CRICKET WORLD CUP 2019 - ON THE AFGHANISTAN ENCOUNTER

CRICKET STORIES - WHEN DAD GOT HOOKED ONTO THE SPORTS PAGE FOR AN UNUSUALLY LONG TIME

Every June 19th brings the same memory with the same intensity in me, even after 36 years. It was the morning of June 19th, 1983. I heard Dad’s call “Your coffee is on the table Roy”. I headed for the coffee with THE HINDU newspaper in my hand, but after making sure it was closed. This was because, Dad was of the impression that the sports page was the first page I opened and many times, the only page I read in a newspaper. I went to a far corner in the balcony and opened the sports page. On the road outside, as was the case of any other day, I could hear the flower vendor belting out the names in her collection and the strange whining sound of the salt vendor’s cycle as he made his way through the street. The sound of the brooms in action, by the women in the neighbouring homes, also mixed with these sounds and formed a nice piece of bearable discord. 

I knew Dad would soon ask for the news paper and I thought I should give a quick glance first. The morning winds danced through the sheets of the newspaper while they also created the beautiful rustle in the leaves of the tree that stood adjacent to our home. When I opened the sports page, I was stunned to see a picture of Kapil Dev that adorned the full length of one half of a page, from header to footer. This was the first time I was seeing such a big picture in a newspaper and I could even see the mud that dressed the pads and shoes of Kapil Dev as he was taking a shot. The picture was that big. “Where’s the newspaper?”, came Dad’s call and I rushed inside and gave the newspaper to him.

That morning I saw Dad spend an unusually long time on the sports page. He was indeed a cricket enthusiast and he followed the game that time on the radio, but on the newspaper, sports was usually his last priority. But that day I saw him spend a long time on the sports page. Something unbelievable had happened the previous day. Something that was like a miracle of destiny. Kapil Paaji had come in at 9 for 4 when the chips were down and had lit up Turnbridge Wells with his blitzkrieg of 175 not out and saw India through that game of the 1983 World Cup Cricket with Zimbabwe, in spite of their top class fielding. Till then, I only had a very vague idea of the World Cup and I was not even interested in knowing India's progress on this big stage.

No wonder THE HINDU had dedicated such a big picture for him. Kapil Paaji is still seen as a miraculous hero. Only a select few like him could use a bat like a magic wand.

LEAF SHEDDING IN A DAY

This tree is part of our home.The beauty of its creation is the leaf shedding that happens once in a year in just a day. What you see hanging there with a tenuous hold after all the leaves have gone is a crow's nest. Every time this happens, we and our neighbouring house, share the burden of clearing up the huge pile of leaves. 

This phenomenon is a part of the Ginkgo biloba tree, although am not sure if our tree is this one. In a day or two, the tree would be back with all its green best.

Bare trees have something powerful in them when coupled along with soul stirring background music to convey scenes of deep sorrow and anguish. Great movie directors use them to portray such scenes of high intensity.

The impact seems to be much more when we see it in black and white.

It also struck me that many times, an unlearning in life, helps us tremendously. It helps to push out all our understanding, our mindsets and our judgments and start looking at the world again with fresh perspectives.

PARENTING TIMES - FUNNY TWISTS-2 - TANTRUMS

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit my friend along with my wife. He had been calling me for a while to discuss some topics of common interest and so I found time for this, keeping aside my other weekend occupations. It was a good feeling to meet his family and his old parents. My wife had found time to talk to my friend’s wife after a long time, although they were school mates. I spent some time discussing our topics, one to one with my friend and then spent the rest talking to his father. My friend’s sister was there too along with her two sons. They had come down from Delhi to spend their holidays here. I shook hands with the boys and gave them warm hugs.

Both my friend and I were talking softly as we would do unless something put us into a tight spot. His father too was a soft spoken soul. I could hear the voices of the women talking. They were certainly much louder than the men but it sounded fine. But a few sounds were not bearable and were almost getting on my nerves more because I often found it difficult to remain calm in a noisy environment. There was a construction in process on the opposite side of the house and the abrasive metal grinding wheel was giving out its own distinct fired up cry. Two black ravens on a tree close to the window where we sat were desperately cawing taking turns as though practicing for a church cantata.  A mobile tomato vendor found the tree next to  the house window, a nice place to halt and sell his stuff, while his announcing system was dishing out repeatedly “Grab your tomatoes for a good price”. And if all this was not enough, the two little boys, my friend’s nephews, were creating a ruckus while grabbing and chasing each other while running around in the hall, all through spaces between the furniture and between where we sat.

I wanted to tell them to stay quiet as the overall cacophony was getting unbearable. My wife looked at me once a while with a smile, as she knew how I would take this. But the people at home were trying their best I think, although it appeared to me that there was not much they could do. “Hey devils, can u keep quiet?” was what I heard their mother shouting. Every person there took turns to give a rap on the backs of the boys as they ran past them. This was now becoming continuous and to me the family members appeared like a set of IPL cricket batsmen, swinging on all sides trying out different shots. Sometimes the raps were loud, but to me it seemed that all these were just giving them more energy for what they were doing. “It’s ok, children are like that always”, I politely compensated as a guest with a dash of love.

Moments later, I also thought that I should contribute to the chiding.  But how could I? So I smiled and waved to one of the boys and he immediately stopped running and froze, possibly because he never thought that I would wave at him while the others were dishing out punishments. I took aim at him with my palm as though it was a pistol and then shook it once as though to communicate that I had shot him. He was quick and played the cricketing cut shot on the invisible bullet that came to him. And where did the bullet go now? Straight on to his grandpa sitting on his right. The boy was smart and after seeing the invisible bullet hit his grandpa, he quickly turned to me and bought up his right palm and covered his mouth in exclamation and looked at me :))

Now that communication was a question to me “Hey, you know what you have done?” :))

You may also be interested in similar posts listed below:

https://cherryspace.blogspot.com/2019/02/parenting-times-funny-twists.html

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STORIES

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THE HERO ON A BISON WHO GRACED THE SKY- DEDICATED TO OUR HERO ABHINANDAN

A few men go through tiny but significant moments in their life that leave a big impact on history and on the millons around. Abhinandan Varthaman, the hero whose valour cannot be described in a few words - this poem of mine is my humble dedication for his verve, poise and gallantry.

PARENTING TIMES - FUNNY TWISTS-1- BEING ORGANIZED

Last Monday, my daughter was getting ready for college. Her absent-mindedness over the last few months had crept into my mind and I had got up early that day. This was to keep an eye and ensure that she had taken everything with her. It was also to keep reminding her on the ticking clock, so that our driver would not have to get into a psychopathic avatar while having to chase the college bus.

And last week, in addition to this confusion, it was only after she had left home in the  car and crossed a few streets from our home did she realize that she was still wearing her home footwear :) So, like a great Dad, here I was, monitoring everything and reminding her constantly to leave on time.

After seeing her off, I rushed to dress up and get ready to board our company bus that stops a hundred metres away from home. I take a good eight minutes to reach the pickup point and I normally keep a few minutes as a buffer with me to spare. I finished breakfast, recited my prayers and then quickly grabbed my bag and ran down the first floor steps towards the gate. Suddenly, I felt great that my bag was considerably lighter. But then, I really stopped and thought about it. “How could it be this light?”. Ahh!! I had forgotten to keep my laptop in it :) I think here I proved to be more of a roll model than in being a role model :)

BLACK SAND BEACH LANGKAWI - A TRANQUIL PLACE

While travelling in public transport, either in buses or suburban trains, I have gone through journeys where we had crowds like a swarm of bees and also journeys where there were just ten people in the whole bus or carriage. When the crowd was thin, we had air dancing through the vehicle and it was like a dream ride for me. I enjoyed those times much more than going around in my air conditioned car.

I had a similar experience, visiting the Marina Beach in Chennai on day of the Pongal festival. It was a claustrophobic experience and I just ran out of that place as quickly as I could. Quite contrary to that place, I found this tranquil beach, in Langkawi, Malaysia a superb place to hang around. Such a quiet place that every vibration of nature will be spotted by our ears.

There is an interesting local folklore that the black sand on the beach was the result of a large amount of firewood that was stacked along the shoreline and burnt by the people of the Land Kingdom when they were into a war with the Underwater Kingdom. This firewood when it was burning gave the impression of a huge army waiting on the shoreline and that kept the fighters of the Underwater Kingdom at bay.

All this fight according to the folklore,was because a mermaid princess from the Underwater Kingdom fell in love with a prince of the Land Kingdom and ran away. The war was supposed to be one-sided as the Underwater Kingdom had more troops than the Land Kingdom.