Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Introduction
I am yet another programmer among the crowd of millions of others. I am not a habitual writer. Sometimes when I feel too strongly for anything on earth, then I write about it.
From one World Cup to Another.....
Cricket World Cup 2007 is ON. So, I just came across the following blog http://blogs.cricinfo.com/outsidelooking/archives/2007/03/from_one_world_cup_to_another.php and thought of putting my blog posted there on my personal page too.
Officially, the following is my first blog.
If you are a true cricket fan, then you often tend to associate cricket with your life. Isn't it ? With every World Cup - the teams change, the players change - and so does your own personal life. Someone has said - "Life is like a game. Whether you win or lose depends on your mindset too besides other factors beyond your control." Well, I am no different from others. Here, I am posting my memories associated with each world cup.
1975, 1979 - I was not born then. If anything like rebirth exists, then probably I would have been edging towards the end of my previous life :-)
1983 - I was barely 1 year old. Don't remember anything :-)
1987, 1992 - I didn't understand cricket much.
1996 - This was the time when I actually started taking interest in cricket - courtesy the monsters called Sanath Jayasurya, Arvinda de silva and Arjuna Ranatunga. I remember Jadeja's thrashing to Waqar Younis in the quarter finals; and also the hopeless performance of India against Sri Lanka - the rampage by Kolkata (then Calcutta) fans - leading to first ever match being forfeited due to crowd disruption in the history of World Cup.
1999 - With a plaster cast on my right leg, and in my 12th standard, preparing hard for all engineering entrance exams - I had watched all - the shameful loss to South Africa, that thrilling 3 run loss against Zimbabwe, the 140 notout innings by Tendulkar coming back after his father's funeral, another gem of an innings by Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly against Sri Lanka - I remember that was the match from which I really started to admire Rahul Dravid. Just like most of the people, i too used to hate Dravid for his slow batting, but for that match. The super-6 was horrible for India - nothing worth mentioning. But, of course, there was the match between Australia and South Africa - "You just dropped the cup mate" - and then that epic tied semi-final.
2003 - This was the time when my passion was on a all time high. I was an engineering student staying at hostel which accomodated about 400 students - 3rd year - my room had a big poster containing the entire world cup schedule. I religiously followed all matches alongwith my hostel-mates, and used to keep score of all matches.
I have some funny memories of those days - I alongwith my room-mate used to steal chairs from the TV room of hostel the night before every match. When the match would start, we would step-in with our prized possessions - the chairs, and would sit in the front row like kings.
The TV room used to be full to the capacity - guys standing on the window frames too to get a glimpse of the match. You couldn't figure out the difference between the actual stadium and our TV room. The roar in the tv room would silence the 120 decibel sound of the tv. We had watched each and every match - the Feb-Mar 2003 was one of the most unforgettable times, despite the fact that our mid-semester exams were going on. We used to watch full match till late night, then start studying at 2 am or so, go for exam at 10 am - then, after returning from exam, we would all sleep after lunch, to get charged up for the evening - not to forget stealing of chairs after every match was over :-)
Guys used to come with Indian flags in their hands. I can still hear the echo "Jeetegaa bhai jeetegaa India jeetegaa" roaring through my ears whenever India is about to win any match - the deafening roar whenever any Indian player would hit a 4 or 6 or take a wicket. the shower of all chosen hindi gaalis whenever any Pakistani player would hit a 4 or 6, and lots and lots more. There was that thundering Ashish Nehra against England, the hapless Sri Lanka getting a taste of their own medicine against India (losing top 4 players for duck each) - the Kenyans reaching the semi-finals after thrashing South Africa and Sri Lanka.
The final was a heartbreak. Many guys in our hostel had not taken dinner that day when India lost. We kept on sitting in the tv room till the 10th Indian wicket fell. Many guys had come to the TV room with their faces painted in tricolor to watch the final. Their colors were all dried up - and their was dead silence in the jam-packed tv room for the first time ever in my entire college life.
2007 - I live alone, work from 9am to 7pm - return home, and watch the half of first innings cooking food for myself. Whenever I see India win (not referring to this world cup), I feel like roaring again just the way we used to do in the tv room of our hostel in 2003, but the voice just gets stuck in my throat. Also, now I can't afford to watch the match till late night as I have to go for work the next day. Life has changed a lot.
Officially, the following is my first blog.
If you are a true cricket fan, then you often tend to associate cricket with your life. Isn't it ? With every World Cup - the teams change, the players change - and so does your own personal life. Someone has said - "Life is like a game. Whether you win or lose depends on your mindset too besides other factors beyond your control." Well, I am no different from others. Here, I am posting my memories associated with each world cup.
1975, 1979 - I was not born then. If anything like rebirth exists, then probably I would have been edging towards the end of my previous life :-)
1983 - I was barely 1 year old. Don't remember anything :-)
1987, 1992 - I didn't understand cricket much.
1996 - This was the time when I actually started taking interest in cricket - courtesy the monsters called Sanath Jayasurya, Arvinda de silva and Arjuna Ranatunga. I remember Jadeja's thrashing to Waqar Younis in the quarter finals; and also the hopeless performance of India against Sri Lanka - the rampage by Kolkata (then Calcutta) fans - leading to first ever match being forfeited due to crowd disruption in the history of World Cup.
1999 - With a plaster cast on my right leg, and in my 12th standard, preparing hard for all engineering entrance exams - I had watched all - the shameful loss to South Africa, that thrilling 3 run loss against Zimbabwe, the 140 notout innings by Tendulkar coming back after his father's funeral, another gem of an innings by Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly against Sri Lanka - I remember that was the match from which I really started to admire Rahul Dravid. Just like most of the people, i too used to hate Dravid for his slow batting, but for that match. The super-6 was horrible for India - nothing worth mentioning. But, of course, there was the match between Australia and South Africa - "You just dropped the cup mate" - and then that epic tied semi-final.
2003 - This was the time when my passion was on a all time high. I was an engineering student staying at hostel which accomodated about 400 students - 3rd year - my room had a big poster containing the entire world cup schedule. I religiously followed all matches alongwith my hostel-mates, and used to keep score of all matches.
I have some funny memories of those days - I alongwith my room-mate used to steal chairs from the TV room of hostel the night before every match. When the match would start, we would step-in with our prized possessions - the chairs, and would sit in the front row like kings.
The TV room used to be full to the capacity - guys standing on the window frames too to get a glimpse of the match. You couldn't figure out the difference between the actual stadium and our TV room. The roar in the tv room would silence the 120 decibel sound of the tv. We had watched each and every match - the Feb-Mar 2003 was one of the most unforgettable times, despite the fact that our mid-semester exams were going on. We used to watch full match till late night, then start studying at 2 am or so, go for exam at 10 am - then, after returning from exam, we would all sleep after lunch, to get charged up for the evening - not to forget stealing of chairs after every match was over :-)
Guys used to come with Indian flags in their hands. I can still hear the echo "Jeetegaa bhai jeetegaa India jeetegaa" roaring through my ears whenever India is about to win any match - the deafening roar whenever any Indian player would hit a 4 or 6 or take a wicket. the shower of all chosen hindi gaalis whenever any Pakistani player would hit a 4 or 6, and lots and lots more. There was that thundering Ashish Nehra against England, the hapless Sri Lanka getting a taste of their own medicine against India (losing top 4 players for duck each) - the Kenyans reaching the semi-finals after thrashing South Africa and Sri Lanka.
The final was a heartbreak. Many guys in our hostel had not taken dinner that day when India lost. We kept on sitting in the tv room till the 10th Indian wicket fell. Many guys had come to the TV room with their faces painted in tricolor to watch the final. Their colors were all dried up - and their was dead silence in the jam-packed tv room for the first time ever in my entire college life.
2007 - I live alone, work from 9am to 7pm - return home, and watch the half of first innings cooking food for myself. Whenever I see India win (not referring to this world cup), I feel like roaring again just the way we used to do in the tv room of our hostel in 2003, but the voice just gets stuck in my throat. Also, now I can't afford to watch the match till late night as I have to go for work the next day. Life has changed a lot.
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