Super Kings getting unleashed.....

"Asthalakadi Gummava..............SuperKings na summava............."

These were the lines of Former Indian captain and chennai's yesteryear batting star Kris Srikkanth(also its brand ambassador) in support of Chennai Superkings! These lines jog my memory back to those days when me and my friends shout the same with just a little change.................India in the place of Superkings!!! But the passion is same for both! Chennai's Superkings are going great remaining unbeaten even after four encounters really proving that they are worth to be called as "Super" kings!! Though few of their matches were very close especially the ones with Bangalore and Mumbai, there were nothing to take from the fighting spirit of the Lions of Chennai!!! They were awesome and the great Lion kings have nurtured their budding cubs well enough to retain this winning spirit with Chennai even after their departure......Yeah am hinting on the departure of Hayden, Hussey and Oram!!

I am still waiting to watch Badri batting with style and grace, letting know that he was one of Lost diamonds of the country by not selecting him for Team India for a long time now!! If he had been into the Indian team few years ago, we would have boasted him as the star player for Chennai like the lights of Yuvraj and Sehwag for Punjab and Delhi!!!! But Chennai and Badri both were very unfortunate........Now the time has come to make it count that he is worth a lost diamond!!!

And to say about Raina, another guy dropped from national side showing his worth......He is one of my favorite young players!!! He and Badri should should continue this winning habit hopefully!

As of now, Chennai team on the whole looking unleashed and dangerous to be challenged!! And am thrilled to the great extent like never before to witness their every win!!!

Chennai and Cricket....I miss both!

Yeah its true......I miss both very badly! Till the last week before I left Chennai 2 years ago, I was playing cricket........so it is something that I miss and not long ago one of the Tamil films "Chennai 600028" which was very realistically based on Chennai's gully cricket reminded me all nostalgic memories of the gully cricket I have played and now its the turn of this new entertainment monster "Indian Premier League" that is reminding the nostalgic memories of cricket I have watched both on TV and on stadium.......Yeah I am talking about the matches played by the Chennai super kings team in Chennai's only International Cricket stadium "M.A. Chidambaram stadium" fondly called by locals like me as the "Chepauk Stadium".

There is something special for me to feel so much on missing the chance of witnessing a cricket match in Chepauk stadium........the reason is this - The last few matches that I went to watch was affected due to rain and I returned home with tonnes of disappointment and now when I saw the sun blazing down for every match.......I feel that I was unlucky a long way! Though the last match I tried to watch in that stadium had gave me only disappointment of not much cricket played due to rain.....There was this lingering nostalgic memory of few incidents that happened along with with it!

The first reason I was so excited to watch that match that day was.....I never watched a day and night ever before in my lifetime and still stands the same!!! Believe it or not......I never watched a day and night encounter in Chennai......very bad for me!

Unlucky was not only me, also the Chennai's Chepauk stadium for hardly getting an opportunity to host any one day international match for quite a while and the day and night event was much beyond dreams (though its a wonderful stadium in par with other few of that kind in the country) This IPL showers Chennai with so much day and night matches now! But am sitting so far from home helpless to witness it along with other fans getting roasted in gruelling heat!!

Since it was a day and night match that time, tickets were priced a little higher than usual and I knew well that its not going to be a cakewalk to get the money from my dad!! I was fighting hard to convince him to get 200 bugs to buy the ticket for the match as I was not earning those days like now and I considered it as quite an achievement to get it done thought it looks funny to think now (perseverance pays off.....hehe)! So I was all excited that I got the tickets and then came the thunder.......Weather report was not missed by me for almost a week and news was not at all that great! Still I didn't lose my hope that match will proceed though knowing well that Chepauk is not an indoor stadium.....hehe!!

Rain didn't let me have fun all the way! I left home with an umbrella for watching a cricket match!! What an irony? Still strong hopes didn't die and I was making up my mind to at least reach there and see how the stadium looks under lights.......something I never witnessed before! After wading through flooded streets, crowded trains and cramped walkways.......I reached the stadium almost 45 minutes late and the funny part is, that was the only time they have played cricket that day!!!! Being Lazy is not going to do any good. ( A moral story....hehe) As I entered the stadium finally......What I saw was a wonderfully looking Chepauk ground and taunting light towers lighting up the green grass and deafening noise of 50000 people minus the men in blue and men in black............! Oh dear.........I was just watching the ground helplessly admiring the beauty though amidst wreckage of my hopes and expectations!! It was music, dance and fun from fans in the stands.......which were very great to witness but "No cricket" that's something I missed it and still couldn't get it back!! I spent almost 3 hours that day hoping there might be some sort of resume of play but what I heard form the announcement speakers was that the rain has turned into storm!!! Much damage has been already done and they finally announced that game has been abandoned and asked the fans to leave who were not in any mood to leave still dancing around with full of hopes!!!

That was the last day for me in Chepauk stadium till now and the unattained dream was carried over with me a long way till Lafayette and I still hope that I will watch a day and night match of cricket at my home ground very soon................But as of now, I miss Chennai and cricket!!!!

Rain Rain Go Away....!

Why this place has so much affinity for rain? Am wondering, wondering and still wondering even after almost two years now! Yeah........Am hinting only about this new land "Lafayette" where I came flying across seven seas and seventy mountains about 20 months ago! Imagine one coming from a place where it rains by chance even in the season meant for rainfall to a place where I can bet saying "It will rain in Lafayette every week" and win all the time!! It is like that......it rains all the time no matter what season it is!! There were weird days where I sweat for half the day and get wet the rest of the day..............very funny when I think of it! It is also a kind of having an adventure with the weather buddies!!
My hatred for rain started long ago when I was a school boy returning home with disappointment after seeing my school ground flooding with water restricting me playing in hot sun for days, and then during the college days when it gave me tough times a number of occasions while trying to go out for a movie, or outing or shopping or whatever and now in Lafayette, it still haunts me with these water logged walk ways, leaking labs, slippery floors and last but not least, forcing me to the uncomfortable hardship of taking an umbrella. Though am one among the millions who know the Golden value of rain and water after suffering drought and scarcity not very long ago, I am still not getting the mood of dancing in the street singing and getting drenched [like what we see in movies!!] when it rains. Though a little contradictory within myself, that's how it goes........So That's my way!! Rain you please go away...............!!

How should my "blog" be?

Blog......I too started the so called "blog" account to have one in my kitty! But then I was wondering what to write? and then How to write?. Is there any specific system to learn blogging? No will be the answer of many! Can I write What ever I feel? I hope many agree with the answer "yes". That is why I wrote this one which is not aimed at any topic nor critic anything nor say anything funny/interesting.......Just an example to say Blog means anything & everything that I can put into an understandable version!! What about the style of writing? If I write something which is like, not very slangish or very spoken stylish, it looks like I have copied it from the web articles which are available in plenty that, the reader can easily get into false assumption that I have done a copycat job!! I was taken by surprise when someone asked me "are u doing this "copy pasting" thing from any website?" Though I know its just a misconception, it made me think whether its worth writing that way! Now the big question I have on my mind is this......"How should my blog be?" Anyone willing to comment are welcomed and thanked in advance!!

Go Super Kings Go...............

Go Yellow......! Go Super Kings.......!
Welcome to the Lion's Den......................!

Its going to be the chant of 50,000 fans who are going to be present at the M.A. chidambaram stadium, Chennai in next couple of days to witness the battle of cricket between the chennai super kings and the Mumbai Indians. They(the mumbai indians) are coming after a shocking defeat at home and can be aptly quoted as wounded tigers while on the other hand, the super kings are returning home as roaring Lions after winning a battle away from home as royal as they were expected to be......

In a chennai Fan's lingo, chennai superkings are returning back as "superstars"......[U need to live in chennai to know the significance and the psychic boost that word carries with it!!!]

Before going further into this post, I must say to the reader that am not painting a picture of mine as a stereotype regionalist, but if u think what the whole league is about?? Its the battle between eight cities and when the fans of other teams have already started to boast and become crazy maniacs backing up their home teams why not me??

This is an abstract from one of the sports article (named "IPL-Identity challenge", cricinfo) reporting on yesterday's Mumbai Indians home game against banglore.

"Mumbaikars had come to the Wankhede to watch a Mumbai victory first and a cricket match second" This was comment given on that article quoting that "Booing"mumbai crowd when Rahul went out for toss or whenever the Banglore team made an appeal during the game.
"for Rahul Dravid, so used to being the darling of fans in this country wherever he goes, the experience was a novel one."
"It was a fantastic experience but I'm not used to a crowd like that. Whenever I've played here before for India, the crowd have been rooting for you. But here, I hit a four and no one clapped. I think I'll have to get used to that over the rest of the tournament" He (Dravid) said.

This speaks about the IPL fever that the fans are caught with and I don't find anything wrong in that as long as it stays within the spirit of supporting on cause of the game and strictly not in any other matter. This is not something new if you relate it to maniac fans of Football leagues in Europe.

Since chennai is going to face Mumbai in its first home encounter, it adds more spice on expectations of how Chennai fans are going to support their men........? Are they going to give the same medicine back to the Mumbai guys? or Are they going to honour the cricket first and then the rest? or Are they going to show some new lessons on how to or how not to behave supporting a home team??

Lets wait and see.....

IPL has Begun........!

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has kicked off finally after so much hype,expectations, criticism, confusions, controversies, negotiations, drama and marketing!!! To just brief about IPL to those who are not aware of it, it is basically a cricket league started by the BCCI (Board of control for cricket in India)for its cricket crazy nation. The core concept of the league is based on the lines of something like English premier league for football. This league has eight teams representing eight cities in India and these teams are owned by Big corporate giants and bollywood stars. There were so much of oh's and ah's about this league since it has many of the best international players in it bought by the franchises for some huge amounts of money surprising everyone from cricketing legends to a common cricket fan. This IPL was challenged whether it can overcome one's nationalistic passion to enjoy it just as a mere entertainment. Cricket and nationalistic passion go parallel for a vast majority of cricket fans in India. But IPL has rivalled it by having international players playing along with the Indian stars which we were not used to before. I still prefer and also admit that I had more satisfaction and a overflowing passion in watching a 5 day Test cricket match between India and Pakistan in comparison to watching a 3 hours Twenty20 cricket between Chennai and Kolkata or Bangalore and Mumbai. But this is a different generation cricket which no nobody has experienced.
After seeing the first match of the IPL today between Bangalore and Kolkata, I felt like I have to rethink once more on my opinion about IPL. The stadium was jam packed and the fans were supporting the home team, Bangalore and it was all the same experience except one fact that it is not a international game. Am really excited now to see how my home team (referring to Chennai) performs? I feel strange to think of conflicting passions......If I support the chennai team against a say Mumbai, Does it mean am very regionalistic? When you see a group of boys representing your city and those names which you are very much familiar with (like your friend's/relative's/neighbour's name) and the city wearing a festive look with the cut-outs and banners of the team players, is'nt it more natural to support a home team? Even though I support because of the fact that it is my place, the player who is leading is not from the state and a hand full of players in the team are from different countries. so in the end what I relish is the cricket and to add some spice to the enjoyment I need that passion feeling which I develop with the fact that the team is representing my home town!!
I really enjoyed one of the banner showed by a ardent cricket fan in today's match which said "IPL cricket stands for Indian People Love cricket". I go by it and look forward to see this IPL doing well though it is not the real cricket feeling I am used to all these years, where am glued to the seat to see only India end up winning and disappointed every time whenever India lose. New generation, New cricket, New fun, but not test run yet!!!!! so, IPL has begun and I am hoping for chennai super kings to perform the best......."Go yellow.....Go Kings.......welcome to the Lion's den!!!" These were some of the hot lines really setting up chennai's die hard cricket fans for the home coming games in next two weeks!!!!!!

Just started

Atlast I have started a blog after overcoming my 'lazy' mind........I have decided to blog since I felt the need to get engaged with something that can keep me busy other than playing PC games and so called 'orkutting' (which am getting so much obsessed with atleast for some time now!!!!!). So lets see how well it goes and how long...? Am totally new to this blog world but instead of quoting me as beginner I wud rather say 'a curious learner' and hence, will try to post some good stuff which I can relish reading and also probably others....