First of all, I missed all the action on the streets. Streets like Himayat nagar would have gone crazy. There would be fireworks all over that can beat the sound during Diwali. Although, there was a procession at Purdue, with many Indians shouting slogans, waving Indian flags and honking cars on the streets, but most of the people (Americans) looked at us in awe and in total confusion.
Next, for some reason I’m checking the news websites every now and then as if something exciting is going to be posted. But, every website has only the same news published: India wins the world cup and team dedicates it to Sachin. I don’t know how to express the frustration but its like imagine you are at office and the cricket scorecard wont be refreshed until like every one hour and you keep on hitting the refresh button. All this because I miss being in India at this time, happily partying with friends and its making me restless. Its like those moments which you can’t be part of and you are anxious to know what’s happening.
Lastly, now I’m tired of explaining cricket to some of my friends here who until recently didn’t know about a game called cricket. Unlike football (soccer as it is called here), there are a lot many things to be explained in cricket. I mean, I had to start from “there are 11 players in a team”, and “there are 6 balls in an over” …. Just imagine, there are 9 ways in which a batsman could be out, a dozen ways runs can be scored, a score of rules of the game and finally, as one of my friends admitted “why is ***** math involved in this game”, while I was explaining ‘run rate’ to him. Thankfully, it didn’t rain in Mumbai otherwise; I would have had to explain the Duckworth Lewis!
Anyways, I am happy that we won the world cup. I’ve been following the game since I was 5; in fact, one of my earliest memories of cricket was watching the 1992 world cup when I used to wake up at 3 am in the morning along with my dad to watch the game. I didn’t hesitate a bit to wake up at 5am in the morning this time. For about 20 years and 6 world cups, I’ve been waiting for this day.
Next, for some reason I’m checking the news websites every now and then as if something exciting is going to be posted. But, every website has only the same news published: India wins the world cup and team dedicates it to Sachin. I don’t know how to express the frustration but its like imagine you are at office and the cricket scorecard wont be refreshed until like every one hour and you keep on hitting the refresh button. All this because I miss being in India at this time, happily partying with friends and its making me restless. Its like those moments which you can’t be part of and you are anxious to know what’s happening.
Lastly, now I’m tired of explaining cricket to some of my friends here who until recently didn’t know about a game called cricket. Unlike football (soccer as it is called here), there are a lot many things to be explained in cricket. I mean, I had to start from “there are 11 players in a team”, and “there are 6 balls in an over” …. Just imagine, there are 9 ways in which a batsman could be out, a dozen ways runs can be scored, a score of rules of the game and finally, as one of my friends admitted “why is ***** math involved in this game”, while I was explaining ‘run rate’ to him. Thankfully, it didn’t rain in Mumbai otherwise; I would have had to explain the Duckworth Lewis!
Anyways, I am happy that we won the world cup. I’ve been following the game since I was 5; in fact, one of my earliest memories of cricket was watching the 1992 world cup when I used to wake up at 3 am in the morning along with my dad to watch the game. I didn’t hesitate a bit to wake up at 5am in the morning this time. For about 20 years and 6 world cups, I’ve been waiting for this day.
