May 1: In today's world of hype and hoopla, Makarand Waingankar is an anachronism his silent altruism out of sync with modern-day values.

Contentment for him is the quiet savouring of success rather than noisy hogging of credit. A man who prefers the serenity of being a backroom boy than the blast of a boardroom baron. And if you thought he needs a course in promotion techniques, you are wrong. Indeed, he is a qualified marketing man!

Few have contributed to the city's cause as much and as selflessly as this watchdog of Mumbai's cricket. Though Waingankar holds a respectable position as a Marketing Executive in Nocil, no job is too menial for this son of a World War II army officer.

One can spot the tall, fit 48-year-old at the Oval Maidan wearing the same T-shirts as the malis, manicuring the lawns or rolling the ground at the Elf-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy, where he is chief co-ordinator of the city's most famous cricketing stable.

It was Big Mac's vision which made him convince close friend Dilip Vengsarkar in setting up the Elf-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy after steering it through legal and political mine-fields. While Vengsarkar and the sponsors got their due credit from the nomenclature of the academy, busybee Waingankar remained the unsung hero in the background running from pillar to post, pulling strings, pushing files, convincing activists and cajoling bureaucrats to make his dream a reality.

Of course, Waingankar had by now mastered the art of such ambitious ventures, having been in the thick of things in setting up the now defunct BCA-Mafatlal Bowling Scheme. A project which gave Mumbai and India an assembly line of riches that were honed to perfection by the scientific training of Frank Tyson.

Waingankar was concerned about the fact that Mumbai were unable to unearth bowlers and was especially appalled when they had to recall a 48-year-old Paddy Shivalkar to bolster their attack. He made a painstaking project study in 1990 of the problem and made his presentation to the Mumbai Cricket Association, whose high priests only expressed happiness, but gave no help. It was then that he approached Nari Contractor former India skipper and a colleague at his office with the report.

An impressed Contractor, in turn, briefed Hrikishesh Mafatlal, vice-chairman of Mafatlal Industries, who flexed his financial muscle in setting up the BCA-Mafatlal scheme at Cricket Club of India (CCI), Dadar, Shivaji Park Gymkhana, Khar Gymkhana, Jogeshwari, Thane and Bhoisar.

The Shatkar Trophies for under-19 and under-15 which began in 1983 and 1984 respectively and the Sportstar Trophy (under-17), which got under way in 1985, were all Waingankar's brainchild. There is a glint of satisfaction, if not pride, in his eyes when he says that almost all of Mumbai top cricketers with the possible exception of Salil Ankola and Abey Kuruvilla have honed their skills in these age-group tourneys.

Kuruvilla, in fact, is Waingankar's gift to Mumbai and Indian cricket. It's now a well-documented fact about how a raw Kuruvilla was dismissed by the selectors from the hundreds of cricketers who came for a varsity trial. It was Waingankar who spotted a spark of unskilled talent in Kuruvilla which first made him persuade the bowler to hang on and then pleaded his case with the selectors. The rest, as they say, is history.

No wonder, Mumbai coach Balwinder Sandhu believes Waingankar is one of the best talent scouts he has seen.

Yet, it's as a journalist that he has been widely noticed. Waingankar pours vitriol and venom in his widely-read column `Court Martial', which appears in a Marathi eveninger. He has unambiguously and mercilessly treated alike the high and the mighty, friends and foes.

On one occasion, one of his columns invited the displeasure of a reader who made her views known in no uncertain terms in a letter to the editor. The lady was none other than his wife!

Recollecting the incident, Waingankar says: ``In our house there is freedom of speech and expression. I had written against my good friend Dilip Vengsarkar and my wife did not like it. But then when I take my pen in my hand I have no friends.''

It's not only his wife that Waingankar has displeased with his writings. His mother, in fact, seemed to have told him that he would not get four people to lift his body when he is dead, thanks to the number of enemies he has earned with his frank and fearless writings.

Waingankar is not perturbed. ``So far I have never been taken to courts. Everything I write can be substantiated with documentary evidence.''

Recently he made the high-powered Jagmohan Dalmiya very uncomfortable on a chat show on the Internet with his embarrassing quizzing on financial matters. Dalmiya, like Vengsarkar, is his friend. But then that's Waingankar, who has consistently taken on Sunil Gavaskar like no other journalist.

Senior Mumbai players have been known to pull up their socks in the presence of Waingankar to avoid being censured in his column. But he is also there for them in times of need. Be it organising a benefit for Vasant Ranjane or providing moral support for the family members of the bed-ridden Ramnath Parkar.

Waingankar, who captained Wilson College in cricket, and also played rugby for them, started as a freelance journalist with Loksatta in 1969 but then joined full-time with the defunct Sportsweek in 1973. ``I quit as a full-time journalist after two years in deference to my mother's wishes. My maternal grandfather, Rambhau Tatnis, was the editor of Vividvruta and my mother believed his journalistic career forced him to ignore his family. She did not want my wife and children to suffer from the same neglect.''

Waingankar may not be a full-time journalist today, but his involvement with cricket and journalism has nevertheless made his family life suffer. But in his physiotherapist wife, Dr Sandhya, Makarand has a pillar of strength. In fact, a majority of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy cricketers seek Dr Sandhya's advice for their injuries and aches.

``Sandhya is very involved and motivated in lending a helping hand to the players,'' says Waingankar. Her long-distance treatment of Nilesh Kulkarni's lower back problem during this year's Ranji semis and final played no mean part in Mumbai's title-triumph.

Waingankar lives, breathes and eats cricket. And it's his passion and sincerity which has won him a grant of Rs 15 lakh from a Madras businessman from a cricket-related research.

The style and substance of Waingankar's functioning is a throwback to a bygone era. Indeed, he is the last of such dinosaurs.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.