The entire world is done with world cup cricket . I am little late for this post. I am happy that India won the match after three decades(almost). It was good to see the enthusiasm on the blogs and FB. I am happy that Indian team lived up to the expectations of their fans world-wide. I am happy that fans got their money's worth after 28 years. I am happy to learn thru blogs that we were not the only family with crazy game ritual like my periammas wearing the same saree. Every Indian family have their own crazy game ritual just like ours. But I am also happy it's over. I am happy that I don't have to see any more world cup related FB status.
It was fun to watch friends transformation thru FB status. They took on new avatars. My good old friend who is otherwise a wise and nice women posted this FB status "I am happy that two Asian teams are at the finals". where was that coming from?. Was she smoking or what? I felt the racial tone but not sure how other FB'ers felt. Since I've known her for years , I know she took the new avatar of "Crazy cricket fan". This world cup really brought the good and bad things in people. Good game from cricketers and bad side of Crazy fans.
I was down with severe cold and head ache for a week. I was cheering CB to go to the restaurants or to Intel auditorium to watch the game live. But he was not at all interested . The guy who used to sit in front of computer throughout the night to get the ball by ball score was not interested. He is still crazy about soccer. He records and watches every game played by European and American soccer clubs. He watches tennis and Basket ball matches regularly before but not american football . I definitely see a shift in his game watching behaviour. CB is watching american football more than before.In 2008, he watched the "Davis cup" live in portland, oregon . He was lucky to get the tickets since they sold out quickly.
The 2011 world cup cricket brought back lot of memories from school for me. I was a 12-year-old girl during last world cup final in 1983. It was a pre-internet Era and all the girls in my class were eager to get a copy of the "Sports Star"magazine which covered the 1983 world cup front to back. That issue had this amazing center cover / poster with Kapil dev giving his infamous bugs-bunny smile holding the trophy with his teammates. Thanks to my mother , I was able to get a copy little early before the magazine reached the book stands. I was the first one to get a copy, so smuggled the "Sports Star" to my class. I had a friend named Kalpana. S who was crazy about Ravi Shasthri. I remember her kissing Ravi shastri's photo in the magazine. Thank god I was not caught because of the frenzy it created in the class room that day. We lived in a poster Crazy Era. My sister had posters of Samantha Fox and Imran Khan at our home.
My younger sister was four years old and my younger brother was a six months old baby. He became crazy cricket fan and was an excellent cricketer . Fate took him in a different direction. He watched 2011 world cup cricket finals as a doting father to a six month old kutty mol.
This world cup showed how far India has come in terms of technology and money. In 1983 only few Indian sports photographer had the opportunity to witness the victory in person. In 2011 lot of Indians could afford steep ticket prices , host posh game parties at clubs and in private residences.
I am sure that 1983 world cup team envies the present cricket team, in regards to the money they make now. I can almost hear them say "f*****g lucky " guys.
The 2011 world cup Indian cricket team not only got fat pay cheques but they were also lucky enough to have large crowds of Indian fans living around the world unlike in 1983 . The NRI's celebrated the victory with such pride. The Indian restaurants in my neighbourhood were filled with faces painted with Indian tri color flag after the match for lunch that day. This is definitely the golden time for Indian cricket team.
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