Calypso kings. ..Sunny days of Cricket. ..Author- Shankar Nagalingam

Attending OP & wards during the 3rd year of college was a very difficult one. As I had mentioned in the previous blog, reasons were many. Ward bunking was due to terror in presenting the case. Myself & Socrates used to threaten our other unitmates that, we will bunk if you ask us to present case & so they won't bother us. Even then on many

days we will bunk wards due to boredom & return to hostel to play cricket. On one such day we came back to hostel at 9.30 am.While alighting from the bus itself we planned to have a good 1 on 1 cricket session with the rubber ball dipped in water for extra pace & skid. ..(Hostellers may remember the technique...the same that Sachin used prior to West indies tour..!) it was addictive.. !! .... We got 2 new rubber balls in the shop near the bus stop..We were eager to have a nice long uninterrupted batting & bowling session. .

In no time we changed to shorts. ..socs got the bat & i got the ball & a mug of water .Dipped the ball & went to the run up.
Most of u know that the run up was from the garden outside , near the kitchen in Chatram hostel on the backside.
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The pitch was the centre square laid in granite smack in the centre, with the rooms surrounding it..anyone coming out of the rooms faced a chance of being hit by a flying bullet of a ball. ..!! The stump was the portion of a wooden plank serving as a partition Cum notice board at the front entrance ...It was large enough to prevent the ball from going behind the batsman when he misses it or the ball goes down the legside. .So it was bounded on all sides with rooms with only the front & back entrance & even the front entrance was blocked by the wooden plank, part of which served as the stumps. .There was no room for the ball to go out side except through the top. But even this was difficult as the tiled ceilings of the room converged on to the central square & u have to hit the ball at an acute top  angle to go outside of this area. ..which happened occasionally but was not common.
So the feeling will be like a closed net session where u need not run behind the missed or hit balls. Frequency of facing the ball or bowling was more & it gives good continuity & satisfaction. And the wet ball comes zipping at you with pace (real fast & skiddy)  & neat bounce ...unlike the regular unwet awkwardly slow  bouncing rubber ball. It creates a match like experience & gives you a 'high' , even if you bat or bowl a few overs. Believe me & I think everyone who played it will agree with me...Socs..Anand. .Danny..Buddhan. .Guns. ..Kathir. .Nathas. .Suresh. .to name the regulars.
Coming back to the live play..Socs handled the first two balls well. ..the third one was hit out of the building at an acute upward angle through the narrow opening at the top..I ran to the garden hoping it will land somewhere there. But it went sailing towards other buildings on the side & disappeared from sight. There was no way to go to that side because those buildings back walls acted as our compound walls & there was no way to scale over  them. Dissappointed ..but yet there was hope, as there was another ball ...

Now a short intro about Socrates, the batsman. Sure.. You would know about Socrates,  the classmate & cardiologist & about Socrates the Philosopher. But Socrates the batsman, is unlike any of them. .!
He is flamboyant,  plays extravagant strokes,  doesn't believe in hanging around scratching for runs like me.
A little bit of a Srikanth & Sehwag mixed in him ready to explode from the word go.And he is a opener  like them , who  doesn't have the word defence, in his dictionary. I once remember him in an inter college semi final  match held in Tanjore, opening against Kilpauck MC , while chasing some 135 runs of 20 overs, hitting the very first ball of the match long & skywards towards midwicket & getting caught . Unforgettable. ..

 Now after the expert opinion,  coming to the live coverage. .....

Another 2 balls with the second new ball went without any issue. .but since socs was not out, he can bat till I get his wicket irrespective of the number of balls. .6th ball overall & 3rd with the second new ball ...Whaackkk was the sound & the ball took the same trajectory as the previous one & disappeared out of sight into the buildings...
Ummmmm. ..aluthiruven. ..was the kind of reaction I had. ..
Bunked the wards with so much of expectations. ..& there goes our plans of playing till lunch. ....
At least Socs faced 6 balls. ..Oru gaaja kooda kidaikama pora kashtam, ball pottu eamanthavanuku mattum thaan theriyum....awwwww. ...

Money was on shortage , could'nt afford even another 10 rupees & another ball & hence we settled down with Sadness . . We didn't know what to do, can't again go back to ward ( namakku than mun vaitha kaalai pin vaithadha sarithram illayae ..! ) & whiled away our time till every one came for lunch. ..

Reliving those moments make me feel guilty as to how much time & energy we wasted during our prime. ..but it also fills me with abundant joy of a college life enjoyed to the hilt. 

         Our class  cricket team

    L-R standing - Murali, Nathas, Kanagu, Ramesh  (Capt), Karthi, Shankar. 

   L-R Sitting - Mohan, Gunalan, Socs, Anand, Rajkumar. 

 

This photo was taken after we beat our seniors in the first ever college cricket match. I think we were chasing 120 to win in 20 overs. Socs & Nathas opened & Socs got out early.   I went one down and  we made a nice partnership when Nathas was run out. Karthi came next & got out early. We were in a small crisis...3 down for 30 something...and all  the 3 batsmen out were good attacking type ,while myself on the other hand was a defensive one. Ramesh our captain came next.He was a phenomenal player & played club cricket at A division level. He asked me to stay put & not take any risks and keep one end & wicket intact. He toyed with the bowling & in no time hit a brilliant 50 with some delectable hit to the boundaries,  while I  happily played second fiddle taking singles & giving him strike & became adventurous enough towards the end to score a few boundaries and made some 30 odd runs. It was an unforgettable match & a memorable win. !

Shankar :   Aama Oru doubt....Suresh...Suresh nu oru paiyan iruppanae namma class rep. .avan enga teamla illa. ..? Photo la kaanum. ?

Kathir : Avan girls volleyball team ku ball eduthu kuduka poi moonu mani neram aaguthu..Mulinga boss. ..!!

Ps..The above mentioned joke is true ...really true & nothing but truth and  there is nothing fictional about it .. except that it was added by kathir. Suresh ennaya mannichuru !! enakkum ithukkum sambandham illa. ..!!

                                     

Posted 5 days ago by Shankar Nagalingam