The first half was a deathly bore. The Gymkhana -- yeahaa, went with A -- was living up to it's reputation of being a geriatrics hub. Oldies everywhere, fighting sleep, not even getting off their arthritic asses to go grab some tea/coffee/samosa type item and thereby scoring a 10 on 10 for being 100 per cent lost in lethargy -- although soporific was the word used by us, young English-speaking-but-so-easily-switching-to-Punjabi-and-gibberish-therefore-trilingual-watchers-of-The-Match.
Then it was our turn to bat and the weather changed. Venue moved from the arthritic ambience of the soporific ball room to the lawns with Oscar-like round-table seating. Grab a chair.... borrow that one... who wants what?... beer?... chilli paneer?... roomali roti?
What atmosphere -- the smell of tandoori meats in the air, the breeze, the hint of rain, the make shift vuvuzelas, teenage girls in their teeny shorts yelling repeatedly: "Indiaaaa jeetega .. Sri lankaaaaa ko peetega" !"
For a while we may have wanted them to SHUT UP! and SIT DOWN! but if you're singing along to ads -- De ghuma ke, ghuma ke! -- you kinda lose right to judge 'em teenboppers.
Other sing-song slogans* shouted hoarse:
- humara captain kaisa ho.. M.S Dhoni jaisa ho!
- Indiaaaa--Indiaaa! *clap clap clap*
- Sachiiiii-in, Sach-innnnn!!
- And to cheer the gymkahana, just to play the fool: DELHI-G- IN-NIT?! followed by many chants of
- Gautiiii--Gautiiii and then my favourite:
- Ma India nu jitaa de halwa baantungi!
*There is just no sensible translations for this mad, perfectly Indian drivel.
Oh, it was a blast! I have never whistled so much in -- and I feel the need to add needless words otherwise always omitted -- in my life! I have never been told by strangers: I admire your lung capacity. I have never winked at women in sleeveless dresses the shades of the tricolour and shown them the thumbs-up (and later met them in the loo and laughed for no reason other than you-love-my-spirit, I-love-yours so woo hoo! India!) I have never had my face -- ok, left cheek -- painted orange, white, green. I have never seen my mother dancing on a table waving the flag and yelling out my name so I turn back and look at her and say: very good, Mama, now (you also) sit down!
When Dhoni hit that last six, the drum roll was unbelievable! Shirts came off, champagne got sprayed, chairs were fallen off, tears were seen and it rained a little. Again, I whistled like I never have in.my.life. Cricket bores the day lights out of me. But this, the tamasha the buoyancy amidst strangers, the oye-hoye through sun roofs at 2 a m, the Gurgaon liquor shops in front of which men in their undies were brandishing bottles and dancing on one leg; may just never see the sight again. My favourite facebook feed says "Thank you my soldiers in Blue!"
But speaking of which never-seen sights,Question 1: I'm with the crowds, where the hell is sworn-to-strip Poonam Pandey?!
Question 2: Don't you love that Dhoni shaved his head in the middle of the night in his hotel room to keep his end of the deal with the gods?
Question 3: And, erm, I take it you saw the match? Really, where?:) 
12 comments:
Streaming on office computer.
Yup, Dhoni looks good shorn.
I like your "it rained a little". Sounds like the skies peed a little with joy or something.
Well done, India!
Having been in Spain on 11 July, I understand the glorious moment ... !
Pera: streaming on office computer?! What kind of philistine slave driving emplawyers do you work for?! Those kind, I guess. How awful. They could've at least put the TV on, no, if not declared it a national holiday.
Dhoni looks good shorn, yes, but I meant how sweet+diligent+god fearing of him to take a break from all night partying to go ze balds. (His wife, btw, cleans up nicely, huh? behenji turned mod and all that? Did you see her shoes?! oh right, you aren't a woman.:P)
Elllllie!!: How nice of you to drop by, I say! Oooh and right! I remember watching post football madness in Spain on TV. It's like everyone's birthday and new year and bachelorette party and job promotion and back from the dead and open bar crammed into one feeling; woo hoo! :D
I saw at the Wankhede. Cried my ugly slobbery cry when Sachin got carried around the ground. Saw many people doing the same and not minding. That's definitely a first :)
Soul: Arre! Lucky lucky! Any goss on why Anil Kumble and Sangeeta Bijlani were sitting together? Is it a luhurve or is it a scandal? What's the inside news? :D
obviously you know little about cricket, kumble doing something extramarital will be about as well received as tendulkar joining al qaeda
1st half home. 2nd Half, post Sachin's wicket, Golf Club, Chandigarh :)
For 2 hrs after that, Madhya Marg, Chandi.
I saw a highlight reel on ESPN and thought of you. Am very, very disappointed that you did not/cannot provide translations for the chants.
Anon: Never claimed to know jack about cricket but surely a player's marital status is a different sort of game. And I'm not sure how relevant your al qaeda tendulkar analogy is and/or if it makes any sense even.
Nitika: Memory lane successfully evoked!:)
UB: Fine! Okay. Here goes.The hamara captain kaisa ho is roughly a question answer thing; like who's a pretty boy? youse a pretty boy! Substitute pretty boy with captain and youse with Dhoni -- net net, same.
The English ones you get; but oh, my favourite, ok:
ma india nu jita de, halwa baantungi:
It's like you're striking a bargain with a goddess mother(ma): make india win (India nu jita de), i'll distribute halwa (halwa baantungi).
Sounds damn flat, i know but halwa= single best confectionery item in the peninsular. We need to get you some. But aww@ thinking about me. :)
The match was awesome! We danced on the tables when India won and instead of being pulled down by bouncers and staff, they joined us on the tables to dance!
I watched it at a sports bar.. it was FULL of Indians with only one tiny table cheering for SL, I live in Dubai..we ripped them and how! hahaa.. I don't understand a shit about cricket but it didnt matter.. you know I heard some really funny slogans.. it started with indiaINDIA and went on to angrezo bharat chodo! (!) lol
I watched it in Buzz Saket. ;) Sounds very very 'sidey' I know but I wouldn't be seen dead there on a normal day but on the day of the finals the cheesy hindi music including the melodramatic patriotic songs felt ohhh soooo good especially after countless mojitos. Plus they had some pay 2k and eat and drink unlimited offer. Heheh! After all of that we went to India Gate and by that time I was soooooo goneee but my super excited friends have some energy to celebrate or maybe it was just the kick of India winning. We were dancing there till 3 in the morning with the whole of Delhi. :-)
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