Very rarely does it feel good to be 35! Though there are so many things that I don't like about being 35, like, grey hair, wrinkled face, and bulging tummy; though being 35 you have to sacrifise large portions of cakes and settle for Kellogs K. Exercise becomes mandatory not to stay FIT but to ensure you don't put on further weight. Trusting someone becomes increasingly difficult. And to make matters worse, you are held RESPONSIBLE for everything at home and office and in between ( I mean when you are driving!)
But for the first time I felt absolutely great to be 35 and not 19-20, because unlike all of you 19-20s, I was THERE. On both the DAYS!
CRICKET has been my passion from the time I can remember. I remember sitting on my father's lap and watching Sunil Gavaskar playin on those B&W TVs that had shutters! I remember Rohan Gavaskar coming on the field and playing a few shots before the day's match would begin. I remember myself declaring firmly that I want to marry Sunil Gavaskar! And I remember that historic day in 1983 when I was jumping with joy seeing my elders jump realizing that we must have achieved something great otherwise my mother would never jump even to save herself from a hungry tiger! In 1983, I was old enough to understand we had done something great. In 2011, I am young enough to live the moment and bask in the glory understanding why what we have done is great!
After the disastrous loss in the semifinal of 1996 World Cup against Srilanka, and after all those allegations of match fixing, I had stopped watching cricket altogether and had distanced myself completely from the game I was so crazy about. I had my own reasons. In the 80s when I was introduced to this game, India in International cricket was the perfect underdog. Indian cricekters were paid a few pounds a day as daily allowance. No one expected them to win anything as big as the World Cup. This was an era where there were no corporate spnsors, no advertisements in between overs, and when news on cricket were only confiend to the sports column of the news papers. Given all that and more, when on a sunny day in the summer of '83, our MEN in white scripted a fairy tale, bringing down the team that carried the fort of cricket for too long, HISTORY was created. June 25'1983 changed India. It changed the way India was being looked at. It changed the way cricket was being looked at in India. But April 2'2011 was different. Unlike in '83, Team India was one of the heavyweights in the International Cricket. With #1 in Test and #2 in ODI rankings they were bookies favorites right from Day1. Things changed from 80s to the present and so did I. For me cricketers were no longer "heroes" whose picture hung on the wall of my room, whose newspaper clippings I would cut and paste on my scrapbook. No I grew up for all of that. I would still follow the Indian cricket team, still want them to succeed, but in a rather impersonal way. I had "emotionally" distanced myself from our MEN in BLUE. I would get excited when India would win, and depressed if they would lose, but only for a moment, after which I would just shrug and say "who cares?"
But not this time. THis time the teenager in me, the cricket-crazy part of me woke up from a deep coma. This World Cup session I was brimming with optimism that India would do justice to its rankings. THis World Cup I had full confidence on Dhoni and his team. This world cup I saw all the matches that India played and didnt just bother about the result at the end. This world cup I was "BLEEDING BLUE".
Right from the quarter final, every win did moisture my eyes. Every good shot was cheered by me, the same way I would cheer 15 years back. Yes, indeed, this time was different. And when off the last ball, Dhoni hit his iconic shot, my emotions were back. The hugs that followed, the cheer that followed, the tears that followed, the phone calls/smses that followed...all these and more said
Yes, this one matters!
It matters because it brought me back to my passion
It matters because it woke up the cricket-crazy me
It matters because it united the 1.2 billions across the world.
It matters because it made us realize we are Indians and not Mumbai Indians!
Yes, this one matters to me as I realized...the seven-year old still lives in me... JAI HIND!
But for the first time I felt absolutely great to be 35 and not 19-20, because unlike all of you 19-20s, I was THERE. On both the DAYS!
CRICKET has been my passion from the time I can remember. I remember sitting on my father's lap and watching Sunil Gavaskar playin on those B&W TVs that had shutters! I remember Rohan Gavaskar coming on the field and playing a few shots before the day's match would begin. I remember myself declaring firmly that I want to marry Sunil Gavaskar! And I remember that historic day in 1983 when I was jumping with joy seeing my elders jump realizing that we must have achieved something great otherwise my mother would never jump even to save herself from a hungry tiger! In 1983, I was old enough to understand we had done something great. In 2011, I am young enough to live the moment and bask in the glory understanding why what we have done is great!
After the disastrous loss in the semifinal of 1996 World Cup against Srilanka, and after all those allegations of match fixing, I had stopped watching cricket altogether and had distanced myself completely from the game I was so crazy about. I had my own reasons. In the 80s when I was introduced to this game, India in International cricket was the perfect underdog. Indian cricekters were paid a few pounds a day as daily allowance. No one expected them to win anything as big as the World Cup. This was an era where there were no corporate spnsors, no advertisements in between overs, and when news on cricket were only confiend to the sports column of the news papers. Given all that and more, when on a sunny day in the summer of '83, our MEN in white scripted a fairy tale, bringing down the team that carried the fort of cricket for too long, HISTORY was created. June 25'1983 changed India. It changed the way India was being looked at. It changed the way cricket was being looked at in India. But April 2'2011 was different. Unlike in '83, Team India was one of the heavyweights in the International Cricket. With #1 in Test and #2 in ODI rankings they were bookies favorites right from Day1. Things changed from 80s to the present and so did I. For me cricketers were no longer "heroes" whose picture hung on the wall of my room, whose newspaper clippings I would cut and paste on my scrapbook. No I grew up for all of that. I would still follow the Indian cricket team, still want them to succeed, but in a rather impersonal way. I had "emotionally" distanced myself from our MEN in BLUE. I would get excited when India would win, and depressed if they would lose, but only for a moment, after which I would just shrug and say "who cares?"
But not this time. THis time the teenager in me, the cricket-crazy part of me woke up from a deep coma. This World Cup session I was brimming with optimism that India would do justice to its rankings. THis World Cup I had full confidence on Dhoni and his team. This world cup I saw all the matches that India played and didnt just bother about the result at the end. This world cup I was "BLEEDING BLUE".
Right from the quarter final, every win did moisture my eyes. Every good shot was cheered by me, the same way I would cheer 15 years back. Yes, indeed, this time was different. And when off the last ball, Dhoni hit his iconic shot, my emotions were back. The hugs that followed, the cheer that followed, the tears that followed, the phone calls/smses that followed...all these and more said
Yes, this one matters!
It matters because it brought me back to my passion
It matters because it woke up the cricket-crazy me
It matters because it united the 1.2 billions across the world.
It matters because it made us realize we are Indians and not Mumbai Indians!
Yes, this one matters to me as I realized...the seven-year old still lives in me... JAI HIND!
Posts
