chepauk, cricket and coffee
CCG
Yes, I have finally made it; to the Chepauk cricket grounds; to watch the India South Africa cricket match. I have only heard about the great experience and the sporting crowd of chennai. Yes, it was good fun and I enjoyed the drama much more than the cricket. I felt the cricket is just an excuse for the spectators to have a good time and let their hair down.And they did it in style.I saw small boys, big boys and elderly men, buy the india colour stickers and paste it on their cheeks. I saw many of them sporting hawaiian t shirts; i am sure they would not be seen dead wearing them anywhere else but here.Chennaites are stuck up and stodgy and the cricket gives them an excuse to let go and loosen up.Which is what they did in good measure; just as i was entering i was greeted with deafening noises of trumpets, cymbols and what not. The cacophony was unbelievable. But then the disbelief lasted till I reached my seat. Thereafter I became part of the holiday atmosphere and the noise ceased to be unpleasant anymore.
I spotted some interesting spectators; what I saw was little, I conjured up the rest. Take this father daughter combination, come with packed lunch. It was just like vasu in her undergrad days with her father.It is quite difficult to see father daughter combination having such a good time these days.There was another father son combination; the son must be around ten years old and he had a huge india flag and kept flapping it at every excuse; it was only later I saw the father egging him on. Oh, I got it; the father was reliving his childhood all over again, peanuts spilling all around them included.One elderly gentlemen preferred to go it alone. He had a spotless white mull jubba and ditto mull veshti nicely folded. He had a huge popcorn in one hand, an iced water bottle in the other and his precious 'zip bag' tucked under his arm. Perfect for cricket watching, what?Oh, how did I forget the two silver haired gentlemen who had some comment for every ball bowled and not bowled.They appeared to have shared many a cricket match in the CCG stands. I could not spot them after lunch and I decided they had thought it is enough and went home for a siesta. It was towards the end that I spotted them at another corner, obviously it was less hot there. The strange bonding that men have with cricket was reinforced, if any proof was at all needed.
Sachin was fielding close to our stand and the madness of the crowd was seen to be believed. Sreesanth also got almost similar demi god status.The crowd cheered when the umpires came out to the ground after lunch;they cheered when Sreesanth made a gesture of throwing at the wicket; it cheered when a four was hit; they cheered when the South Africans hit a 50; a 100; and a 150; they cheered when there was a good save and also when there was not.
There were other collective sounds as well; Suddenly there will be a huge sigh; and I would have missed the moment and wait for the replay on the big screen and would know that it was a near miss at the wicket. I remembered watching an English movie during school days and would laugh after the entire theatre would reverberate with laughter at a joke I would have just missed.
The weathermen had predicted rains today, but thankfully it did not rain but the heat was unbearable.More than the heat it was watching the grounds aglow with the best chennai sun. Just after 1.30 pm the first gentle wind brushed me by and I knew the sea breeze had set in and it will soon get cool.We were just a stone's throw from marina and hence caught the first wiff of sea breeze for the day!
Innum varum
Yes, I have finally made it; to the Chepauk cricket grounds; to watch the India South Africa cricket match. I have only heard about the great experience and the sporting crowd of chennai. Yes, it was good fun and I enjoyed the drama much more than the cricket. I felt the cricket is just an excuse for the spectators to have a good time and let their hair down.And they did it in style.I saw small boys, big boys and elderly men, buy the india colour stickers and paste it on their cheeks. I saw many of them sporting hawaiian t shirts; i am sure they would not be seen dead wearing them anywhere else but here.Chennaites are stuck up and stodgy and the cricket gives them an excuse to let go and loosen up.Which is what they did in good measure; just as i was entering i was greeted with deafening noises of trumpets, cymbols and what not. The cacophony was unbelievable. But then the disbelief lasted till I reached my seat. Thereafter I became part of the holiday atmosphere and the noise ceased to be unpleasant anymore.
I spotted some interesting spectators; what I saw was little, I conjured up the rest. Take this father daughter combination, come with packed lunch. It was just like vasu in her undergrad days with her father.It is quite difficult to see father daughter combination having such a good time these days.There was another father son combination; the son must be around ten years old and he had a huge india flag and kept flapping it at every excuse; it was only later I saw the father egging him on. Oh, I got it; the father was reliving his childhood all over again, peanuts spilling all around them included.One elderly gentlemen preferred to go it alone. He had a spotless white mull jubba and ditto mull veshti nicely folded. He had a huge popcorn in one hand, an iced water bottle in the other and his precious 'zip bag' tucked under his arm. Perfect for cricket watching, what?Oh, how did I forget the two silver haired gentlemen who had some comment for every ball bowled and not bowled.They appeared to have shared many a cricket match in the CCG stands. I could not spot them after lunch and I decided they had thought it is enough and went home for a siesta. It was towards the end that I spotted them at another corner, obviously it was less hot there. The strange bonding that men have with cricket was reinforced, if any proof was at all needed.
Sachin was fielding close to our stand and the madness of the crowd was seen to be believed. Sreesanth also got almost similar demi god status.The crowd cheered when the umpires came out to the ground after lunch;they cheered when Sreesanth made a gesture of throwing at the wicket; it cheered when a four was hit; they cheered when the South Africans hit a 50; a 100; and a 150; they cheered when there was a good save and also when there was not.
There were other collective sounds as well; Suddenly there will be a huge sigh; and I would have missed the moment and wait for the replay on the big screen and would know that it was a near miss at the wicket. I remembered watching an English movie during school days and would laugh after the entire theatre would reverberate with laughter at a joke I would have just missed.
The weathermen had predicted rains today, but thankfully it did not rain but the heat was unbearable.More than the heat it was watching the grounds aglow with the best chennai sun. Just after 1.30 pm the first gentle wind brushed me by and I knew the sea breeze had set in and it will soon get cool.We were just a stone's throw from marina and hence caught the first wiff of sea breeze for the day!
Innum varum
Labels: cricket match, leisure
posted by vasukumar @ 9:05 AM
1 Comments:
your blog once again has taken me back to my Bangalore days. We did watch a first class match as those days test matches were not played in Bangalore. It was south India vs Australia. I remember Chappel brothers playing and we went for a day. Oh it was great experience like you have put it. I distinctly remember my brother's friend (tamilian) commenting how my mom allowed only me and Saroja to go to a cricket match!
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