The euphoria of my birthday continued on day 2 i.e. 2nd April, 2011 as nervous energies built up inside everyone’s stomachs… I had declared beforehand to all my friends that if India reaches the World Cup Final, I’ll celebrate my birthday on 2nd too… Everywhere, everyone was discussing about the finals, drawing parallels and conclusions as to how can MSD bring home the cup. Also discussed were topics like, SRT should hit a 100, India should win & he should retire as that will be the perfect end to his glorious career. I too was overwhelmed by the occasion and had discussed with Avinash Sir about where to go and watch the match. We decided that we’ll go to some resort and watch the match and come back home next day. But we had series of seminars on Sunday so we decided to stay local.
7.00 am is when I wake up after finishing hectic 1st April as we had our monthly meeting scheduled at the Thane Office. Meeting was scheduled at 10.30 am and I had to travel from Borivli to Thane. I picked up couple of my colleagues and went ahead for the meeting. The meeting ended by 12 and we were sitting discussing where to watch the match. Avinash Sir said that we’ll watch the match in a bar with big screen. I agreed. We asked Navin and he agreed to join us. We left by 1.30 as we didn’t wish to miss the toss. Many of my colleagues had asked me for a birthday treat and I conveniently forgot…
We reached on time for the toss and saw the tossing confusion too. MSD lost the toss and we were put into bowl 1st by Mr. Sangakarra. We were at the Bar finding the best seats so that we could enjoy the match. We ordered for beer & Old Monk. Somehow I was not in a mood to drink that day. So I had 1 beer & called it quits. India started off well and everyone showed great commitment in the field. We were discussing that the body language of the Indian players shows us that they are confident of winning today.
We were the team who barring the minnows had tied against England, lost to South Africa, bounced back against the West Indies, humiliated the Australians and restored the national pride against Pakistan. Till this moment everyone was going Bleed Blue but in finals, both teams were sporting Blue jerseys. On the previous night I told Ms. Sankhe that we shall Bleed ‘Light’ Blue during the finals. The match started in a very interesting manner. The bowlers gave away very little at the start but Jayawardena hit a composed 100 and took SL to a good and challenging total of 274. India needed 275 to win and we were happy as in 2003 World Cup, we needed a humongous 350+ to win and we messed up.
We left the hotel at the innings break and decided to go to any hotel on the Ghodbunder road which provides the viewers with Large Screens with Projectors. The roads were clear, so clear that we reached Hotel Garwaa in less than 15 minutes. I couldn’t believe it as normally the drive takes almost 40-45 minutes got us there in less than 15 minutes. This is the time when I thought that there should be a World Cup Final daily and Traffic in Mumbai will be taken care off every day.
We reached the hotel and started watching the match. There were 100s of cricket enthusiasts (rowdies like us) already there watching the match. Sehwag went out in the 1st over and Malinga got Sachin out for cheap and everyone was silent. Navin was so tensed that I thought he might cry any minute. In between people including me started receiving various smses which said that India will win, Sehwag will be out on duck, Sachin won’t hit his 100 etc. etc. etc. Navin said that if all the things are true than he’ll stop watching cricket. We knew this won’t happen as a match can’t be fixed to this much extent and come on face it, who will fix a World Cup final???
We got a cheerful moment in between when a girl started shouting at a waiter saying that, “you can’t even get water on time??? Is this your Management???” We all were quiet when she shouted and after she stopped we started yelling at the top of our voices teasing her. We actually got nasty in our comments and were looking at the time when we felt she will leave the hotel. But thick skinned she was, she didn’t even budge a little. Me & Avinash Sir were reminded of our Engineering Days by this incident. There was a guy in a group of 20 odd people who was being teased a lot. Every now and then we shouted either ‘Lavanya’ to tease him or ‘Management’ to tease her. This was needed to relieve the pressure of the chase for us.
Few days ago Mr. Ganguly had analyzed on national TV that Pathan should be dropped for Raina and don’t even think about dropping Gambhir as he is a class act. Raina showed his mettle against Australia and Pakistan and on the field against SL and Gambhir showed his class with a brilliant 97. We were cheering every shot hit by the Indian Batsmen. Even the ones that went for singles were cheered. After Gambhir got out, MSD took the charge and finished the game with his classic ‘Helicopter Shot’ which was missing during the entire World Cup. I was reminded of the line, ‘Cometh the hour, Cometh the Man’ and it aptly suited MSD that day. India lifted the cup and we all jumped and hugged every random person possible in that hotel when MSD hit the winning runs.
The feeling was exceptional. We left the hotel and went into Thane city to see the city bright with lights and more people on the roads than they were at home. Whole of Thane was on the streets. We too got out of the car and started dancing. There was crowd everywhere and everyone was either drunk and elated or simply elated by the fact that we got home the CUP after 28 long years and we won it when Sachin was playing his last World Cup. This one was special for everyone. All the billions of people in India must have smiled the brightest on this day. Most of the country must have come out on streets that day. The number of crackers burst on that day must have been more than any of the Diwalis celebrated in Mumbai.
I came back to Borivali in less than 30 minutes from Thane, met a couple of friends, saw the celebrations in Borivali and it took me more than 45 minutes to reach Borivli-East from West that night. Irony that I reached Borivali in less than 30 minutes from Thane and it took me more than 45 minutes to cross the East-West Bridge. Still, I enjoyed it and it was amazing.
The day the entire nation came together… For a common cause!!!
Congratulations Team India for the World Cup Win!!!