Bite me if I never cared about sports. In my defence, I had my own reasons and then merely because I would prefer reading a good book then making judgements on how some random sportsperson on TV is playing (and not that I am getting paid for it). The only thing that ever made me curious about cricket was- ‘Why all do all men lose sense of reality while watching it? Why do they shout and abuse so loud as if the players could hear them through the TV sets? Why do they cry when they their teams lose?’
I hate myself to admit this, but all my doubts ended on this epic day,30th march 2011. The day when Indian cricket team kicked the Paki’s, where it hurts the most.
I vaguely remember my plan for the day. Few hours at office, I’ll come back home, clean up the room and sleep (yippee!!). Little did I know that there was a history in making outside my cramped room and boring plans.
The moment I stepped out, I could feel something different. Cricket was in the air. On my way to office I have seen order and chaos on the same road. It is not every day that you see people wearing blue jerseys and holding Indian flags on one side and green paint faced Pakistani supporters on the other. The excitement was contagious and before I know what was happening, I became the victim of what they call ‘Cricket fever’.
My extremely delayed realization deprived me of the luxury of getting the tickets first hand and so we decided to go to kava and see what the hype was all about. And honestly, I could not complaint. From the time we step in till the time we got out, it was a total frenzy. The atmosphere was no less than that of the real deal. Free beers and whistles, I did everything I could. And amidst all this festivity I saw myself whistling, shouting and abusing with whatever energy I have. (Bite me again for being a hypocrite)
And when India won, Chandigarh went crazy. No festival, no occasion, no party, no other day could be the compared to what we witnessed. We- the Indians, went crazy and me, I was a part of it.
The second best decision (of the day) was to check out the post –victory effect on the city. So we went on the famous Geri route and it proved quite fruitful. Never before I have ever seen anything like this. The roads were jam-packed with people dancing with and giving hi-fives in the air. Hooting and congratulating. Everyone greeted everyone. And though we all are ecstatic about India getting into the finals, this was our true winning. (After all, ijjat ka sawaal tha and India made us proud)
