This time we got tickets at the last moment for this HUGE game, running back from office and getting ready with my dad, I could see the shine in his eyes, he truly was excited, this was his Messi moment or similar to my Istanbul 2005 moment, ok, Istanbul was way bigger in many respects but he had that shine, "I am taking my son to a game and its going to be magical".
Typically we got in just after the first ball was bowled, had these awesome seats which were roughly 15 degrees to one of the set of wickets, yes I am very poor with the field positions in cricket. We got seats smack bang in the middle of the Pune supporters which was mixed in quite well with the KKR supporters, so we got the best of both worlds, when Pune did well they screamed and shouted and when KKR did well the other side screamed and shouted their lungs out.
You could feel the anticipation and the energy in the stadium, you did not need those fancy side screens and jumbotrons, we had the great one back in the city to play and try to keep his Pune team alive for the semis of the IPL, we had a ton of pro KKR supporters who were interspersed with the Pune supporters, we had best friends divided and loyalties being tested to the hilt.
A KKR supporter [wearing a cap] consoles his Warriors supporting friend after Gambhir takes off like a rocket.
There were the typical set of mad supporters who don't know when its time to sit and people have to randomly shout on em to get them off their chair and tell them to sit or they will call the police.
There was the typical old man who has seen it all and knows it all, this old person was our half time entertainment, letting us know how Snehashis Ganguly was always the better player compared to Dada, how ugly politics in this sport is, how crude life is for those who don't have the backing in this filth filled world of the BCCI and of course all of it was true and while he spoke so much sense it seemed he was out of his mind, constantly requiring Hi 5's for random listeners, breaking into crazy jingles and going "Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta" clapping his hands together like he was part of a matching band, for all his legit talk about the sport he was let down by his madness or was it just a show for us to listen out to him and not take things seriously, just let things be , he could not change much after being in the system for years what chance did we have of doing anything?
There were the stupid dumb idiots who came in with their "girls" and try to act all macho and all, macho here means when they do the time out countdown , this bloke puts his hand up when the DJ starts counting down from "5...4...3....2....1" , so he uses his fingers to show 5,4,3,2 and 1, 1 here means he will point the middle finger out to a random cameraman in hope and expectation that he will be shown on TV. Idiot, no one is impressed by such nonsense, actually the women he was with , they were crazy good impressed, thank fuck some random person threw a packet of water on them later on in the game.
There was this quiet person sitting next to me, watching the game with intent and loving every minute of it, watching it like a proper gentleman, waiting for the Prince to come out and when he did come out to bat, this man's face started shining, he loved Dada, you could see it in his face, when there was this chance that Dada and Pune might pull it off, this man was almost letting off the words "I always have trusted you Dada, you are the best". Sadly when Dada was dismissed and Pune lost, the man was heartbroken, destroyed and demoralized, "Maybe next time, Dada will do it for sure, next time", he softly said to himself.
Those energetic kids who came to watch their first live cricket match, going bonkers in every hit and miss, loving the fact that their father took them to such a big event, the father being so proud that he could provide such a chance to his kid, guess my dad felt the same about taking me to the ball game.
The crowd , again were brilliant, applauding every clean shot, near miss, dismissal, the Calcutta Wave which was something everyone should be a part off. The greatest part was that while players were doing their bit, Gambhir scores a 50, they applaud , Sunil Narine bowls this amazing maiden, they applaud, Mathews goes bonkers on Pathan they applaud but the standing ovation comes for Dada, after he is dismissed, so what if he could not guide them, he is still the best.
The setting was immaculate, when people say "You have to watch a match at the Eden Gardens", they are right, its crazy, its beautiful, its energetic, lively, its what life should be. Words fail to describe what I actually felt there sitting mostly but watching people letting out their emotions, women screaming out support only for one man, boys , kids, men all acting the same way. Its brilliant.
I did not go to this event because I like cricket, I went there because my father always wants to take me along for these cricket games, while I always hated going to them, this one night certainly will live on, its not the result at the end which mattered to me. The people, the emotions, the love, the hate, the banter, the energy, the despair, the tension and the setting, that is something everyone should experience, wont write much more, will just sign off with this amazing snap I took.
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