The man who ushered international cricket to Srinagar in the 1980s

Ravinder Pandita

Nothing remains but memories. It was 82 years ago that ON Pajnu was born in Safa Kadal in Srinagar. Having trained to become an engineer, he became a businessman in his later years and eventually took up the role of a surveyor and loss assessor in the insurance sector. We still have memories of his heyday, when he was one of the Kashmiri Pandits who would ride a Bullet motorcycle, red coloured, when a few Yezdi bikes were seen around on the roads.

He was associated with the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association, which was considered a prestigious sports body those days in the state. He had the ear of the officials in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the 1980s. It was under his stewardship that J&K was allotted two international matches — one in 1983 between India and West Indies and the second between India and Australia in 1986 — both in Srinagar. While the former was marred by violence, the 1986 tie was very successful. He was a fine cricketer himself.

As I was connected with Radio Kashmir and Doordarshan those days as a sports anchor and commentator, it was Pajnu who facilitated an interview of Australian captain Allan Border for Radio Kashmir. Though it was very difficult to work out the logistics in the mid-1980s without mobile phones or other gadgets, I vividly remember he used his resources to get into the houseboat on Dal Lake where the Australian squad was housed.

Pajnu had very good relations with noted cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar in those days. It was he who took Sunil Gavaskar to Idgah ground in Srinagar to inaugurate a cricket tournament. He had developed warm relations with the great cricketer and it became a big news that at his behest Sunil Gavaskar had visited downtown Srinagar.

A few years ago I met Pajnu after three decades during the renovation of Vital Bhairav Mandir in Srinagar in 2012. He arrived with his colleagues, all Srinagar-based Kashmiri Pandits who had not left the Valley and we enjoyed a good chat and religious rituals at the temple. He had turned into a pious, religious soul by now and talked about living in Safa Kadal and never migrating from the Valley, even though nearly all of his community had left by the early 1990s. Pajnu, however, continued to live at his Safa Kadal residence till his last.

ON Pajnu passed away a few days back in Srinagar, having decided to never leave his motherland. In him we miss a gentleman cricketer and a very good sports administrator. He will be remembered by the sports fraternity more for his stint with cricket rather than his achievements as an engineer.

I admire him for his work for J&K cricket and his love for the motherland.

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