Indian Premier League

Cricket or  Gol guttam lakad battam de danadan pratiyogita in Hindi.

India has always been a land of contradictions. Hence, even with our 'National Game' being Hockey, Cricket happens to be cherished and followed a lot lot more. Every Indian state, city,town, street, nook and corner has seen kids ( both girls and boys) grow up playing cricket. We all loved watching an India-Pakistan match. A cricket match lost (esp to Pakistan) was followed by the Hyde side of India's cricket fans - cricketers posters being burnt, their houses being attacked and what not.The exact oppsite was done if we won - players being garlanded upon their arrival at the airport, felicitated at various events etc. etc.  

Our Cricket craziness syndrome can be explaind by the fact that there have actually been poojas conducted every time the Team leaves for the World Cup. And the best part is how all the national News channels broadcast this miraculous phenomenon on Television. 

Although I have not witnessed the 1983 World cup victory I can feel the excitement when I hear my parents friends talk about it. Sourav Ganguly (Dada), Rahul Dravid (Jammy), Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (The little Master) and Anil Kumble (Jumbo) have all been  household names of my generation. Statements like "Cricket is my religion and Sachin my God" are not uncommon in India. I personally love watching Dada and Jammy play. They have a style and class of their own. 

So in this Cricket Crazy nation, IPL was bound to get the kind of attention it eventually recieved. And that too, after Team India won the T20 world cup against our arch rivals -Pakistan. So I  personally  think India winning the T20 World Cup was not as huge a thing as India defeating Pakistan and winning it!

I do not need to tell anyone that IPL 2008 was an amazing success. More so because it was the first time we were being introduced to the entire concept of cheering for teams which had not only Indians, but also players from other great cricketing nations like  Australia, South Africa, Sri lanka, Pakistan, West Indies and so on.  In ordinary circumstances you can see us abusing these players in their matches against Team India. It was however beautiful to see the best cricketers of our time play together as a team. And more so to see Indian players competing against themselves!

So in the midst of all this hungama about the Ist season of  IPL, there was a little rumour doing the rounds that Shah Rukh  Khan (or Shah as i fondly call him) was thinking of buying one of the 8 teams. When the news was confirmed I was of course on cloud 9! I mean cmon! Cricket and Bollywood coming together for the first time (unless some of you take Mandira Bedi's foray into the cricketing world seriously) was a simply fantabulous! At least for some of my very close friends and me! Yea Preity Zinta buying a team as well was good news too, but Shah was just too good to be true!

So with Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo began a season of unprecedented madness, thrill, rivalry, excitement, success and defeat.  Shah's Knight Riders from Kolkata promised to do, fight and win! I was dancing to the team's song, and was all ready to support the team and the first step was to obviously buy the Team Jersey! Being in college I had to ask my mom for the permission (read money) to buy the jersey.  She vehemently opposed the idea, and thought that her daughter had got into another one of her insane "I love Shah" phases. I then took the idea to my father, but alas met defeat there too. So yea I had to forsake the dream of owning a Rs 1899 Khan-12 jersey that year.  I think I even cried about it and my mother and I didn't talk for two days! But that did not dampen my spirits, I still cheered for KKR.  They started the IPL with a bang!

And then my friend tells me that she has passes to the Delhi Daredevils Vs Kolkata Knight Riders Match in Delhi's FerozShah Kotla Stadium on April 22 '08. I jumped and almost hit the roof !! And that thought kept us alive (literally) through the Delhi University Annual Exams Part III. The date was perfect, just a day after the last exam (International Economics) . So there we were all geared up for the match. Wearing black and faces painted with Khan-12 and KKR and Go Knight Riders! And then it starts raining at 7:30pm , exactly half an hour before the match was due to start. We were heart-broken, dejected, frustrated. Almost on the verge of tears? Nah! We were already crying. Between the three of us (my friend, her sister and me) we finished a plate of pasta each, then two large pizzas, and a huge bowl of Brownie Ice-Cream Fudge and not to forget our beloved Pepsi (please note it's not Coke) while watching Om Shanti Om at the same time ( at least we saw Shah on reel if not in real). Only then did we feel 'a little contented'. 

So there went my dream of seeing my Shah for the first time ever.  Washed away with my tears. Rajasthan Royals went on to win the Tournament. Deccan Chargers finished last . The IPL was an annual event. And so I could always see Shah next year and KKR can always win it the next time.  So that was IPL '08. And it left us waiting eagerly for IPL '09, which promised a lot more!