The Hindu of 2nd August 2007 carried this article about children in Britain not playing out
on the streets at all. Instant connections can be formulated from an Indian perspective.
The streets outside my home have gone dead since 2000, when many of us started going about
our professional degrees. Luckily, I had the grounds, courts and pitches of KREC to keep my
sporting side alive. Not so for many of my Bangalore-stuck friends.
Add to this the mushrooming of CCD, Barista and the IT boom; Bangalore lost both it's
street games and its quiet way of life.
Forum and Garuda mall put the final nail in he coffin of the street-playing Bangalore kid.
As the article says, those days I knew all my neighbours well, but now I don't even know
what changes have transpired. Add to that my seven years away from Bangalore.
As the Mettalica song goes, its only the memory that remains. Some unforgettable memories:
1. Being set up repeatedly for a ball similar to the one with which Shane Warne bowled Mike
Gatting by J
2. Myself and K always being on the opposite sides. Our different styles of play; the
sedate vs the aggressive; silky vs explosive; the high voltage clashes.
3. A 'definite' sixer by K landing on someone's chest prompting accussations of inducing
heart attacks by playing cricket
4. The methodical dismantling of the total by the other J
5. The arrival of the pace battery S
6. P cutting the ball into pieces and sadistically throwing it back to us for hitting it
into her house
7. Secretly eyeing the other J's sister and trying to impress her with our style of play.
Sigh!! Must restart........
2 comments:
Brings back memories. Thankfully in Delhi, where most of my street cricket days were spent, the parks are mostly inviolable.
And one other thing. You need to fix the carriage return thing though. Tis hard to read when every sentence has an extra carriage return.
"... Luckily, I had the grounds, courts and pitches of KREC to keep my sporting side alive ..."
really? REALLY?????
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