Hyderabad: After completing a successful innings in cricket, V.V.S. Laxman, along with his wife Sailaja, is all set to start their “first innings” in the field of education. The couple launched a play school called 1st Innings in Hyderabad and the two promised it will be a different experience for parents.
“What makes 1st Innings different from other play schools is the curriculum,” explained Sailaja. “The curriculum is inspired from the theory of constructivism. Also, parents can see their child when they are in the playschool from anywhere in the world through live-streaming CCTV,” explained Sailaja before thanking her “very, very special husband” for being there for her "always".
Returning the compliment, Laxman said, “I am really proud of my wife who has sacrificed so much since we got married. She did her post-graduation in Computer Application and could have started a software company. But the first sacrifice she made was when she accepted that she would travel with me for the matches."
Sailaja, however, has no regrets and says that she used the opportunity to visit some of the finest schools in the world and did the required research.
Laxman adds, “Each class in 1st innings is 400 sq. ft. Only 20 kids will be enrolled in each class and the ratio of teacher to student would be 1:10. We don’t want to make it very crowded.”
But while the former cricketer stressed that he is a "family man" and spent as much time as he can with his family, Sailaja chose to differ. She said, “He has become more busy after retirement and I hardly see him at home. Earlier they used to follow a particular schedule where he also had a little free time for himself, but now he is very busy. We travelled to Dubai last month and whenever possible, we mad sure that we were together.”
The couple, who has a son, Sarvajit, and a daughter, Achintya, also feel that it is important to see your child grow. Laxman says, “I think it is important for all of us to spend quality time with our kids. How much ever you achieve in your career, at the end of the day your child should never say that ‘I missed you dad while I was growing up’. So, I make it a point that whenever I am in Hyderabad, I spend quality time with my kids.” Sailaja added that V.V.S. makes it a point to drop the kids to school and later pick them up.
The proud father of two also acknowledged the wife's commitments. “My kids are very mischievous. And my wife brought them up almost as a single parent because personal commitments kept me away from the city. But when I don’t have any other commitments now, I like to spend as much time as possible at home with my family. After retirement, when you have had a successful career, you are bound to have a lot of professional engagements. But that satisfaction you get when you know that you have your family is priceless.”
Laxman also makes it a point to keep touch with his cricketing colleagues and calls them his extended family. He said, “I am still in touch with everyone. I spent 16 years of my life travelling and playing with them. And now, they are like an extended family. Not only them, I am also in touch with the Hyderabadi cricketers with whom I grew up playing. Some of the opposition players too have become close friends over the years. You always tend to continue the friendship. Sometimes it is very difficult to meet but we always keep in touch through BBM, Whatsapp or we drop them a call. And whenever we meet, that’s the best time, because we think of all the memories we had while playing as a team.”
The mentor of the IPL franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Laxman also justified the performance of his team. “It is too early to comment as we have played only five matches till now. Our bowling has been excellent but I think our batting has not been up to potential. But it is just a matter of time till our batting too becomes better.”
He admits that the team could not pick many Hyderabadis this year because of the dynamic nature of the auction. He says, “When you go to the auction thinking that you want XYZ players in your team, it’s not necessary that you will get them. But I must say that the Hyderabadi boys have done well for us during the previous seasons. Hanuma Vihari had a good innings and even Akshath Reddy is very talented. But because of the dynamic nature of the auctions we couldn't pick them this time.”
During the event V.V.S also revealed that a high school is also in the pipeline and hopefully they will take things forward once a new government comes to power. A second innings, may be?
