I was there!!

I was there! When India romped home on the backs of a dazzler from Sehwag and a classic knock from Sachin. I was determined to see a cricket match when I got the opportunity because the idiotic organizers believe
places like Rajkot, Ahmedabad (and even Delhi) have better grounds and cricket afficionados than Chennai since time immemorial. So the next time a match comes Chennai's way (without the possibility of being curtailed by rain) might be too far away. I waited my chance and let the first 2 days of the match go by. With India struggling on the 3rd day a draw or defeat seemed likely and the balance tilted to the latter at the end of Tea on Day 4. But then wham!! Before anyone (Dhoni included) even knew what happened, Sehwag grabbed the match by its collar and shook it till it swooned and fell into the clutches of India. Though he got out by the end of the day, a required target of 256 runs was a juicy prospect with still much of the Indian batting left to come (and the prospect of Sachin scoring yet again at probably his most favorite ground).

So I headed out to Chepauk in the morning. The MRTS was packed with people who alighted at Chepauk. The A stand offered a good view and by the time the match started it was packed. So was the notorious B stand. The stadium was about 40% full. Every single run was cheered. Even a defensive prod that killed the spinning ball was applauded. Dhoni was definitely not going overboard when he praised the Chennai crowd at the end of the game. There were all sorts of people sitting around me and I had a good time chatting with them all. What stunned me was their knowledge. There was this lady behind me who screamed at Pieterson to remove the gully and move him to the short midwicket because of the way Laxman plays. And this guy who came to the match yesterday, pointing out precisely the stands and rows where the ball landed from Sehwag's sixes. This is just an example. I expected to be surrounded by many people who just watch the game and cheer for boundaries but when I was pointed out the difference between Sachin's defensive stance and Yuvraj's prod, I had to admit that I had goosebumps.

The stage was set for Sachin and he did not dissapoint either, scoring the winning runs and bringing his 41st century with the same boundary. Needless to say, we all went ecstatic. This is the 2nd game I have seen at Chepauk. The 1st was an One day match against New Zealand which was washed out, but not before Sachin scored a 50. Cant think of a better way to spend 300 rupees in a day!

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The Frenetic Week that was

I had around hundred things in my mind that I wanted to ramble about following the Great Economic Depression followed by the even Greater Farcical Comedy enacted by the US Senate during its 'inquisition of the CEOs of the Big 3'. Immediately, this was followed by the Mumbai terrorist attacks. As usual the (International) media coverage of it, riled me as much as the terrorists did: the dogmatic refusals of foreign media to acknowledge these terror invoking 'gunmen' as terrorists and instead subtly referring to them as 'gunmen' and 'militants'. Some even speculated that these could be 'discontent muslims' from within India. Somewhere, some guy had the balls to suggest that these could be LTTE too. I forgot if his article was in CNN or NY Times. But, there you go. That is a gist of what I had in mind. Things that would have made a several paragraphs of verbal outpour condensed into one. Meanwhile, a friend of mine referred me to this article in NY Times. Maybe, the world is not doomed yet.

PS: And what is this entire 'War on Terror' thing. I am not from Oxford but nevertheless it does not make sense to me. Should it not be 'War on Terrorists'?(Even that is silly. Something like crusade against terrorists would befit. But I guess crusade is a word nobody wants to use) How can there be a war on terror? Terror is an emotion. Can there be a war on laughing or a war on crying? War can be waged against Comedians, against sadists but not on the emotions inflicted by these men on the people.
Oh anyways. Who cares. The media found something and likes it. Try grabbing the bone from the dog's mouth.

PS2: Why Indian media have to keep posing the question to everyone if this is India's 9/11? What does that mean? Are you trying to grab the attention of US by self declaring it as India's 9/11? "Hey Bush (or Obama). Look, look we got our own 9/11 now. We are also affected by terrorism. We are now automatic allies in your 'war against terror'. Please throw us some bones too" Why does it have to be 9/11? India has fought terrorism in days when people in US did not know to spell the word. So why wait for US to acknowledge that we are hit by terrorism. Why declare 'Terrorism is a global thing now. This murderous act in Mumbai shows no country is now free'. This is a statement that should have been said probably when Al Qaeda attacked US. Not when LeT attacked Mumbai. Because, it is not a surprisingly new phenomenon. In short, stop sucking to US everytime.

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