Countdown and Calypso...

This would be my first world cup after '83 when kapil's devils came back with the prudential's and i still remember the celebrations back home when "jaggu mama" woke me up said india has won. I was a kid aged 5 then, but still that was the best victories which reminds me as though i had won (In fact, that marked the beginning of Cricket as the religion which had its origin in india).

Here in the so-called mecca of cricket at lords, i don't see the same celebrations/fever which we have for the cricket world cup. Cricket to me is one of the "C which i liked and has been inherited from the "gora log" next to janu's coffee and cinema. Date 06 feb 1985, i still remember we (ofcourse in the company of ram) really bugged my father AVR during the world series (remember ravi shastri got an audi car...), finally came in Mr BPL to our home.

I lost my first teeth, injury on the forehead, ram's broken thumb all still linger in my memory. Cricket in those days were so cute in coimbatore...where i was studying 2nd standard (i don't remember the sections....) playing with guys like butter, sundar, KR who were on the final years / doing CA etc. Being the chotu, I will be getting the additional "gaaji" (its local term for another innings...ofcourse my mom always use to referee the matches give the verdicts like the appelate tribunals set for the rivers...)

Cricket is like Lord ganesha where you can play whereever u want / with whatever u want. (i have seen ppl making ganesha in turmeric to murukku maavu...). In Erode, we had grown up little more and serious cricket with ravi/kumar/dasarathi/ram etc. In Gulli cricket, the best things i like are the rules the kids design it. If it hits number 8 / vasu sir house its a four", if it hits xyz, you're declared out. The rules keep changing depends on the palyers whims and fancies and their capabilities.

There are so many unwritten rules which could be added in ICC as well to make cricket more an interesting game. Next time when u meet guys playing cricket, you can observe whenever somebody says "its over"...the bowler would say ! "last ball"...one pitch catches ( i have never heard in international levels...).....French cricket for the immobile and the book cricket for the bookworms...

The stares and glares which these "pakkathathu mamas..(neighbourhood uncles) give at these young kids, scolding them when the tennis ball hits the windows...the kids which run by throwing the bats and go for hiding....all those experiences are wonderful.

During my UG and PG, we had gala time in the ground, where we threatened/persuaded the juniors to lose against us, as we would be royally raped in front of our class (esp the girls...) in our department tourneys..I was forced to bowl my leggies thanks to spb, even though i never tried to turn as much as sultan of spin (warnie dada...)

One another incident which still flashed in my mind was the way GG settled scores with him by trying his so called pacebowling on my retina..thanx da Harsha for saving me from another one...

I watched lagaan last week for the first time, and it also reminded me of the peculiar bowling actions of my friends...

I used to have hot discussions / bets / fights against the line-up with JB / Sumanth /UK and i still remember the whole office was watching when sachin cleared the ropes against andy caddick....in HCL...

When speaking about cricket, the best guys i have interacted who predict the outcomes/strategies / gameplans better than most of the anchors in ESPN STAR / the lady with necklines...(woh kaun thi...he he) was my beloved ram and shabir (he is absolute fanatic who used get up at 3AM to listen to commentaries...)

Missing the world cup this time would be hardest thing now, but of late i might be a veteran to state that my cricket has lost the charm and it is not the same it used to be.

If you get a chance, never miss WC, as you cannot afford to miss the beaches and calypso...

ooolala layo ooolala....oolala...

/Lakshman

Comments

Ram Prasad Srivats said…
Well cricket and Ram are alike inzamam and run outs- Inseparable like Siamese Twins!!!

It was certainly nostalgic which Laxman has portrayed within a portrait less than 22 cms!! but he had all the shots of remembering those incidents in as it were basis!!! without any such tinkering- the flow was lunging forward like a Tendulkar's cover drive. (of yester years!!!)Though Barnard Shaw's comments are usually valued high- but his comments on cricket will nver hold good in India!! as cricket is more of mind game- and only Mind of Strategist( reminiscence of Kenichi Ohmae)have won be it: Frank Worrell or Richie Benauds or Ian Chappelli to name a few great crickeing brains!! A game which is very easy to follow- emulate and practice- is CRICKET!! and with athe advent of Pyajama Cricket- bad boys started playing in the night!! apart from involved with their familial entertainments!!!

Such is the curiosity of the game-this game has aroused interest from sabjiwallah to pan wallah to burewallah( express was wakar younis) which has made this game immensely popular!! If Vijay Manjrekars, Venkataraghvans to Vengsarkars are house hold names then these men from suburban localites were able to scalp high and occupy seats with Maharaja of Vizianagaram, such is the adoration one see the game has given to its practioners, there has been no karnas left out because from high or low cast!! unless he had not found any Dronacharya!!! The game is the spirit of the nation!! where even contentious issues which could not be solved bilaterally were taken to cricket maidans( Imran on Kahmir Issue with INDIA)such is the jehadi, madness which every insane Indian attaches to this game. With more pyrotechnics followed and new form of noodles- cricket is played in the form of 20-20, the game may have abridged version, but not the spirts!! of Indian fans- they may never loathe not leave it, but they will continue bloat with Indian cricket!! Ram
9:39 PM
Kiran Prakash said…
Everybody has their own story like this. No kid in India, grown in a middle class like us would have missed all these. I am not an exception to this.

-Kiran
12:58 AM
Inder said…
haha... buddy, now you don't need cricket to get injured. i remembered a span of few months before a few years when you were consistently injured :P :P :P
2:52 PM
Ram Prasad Srivats said…
Talking about cricket and nostalgic moments of cricket, I have found few inspiring friends who are real encyclopedia of the game and game's histrionics and its attendant historical facts. Recently my colleague Bharad was one who impressed me, albeit younger to me by a decade, but his knowledge of the game, I mean the pre-independent eras, the war eras, the Invincible Australians of 1948, the knowledge of Keith Miller( Richie benaud rates him above Sobers among all rounders)the rishis of the game ( which I consider)like Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell and Bill Lawry, ( and recently Mike Atherton)as valid opinion and it can be equated to Veda Vak. I dont consider Harsha Bhogle, L Sivaramakrishnan, and the likes, to me a player should played at the highest level with a min of 50 tests and should have good record in Australia( I have even left out Javed Miandad/ Zaheer Abbass, the two cricketing greats of Pakistan they are good for maidans of Lahore not for pacy tracks of Perth) then only they can add both perspective to their talk backed by conviction, otherwise, it will be boring English lecture given by P Chidambaram. If history of the game is not recounted, I feel very bad and leaves in distaste. I have even stopped reading Hindu which one's boasted correspondents like Rajan Bala/ R Mohan/ present day writers lack perspective and conviction to the game. If Bill Lawry/ Christopher Martins Jenkins or Tony Cosier speaks, they speak out of conviction. So pl switch off your sets when Harsha/ Srikkanth/ L Sivaramakrishnan and the likes speaks, as they are in position of commentators they are filling the space and creating a void of time.
9:40 PM
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