The Form, the Cup and the Joy

Usually my Saturdays move at a slow pace with nothing much to do other than perhaps sleep away to glory. But yesterday was hectic to say the least, starting on slow note and ending on a cresendo. My day starts at 6 in the morning when my alarm goes off. The day starts, but I don't start until 8~9. Anyways, after a quick freshening up, I had to go to the University for applying for the next season of exams. In the meantime, the Mech boys @ Kani had to attend lab while MA was leaving for small trip around the city. Before he left, MA passed me his brand new World Cup Tee for the day and I should say, it may have just turned the day in my favor, or so I believe. With the World Cup Tee on me, I left for an early morning breakfast at Vikas Bhavan Canteen ~11 am. :D After that, it was straight dash to Kerala University Campus.

The Campus seemed filled up with students, mainly B.Tech, lined for various purposes. The Form counter was having a queque when I reached there. While standing in line, I saw some of my juniors there. Had a small chitchat after which I re-joined the queque. After getting the forms, next in line was paying the exorbiant fees for the bloody exams. When I reached there, Asha a.k.a. Jyothika, was already there. She and a junior were filling up the chalans for payment. In between, I got a call from Sumesh. A bit embaressing to say but I totally forgot to inform him about the dates for submitting fees. Anyways, once again, I made my way to the Form counter to buy forms for him. On the way back, I had to take cash for his fees too. In total, I think, I went into the ATM atleast thrice for withdrawing cash. Back at the Cash Counter section, Asha was filling up her exam form while I had to fill up the Chalans for paying the fees. After paying the fees, I had to fill up 3 forms, namely two for me and one for Sumesh. The most boring part of the whole exercise. With Asha egging me on to finish it up fast, the forms were filled up fast. After that, I dropped them into the B.tech box.

After goodbying Asha, I went to my favorite haunt for lunch, Hotel Aruna. Had a nice veg lunch but sadly couldn't eat much as I drank up a bit too much water just before eating. :( Another thing to make a mental note, Don't Drink water before Lunch, Always After (DDLA, not DDLJ). After lunch, i walked back home in the searing heat. Too tired to do anything else, I started to watch Robinhood (Russell Crowe's) on Anogh's Lap. Watched almost 90% before sleep caught up with me. Thought of sleeping for an hour and then making my way to Sundar's house for catching the Cup. But fate had something else in store. I overslept and got up late ~7pm. Another dash, but by the time I reached India had already lost 2 wickets in their chase. The nightmare of '96 was going to happen again ? Anyways, stayed glued to my seat along with Asharaf till the last run was scored. It was unbeliveable that India had finally become World Champions and what a way to score the winning runs, a maximum from the Indian Captain's blade.

After the presentation, we, me, Sundar and Ash, made our way to Statue for the celebrations. The whole place was filled with people. It seemed like 7pm instead of 12 in the night. The joy was to be seen on each of the faces. The police was having a tough time controlling the crowd as well as the traffic on the streets. Soon the revelery turned ugly after some time and we had to run off before the police batons could kiss our legs and butts. After bidding a quick goodbye to Ash and Sundar, I walked back to Kani. With a smile on the lips and Joy in my heart.

Shattered Dreams Fulfilled

Is our Team India the World Champions of 2011 ? Unbeliveable but true. The zenith of Cricket is finally ours. It's just purely overwhelming to be the part of a generation that has seen the World Cup being lifted by India. What a script this has been, the chases, the drama, the injuries and even kudothrams ;). 2/4/2011 will go down in history as the swansong of Legends, Sachin, Murali and many more. The absolution for 1996 and 2003 has been recieved in 2011 and what a way to gain it. En route to the finals, we broke the Aussie arrongance, trampled on the Pakistani powress and finally exacted a clinical revenge on the Sri Lankans. I still remember the 1996 semi-finals, where the nation, and the stadium, erupted into frenzy after an unbelievable routing of the Indians. There was a small fear of a repeat yesterday, but it seems the script-writer was in a better mood.

Remembering yesterday's batting will still give heart-attacks to many. The way Gambhir played was nothing short of living-on-the-edge style. But by the time he went back, the platform had been set and the Master Butcher a.k.a Dhoni was in form. There's nothing that seems elegant about MSD's batting, it's just raw power and great timing. The way he bats, it seems like he's a dhobi and not Dhoni. Whatever we may say or write about MSD, he's the one who's led India to this great success. As far as I'm concerned, this is the culmination of a spark that was lit by Dada. He changed the timid Indian team to tigers. Dhoni/Kirsten transformed those tiger-cubs into a lean-mean fighting machine which could take on any team on any given day without blinking an eyelid.

Even if I keep filling pages with praises for Team India, it's not gonna be enough for me to be satisfied. So here I stop with these words.
"When the tears are those of joy, I don't mind crying"