I had a dream....
I didn't have a great dream like the one of Martin Luther King Jr, but today i had realised one of my dreams which i had visualised 25 years ago. Row 4, Seat 70, Mound Stand, The Lords cricket ground, watching the 3rd day's play between India and England. I never had better saturdays in my life than this one.
This was the ticket which was issued to me at lords. One of the cherished possessions.
After collecting my tickets at the counter, there was security check and we had a big queue to be checked before being allowed to witness the match.
After the security checks, I passed the edrich and compton stands to reach the Mound stand. Row 4, Seat # 70, Mound Stand - I sat there in that place with so much of adamancy like karunanidhi (that for next 6 hours i was not ready to move away except for food and rain). India resumed the overnight innings with Ganguly (dada struggling a lot on seaming conditions and RP singh playing the night watchman's role).
After the middle order collapse, VVS (Very Very Special) Lakshman was running out of partners before India bundled out for 201. Indians came back to the field and had the usual huddle (probably they might have discussed about the next pepsi ad?).
Then there came the lunch break, My "Madhya Pradesh" (stomach) ringing bells for her state budget allocation. I was going through the "outfield bar", couple of panini/pasta stalls and finally encountered a "Desi Stall".
There was a old gentleman like "our thathas"...who got inspired by the flavour and aroma of mixed vegetable curry, was enquiring about mixed vegetable curry (probably he had a "setha naaku" after eating those deadly sandwiches. I had my share of pulao and veg curry (this was more like our aviyal !!!) and i was enjoying this aviyal with the square drives of michael vaughan (wah wah....what a combination !!!)
There was heavier showers and the match was temporarily called off with the covers on. This was the most irritating and boring part of the match, as the audience really got irritated with the incessant rain.
Then when the played got resumed, sreesanth and zaheer bhai were firing all cylinders from both ends. Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook were managing few boundaries, but there was a huge expectation building in our minds, that wickets were about to fall sooner/later.
But there was a beauty (in cricketin parlance its a "peach" of a delivery) to dismiss andrew strauss and Sachin had the safe pair of hands to send strauss back to pavilion.
Rain interfered again and there was a delay in the proceedings of the game. We guys were pulling Ganguly's leg about his performance and his fitness by screaming about Dada and asking him to wave the sweaters, With one friend of mine wanted to scold Anil Kumble so that he played better cricket.
Another friend of mine, a sardar and his band gave us a gala time by singing songs and whistling and cheering the crowd. The Barmy Army (british fans) were competing with our Bharat Army and we had fun time booing Kevin Pietersen..
When the play resumed, Kevin pietersen and Michael Vaughan safely harboured their ship and it was a session where it went wicketless.
At 77/2, badlight was offered to the batsmen and they had taken the offer, the match was drawn to stumps. I was literally disappointed for the number of overs (that i cudn't witness 90 overs), but there was a surprise gift given to me by the almighty.
I had a chance to meet and spend 15 mins of his time with Sir Harold Dickie Bird (greatest umpire, by the standards of cricket) and I was enquiring about his health and cricket commitments and in reciprocal, he was asking me whether sachin should call it a day/not. I enjoyed our brief chat and we posed for a foto before angus fraser (the mighty fast bowler stepped in).
With Cameraman (lakshman), this is lvprasad reporting the 3rd day's play back to the studios. Over to You Harsha !!!
~Lakshman
This was the ticket which was issued to me at lords. One of the cherished possessions.
After collecting my tickets at the counter, there was security check and we had a big queue to be checked before being allowed to witness the match.
After the security checks, I passed the edrich and compton stands to reach the Mound stand. Row 4, Seat # 70, Mound Stand - I sat there in that place with so much of adamancy like karunanidhi (that for next 6 hours i was not ready to move away except for food and rain). India resumed the overnight innings with Ganguly (dada struggling a lot on seaming conditions and RP singh playing the night watchman's role).
After the middle order collapse, VVS (Very Very Special) Lakshman was running out of partners before India bundled out for 201. Indians came back to the field and had the usual huddle (probably they might have discussed about the next pepsi ad?).
Then there came the lunch break, My "Madhya Pradesh" (stomach) ringing bells for her state budget allocation. I was going through the "outfield bar", couple of panini/pasta stalls and finally encountered a "Desi Stall".
There was a old gentleman like "our thathas"...who got inspired by the flavour and aroma of mixed vegetable curry, was enquiring about mixed vegetable curry (probably he had a "setha naaku" after eating those deadly sandwiches. I had my share of pulao and veg curry (this was more like our aviyal !!!) and i was enjoying this aviyal with the square drives of michael vaughan (wah wah....what a combination !!!)
There was heavier showers and the match was temporarily called off with the covers on. This was the most irritating and boring part of the match, as the audience really got irritated with the incessant rain.
Then when the played got resumed, sreesanth and zaheer bhai were firing all cylinders from both ends. Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook were managing few boundaries, but there was a huge expectation building in our minds, that wickets were about to fall sooner/later.
But there was a beauty (in cricketin parlance its a "peach" of a delivery) to dismiss andrew strauss and Sachin had the safe pair of hands to send strauss back to pavilion.
Rain interfered again and there was a delay in the proceedings of the game. We guys were pulling Ganguly's leg about his performance and his fitness by screaming about Dada and asking him to wave the sweaters, With one friend of mine wanted to scold Anil Kumble so that he played better cricket.
Another friend of mine, a sardar and his band gave us a gala time by singing songs and whistling and cheering the crowd. The Barmy Army (british fans) were competing with our Bharat Army and we had fun time booing Kevin Pietersen..
When the play resumed, Kevin pietersen and Michael Vaughan safely harboured their ship and it was a session where it went wicketless.
At 77/2, badlight was offered to the batsmen and they had taken the offer, the match was drawn to stumps. I was literally disappointed for the number of overs (that i cudn't witness 90 overs), but there was a surprise gift given to me by the almighty.
I had a chance to meet and spend 15 mins of his time with Sir Harold Dickie Bird (greatest umpire, by the standards of cricket) and I was enquiring about his health and cricket commitments and in reciprocal, he was asking me whether sachin should call it a day/not. I enjoyed our brief chat and we posed for a foto before angus fraser (the mighty fast bowler stepped in).
With Cameraman (lakshman), this is lvprasad reporting the 3rd day's play back to the studios. Over to You Harsha !!!
~Lakshman
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