I rarely cross post on my blog. But I have to make an exception to THIS POST by the Cricket Writer Suresh Menon, as it captures what I went through in many ways during my formative years and my passion for Cricket, which has never died.
The hours of playing cricket inside the house in the alley between the dining room and hall, the first bat purchased for Rs 8 at the age of 7, which had a defect on the inside edge, oiling and seasoning of the bats, playing on the concrete yard meant for drying boiled paddy, getting up at 5 am to catch the first bus to Palghat 20 kms away to be in time for the morning session of the coaching camp during peak Palghat summer, travelling alone at the age of 14, 250 kms to Kannur to attend the State Coaching Camp lasting 21 days which was washed away literally by the unseasonal rain, having photograph taken by Indian Express as one of the two most promising youngsters, walking into the 10th standard class, after a Coaching Camp session, after the 1st hour to be royally ticked off by Malayalm Teacher Ramakrishnan Sir who cared a fig for Cricket, standing on top of a stool listening to ABC commentary in a Valve GEC Radio which took 5 minutes to heat up, cutting newspaper pictures and pasting them on a notebook during the WI tour of India in 1975, listening to India win the World Cup in 1983 in disbelief, carrying pocket radios to the class in College, watching the Indian World Cup highlight on a friends house in a Cassette brought from overseas with 20 friends who have never seen cricket on TV before, going to a movie to watch 2 minute clippings of cricket in Indian News Reel projected before the film, setting up the antenna of the TV in 1986 to catch poor quality transmissions from Kodaikkanal HPT in Chittur, telling commentaries of imaginary cricket match while walking on the road to school - it all seemed long long ago.
Any why Suresh Menon's article brought back nostalgic memories.
