Annie Hemal – Wish my World!

Memories down the lane

The most recalling memory from my childhood is my love for cricket. My interest for the game started during 1996 world cup specially after the famous India v/s Pakistan match which has the highlight of Venkatesh Prasad and Aamir Sohail face-off. Till this time, I never knew what the terms mean, viz. lbw, no ball, stepping over the line, near the boundary etc. However after this series it was in me to watch every series of cricket matches, I remember how irresistible it was for me watch the series that used to get telecasted on Star Sports and ESPN. Back those days, I never had cable connection at home and I used to go and watch at my friends’ place which was 4 houses down the street from mine with a constant fear and hoping that I should not get a shout back (not a phone call, because phone those days were seldom for kids of my age) from my home. The Singer cup, Sahara cup and such series of Cricket matches were the most awaited ones unlike the Netflix series these days. The thrill and enthusiasm of watching the Indian team play was one of the most cherished feeling. Well, not to speak about my favorite Rahul Dravid. Despite of me being a very introvert, fearful and shy kind of a person, I dared to tear away the center poster which featured in one of the edition of Sportstar magazine from my school library. Definitely I had to pay the price, when it came to the notice of the library Sir who shouted and punished me for doing it. Nevertheless, it was fun and really not embarrassing and was happy that I at least had the poster with me for sometime.
One of the influential person for my love for cricket is my mama (I miss him, he left us in 2015 due to heart attack). He worked in Dubai during some part of his career and when he returned he got a color television, the first big screen which I saw at home. He used to stay with us for a short span of time and his favorite thing to pastime was watching cricket (even the highlights) and I along with my brother would give him company watching those. Now I really wish one could bring back time.
Even during my college times, I used to pretend studying in the bed room during the cricket series. However, my ears and mind would focus on the tone of commentary, and every time I hear a shout I used to jump and get out of the room and be glued to the TV.
I fail to understand when and how I got detached from the game and now even stopped reading about the cricket news. I don’t even keep track of any series. Today when I got the notification of India’s win in the Australia Test Series, suddenly I felt good and my mind went down the memory lane which just made me write the lines above.
May be, may be, I still love this game and Rahul Dravid (I know his birthday just went by on 11th January).