A Super Tuesday!

Tuesdays became very interesting and important when I turned eight. The Toast Masters at the YMCA Kodambakkam used to meet on Tuesdays. That tradition lives till date even though the Club survives in an another name, form and location. Any event which involved a lot of other people and a hot discussion would be a Tuesday in my dictionary. The best thing to do is to watch a cricket match with a group of friends. The Steamed peanuts, pop corn and potato chips (French fries later when we all started making money) is of course the other reason to enjoy the day.

It happened again today. The great quality of cricket played brought back the fond memories of us following the 92 World Cup where Kapil Dev, Martin Crowe and Mark Greatbatch were gods. "Us" was then largely my brother's gang of friends and as a ten year old I was on cloud nine always. That was my first time. Since then I have been hooked on to following cricket in the company of friends.

It happened again at a NCC camp. About 500 of us almost cried to see Saeed Anwar playing one of the best ODI innings ever, scoring 194 against India on 21st May 1997 in the Pepsi Independence Cup league match at Chennai.
Then it was taking my cousins to the beach to watch the World cup on the Big Screen. That was a different experience even though it was for New Zealand that we cheered for on that day.

The 2003 World cup was even better, this time it was at a friend's place where Blue Pepsi, Old Monk and Kalyani flowed like water. I still have no clue on where his parents were for the entire month. This is around the time I got a little superstitious about cricket. Not moving from my chair, performing crazy movements in the air to get a wicket or a boundary, refusing to blink my eyelids. I think I have done all that a true fan can possible do. This season was also when I met a girl and we hit it off immediately. The other important thing that happened on that day was that India played Pakistan and won comprehensively. Since then every time I call her during an India-Pakistan encounter, we have always won. All the times that we have lost is probably only because we did not speak that day. (Ah! The die hard superstitious Indian Cricket fan inside me is difficult to control at times.)

Next time I enjoyed following a match was at MAC. Ten of us were cheering Harbajan, on the fifth morning of the test between India and Australia, from the pavilion while the winning runs were scored.

Between then and now there were a few other occasions at Dell where the huge TV used to be hired to encourage all of us to come to work and cheer the Indian Team. Then at an other organisation we had to pay for online live video feeds to enjoy the World cup in the Caribbean.

Following the ICL 50's at Mayajal with friends from college was also interesting since the tickets were not expensive and we could also catch up on a movie. I have also enjoyed the Chennai Open at the Nungambakkam tennis stadium in the last few years but nothing was like today.

It has been a great fortnight for cricket. South Africa demolishing India, Hyderabad Hero's winning twice against the formidable Lahore Badshah's, The doctored wicket at Green Park, Indian Tail Wagging, Dada playing a mature innings, Chanderpaul hitting a four and a six of the last two balls to win a ODI, The mystery spinner Ajanta Mendis making his international debut and ICL India coming up with 4 great victories.

The ICL 20's International Final was too gripping, a power cut at a vital stage and my cousin throwing water on the TV and literally burning it down; all added more masala to watching the match. Somewhere today I realised I had became that 10 year old boy watching the match with excitement among my cousins and friends. Life has come a full circle and I have relived that day. Thanks for keeping the promise and making my day again Kapil!

I also finished reading Tuesdays with Morrie. So that's one more promise that has been kept. What a "Super Tuesday!"