brearley renowned for his intelligent captaincy he lost only four of the 31 Tests he led England in would try to understand and translate the names of Indian cricketers ldquoHe was curious to know the meaning of some great Indian cricketers like Erapalli Prasanna Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Sunil GavaskarSo I told him Prasanna means being happy Chandrasekhar is Lord Shiva and Sunil means blue sea or sky Not for a single day I found him getting bored of learning the language or felt it was being imposed on him He took keen interest and also tried understanding Gujarati and Indian cultures It motivated me as well and I saw how humble this great personality isrdquo she says Humble personWith the English team in her hometown Dhruv herself a cricket lover couldnrsquot help reminiscing the time she spent with Brearley ldquoHe is a very downtoearth and humble man My family members are cricket fanatics so when I invited him to meet them he readily agreed He also told me how he counselled Sir Ian BothamrdquoBrearley and Dhruv have not kept in touch since she stopped teaching but wishes to meet the grand man againConsidering how much he likes coming to Ahmedabad in the fag end of the year that meeting cannot be ruled out