Remembering Ranjit Khanvilkar

Tomorrow (30/08/2020) is the 60th birth anniversary of  Ranjit Khanvilkar, the former Karnataka Ranji cricket player. He perished tragically in a train accident in 1988 at the young age of 27.

In the early 80's, Ranjit was one of the rising stars in the Indian domestic cricket circuit. He was one of the key members of a star studded Karnataka Ranji team. He scored a century in the 1981-82 Ranji final against Delhi. Burnishing his reputation as a big match player, he followed it up with a crucial 32 to get the lead for Karnataka in the 1983 Ranji final. Later he moved to the railways. But his cricket career never again reached the heights of the glory days of the early 80's.

During my early teens, Ranjit was one of my idols. I fervently wished that he would make it to the Indian cricket team. Even after he moved away from my beloved Karnataka, I would follow his career in the railways. I was rooting for him to turn his career around. Then one day in the late 80's, I read in the newspaper about his untimely death. Still remember it like yesterday. The emotional numbness of grief.

With the passage of time, I prefer to think of Ranjit as a shooting star. He was there for a brief period of time and spread the joy. Over the years, I would reminisce about him; search the net about any details about him. Couple of years ago, out of the blue, stumbled upon a photo of him and a remembrance message in the local newspaper. There was no info about the message writer. I was left wondering if it was his surviving family or his former teammates, who had posted the message. Or just some fan like me. More than thirty years since passing on, comforting to know that I am not the only one who remembers Ranjit fondly.

" As long as we remember a person, they're not really gone. Their thoughts, their feelings, their memories, they become a part of us." - Justin Cronin