I’m crazy about cricket and so are most of my friends. The craziness for cricket reached its crescendo for us when Dada, Sourav Ganguly was there in the Indian team. I remember an incident which still, after so many years, made us burst into laughter.

It was the month of December 2007, ( I forgot the date ). India was playing against Pakistan in our very own Eden gardens, Kolkata, the ground which comes just after Oval as far as aristocracy and fame is concerned. The hype was at its most as India was playing with Pakistan as the opponent. My friend Anirban, an avid fan of Dada, was desperate to go to the ground to see him live in action along with all the thrills and extra entertainment which one experiences sitting in the gallery. The lush green outfield, the cool breeze from the Hooghly river …the madness and frenzy ..watching a match in Eden is an experience by itself. However, Anirban’s father was extremely strict and though he was in the last year of  his engineering, his father had a good hold on to him. Anirban’s exam was knocking at the door and  in reply of his earnest pledge to go to the ground on the 2nd day of the test, he got the shortest reply, ” NO “.

In the morning, as usual, ruefully, he set out for his college and his father told him that he could watch many  a match in future but his exam would not wait even if Dada scored a triple century. This increased Anirban’s agony and probably, for the first time in his life, he settled to bunk the classes. (Anirban was pathetically good in his studies and anybody who knew him, found it unbelievable that he could bunk classes, but as he said later Dada’r jonye  jibon dite paari  i.e  can even sacrifice my life for Dada).

Tickets were with another friend of  us and as Anirban joined us at the pre-settled noodle point we all went flummoxed!! Without uttering a single word and with a grumpy face he motioned us to start the journey. As soon as we entered the Eden, all our woes and worries just evaporated. We were shouting, posing, cheering  and dancing with different cut-outs which we carried with us. Anirban too was enjoying to the fullest. Suddenly  he jumped up and said, “I’ve to go home, must reach by the usual time or Baba may get a hint that I’ve bunked the classes”. It was a crucial time in the match as Sourav was almost on the verge of a century. But with a sad face, Anirban left .

We reached home later in the evening and my sister informed me happily that while the TV camera was zooming through the audience, she caught a glimpse of  all of us ..not once, not twice but thrice!!! (perhaps our dance attracted the camera like a magnet to the iron) . “Wow! great”. I whistled but the next moment ….I froze. That only  meant that uncle, Anirban’s father, also saw him with us. And YES, I was right. Later we learnt that his father  had cut the cable connection and strictly said that,  “NO cricket in my home”.

Ohhh! The poor chap…had it been these days there would be no point cutting the connection and  Anirban should have said to himself   “ #KannaKeepCalm, watch Pepsi IPL at STARSPORTS.COM. “

STARSPORTS.COM has five new exclusive features this year so that everybody can watch every single move of the game and keep himself  in pace with it.
A whole new experience of enjoying cricket. I personally like the  ZIP ClLIPS  feature most  as with it  I can get all the key match points in real time!

P.S. Dada scored a 102 in that test.

This post is a part of Cricket just got better! Activity by starsports.com in association with BlogAdda.com