So this 'World Cup' is ours to keep for next four years.

Throughout the day we sat, nail-biting, although there was lots of food in the house, a special meal to suit everybody’s taste but still, nails are tastier in the times of stress.

This was the Day of Judgment, there was question on everybody’d mind - "Who will win the world cup?"

Actually speaking, I don’t understand this game of Cricket and find it a sheer waste of my time, seems so silly to follow every ball around the screen (I mean field). I am always awed by people who get super-excited as they follow the balls’ movements zigzagging its way in different directions after being whacked by a hard wooden bat, the batsmen running up and down between two ends of the stumps, hundreds of spectators announcing the same score, and all this while I am thinking, "What game is this, that keeps the people’s passion so alive that they scream and hoot as though their life depends on that score". Duh!

“I have better things to do” I mumble, tuk-tuking my head at this madness, until the day arrives when the cricket fever is so high that the temperature in my environment rises beyond my ignorance value. I realize that this is neither one of those 1000 odd ODI matches that are playing on TV 365 days a year, nor those IPL matches that people keep betting on.

I am distracted and slightly interested.

This is the most important ‘The World Cup’ match (I am told) and I learn about it only after I see the excitement in everybody’s faces when they talk about that war-like-match between India/Pakistan. Whenever Indians talk about Pakistan, their antenna always shoots upwards into the nether zones, there is some kind of love-hate relationship between these enstranged neighbors which is never going to be resolved. Everybody was talking about this match, so I googled a bit but the real tutorials came from some kids in my building who updated me about it during my evening walks, they educated me on its importance for India, and then there was also TV, Twitter, social media, all breathed cricket who spoke nothing but cricket and my interest had sowed its seed.

I learnt about the passion of cricket in India, when I saw the crowd outside every electronic store. Walking down the streets of Bandra, saw hundreds of people crowded around a store. "What can the matter be?" I wondered as I approached to investigate. I discovered that all were glued to the TV in the store watching a cricket match. "Oh dear!!! What a craze!!!"

On the day of ‘The World cup match’ my friends came over. (This was one more excuse to spend the Saturdays with my friends) We chatted, we played cards and watched the match munching on snacks and drinks. My cousins were in contact with me on Blackberry and their conversation/ comments added zing to our party. At regular intervals they forwarded the messages which I would share with my friends at home. This was an added advantage as a stress buster (not for me, but for my friends).

The current Cricket World Cup situation  between India versus Sri Lanka is this.... India (Ram) married World Cup (Sita) in 1983 and in 1996 SriLanka (Raavan) took away Sita (WoldCup). Now after 14 years of Vanvaas, they meet again and you know the results..! One of the forwards posted on my BB

But the stress was there throughout the game, my friend who is a cricket fan didn’t want to see the match till it was ‘safe to watch’, she wanted the game to end before the 50-overs, saying - "playing till the last ball is very stressful". She cursed the players who got out and cheered the ones who scored well. “Hit four! Hit four!” she kept scolding the cricketers, showing her fist to the TV whenever there was no score. When the wickets fell, she covered her face with regrets.

After eight hours of viewing this match, finally there was ‘The Six-er’ a brownie point that spelled ‘Victory’. There was hugging sessions in my room, with my friends laughing loudly, congratulating each other. We watched, we celebrated with billions of images with equal euphoria and merriment.

We decided that it would be fun to go to Carter road for the celebration, we dressed up to go to a coffee shop by the sea-shore and was surprised to see that there was a midnight party in every lane, with sweetest traffic jam and the processions of dancers and singers, all waving India flag, screaming and hooting till their throat crackled. There were small children, old people, young and middle-age, all came out of their homes to be on the streets, to greet each other, to see and to be seen.

Everybody had Indian flag to wave showing their National pride in their victory

All the people were seen sitting on the bonnet, n the roof and on their car windows with their body protuding out from the window (there were some serious accidents too I learnt abour it later)

Some people were quite creative, painted their faces and body to show their happiness.Those people expert in body-painting had world cup painted on their backs, they drove through lanes of Bandra on a scooty, congratulating each other.

This was one big street party and this was day they didn't complain of being stuck in a traffic jam

Yes I was glad that my interest had been aroused and I understood what this excitement was all about. I celebrated the victory with the cup of vanilla crush........ Jai Ho!!

Week-end to Heaven

The alarm clock makes noise at 4 30 am and I am awake. (Yes, you read it right, I CAN get up early if I want to) this is a special day. There is a long week end ahead. 26th January is the 40th Republic day of India and this call for celebration. A celebration of a country that can survive riots, terror attacks, floods and still stand strong, a celebration of a country that has 31 states, 1618 languages, 6400 castes, and 29 festivals and I am proud to be the part of it. In the wee hours of the morning, I get ready, finishing my morning formalities and I am at my gate at 6 am. My friends arrive and we drive through the empty streets of Mumbai, watching the sunset filtering through the hills, its rays glowing on the passing cars. The best time to enjoy the ride in Mumbai city is during those early hours or on holidays. (On other days it is real madness crawling through that traffic.) At 10 30 am, we reach the ‘Doctors Farm’ which is in the village of Airvahal in Raigad district, off the Mumbai-Pune road. The path leading towards this resort is narrow and broken, guided by the directions chalked out on random stones lying on the path. For the last fifteen minutes of four hours ride, it is a bumpy path, but once inside the gate, I am in heaven. So close to the nature, the air sings the tune of birds; the cool breeze has a sweet fragrance of blooming flowers. There is a great variety of plants and flowers. I ask the owner, Dr. Mirajkar, as to ‘what plant does he have’ and he replies, telling me to ask him as to what plants he does not have. In 16 acres of land, he has planted great variety of plants and trees which give opportunity to villagers to earn a steady income. We go for nature trail, walking on an uneven rough path, I am careful, reminding me to be careful, we are tired, the slope has left us breathless, we come to the dinning hall and while we wait for lunch, we play a game of Carromboard. After lunch we come to our room which is small but cozy with clean attached bathroom, we are in no mood to sleep so we play cards during the afternoon. In the evening, after tea, we walk down 80 steps (path carved from stones) and reach the river. We spend the time catching fishes (and then releasing them back into the river) I am sure that those fishes might have a good story to tell other fishes and can finally be unafraid of mankind. We go for a boat ride; the owner’s dog enjoys the swim and gives us company while we paddle boat. There is a group of other youngsters who are now fishing for pleasure. The sky is changing colors as sun sets. As it gets dark, we climb up those big, broad steps and come to the terrace of the dinning room, and watch the stars. The waiters serve us starters which are very, very delicious. After dinner, we go to the park, where there are swings and hammocks, and slides for children. Dr. Mirajkar tells us that best time to visit his resort is during rainy season, when there are natural waterfalls behind the hotel. He has artificial waterfall, landscape and swimming pools too but the other groups of people enjoy playing cricket and darts in the well-lit open playground. The entertainment went on till 1pm, when we finally called it a day. Next morning got up to the chirping of the birds, came out of my room to see the sun rays filtering through the trees. It was time to return to hell. Want to see more picutes? go to my album on face book