I was feeling drowsy at work. There's nothing unusual about it though as I always feel sleepy at around 10-11 in the morning. So I grabbed a tea bag from the kitchen and came back to my desk. Reading through requirements and finding those places that need test coverage, I was sipping that black Ceylon tea from my huge blue mug when in my mind I was trancended to a March evening of 1996.
It was that time when I fell in love for the first time!
Like many people not realizing that they were in love when they first saw that "special person", I didn't realize it too. I considered him as an enemy when he came, burdened with the responsibility of pulling through when his team was floundering. I was happy in an evil way!
However, after watching his batting that evening, his calm disposition amidst crushing pressure, wielding his kookaburra for cover drives, square cuts and sweeps and sending the ball over to the boundary countless number of times, he won the hearts of Calcuttans but he was yet to win me!!
That came 4 days later at the Gadaffi stadium in Lahore. I was still hating him. I wanted him to get out on 99. I was still a little evil. His not out century and an outstanding 3/42 finally bowled me over and I became his fan from the next day....
Well, no points for guessing... he is Aravinda de Silva from Sri Lanka...the magician with his kookaburra wand.
From the later part of 1996, I started following Aravinda de Silva's matches with great interest. I have never seen the "playing to the galleries" batsman who was aptly nicknamed Mad Max, but I witnessed the anchor who was surely Mr. Dependable. Coming to the crease at one wicket down, I have seen his stable performances in countless matches. I remember the Singer Cup series where he remained unbeaten in the entire tournament. One sultry summer evening in May, I was lucky enough to belong to those 80,000 spectators at the Eden Gardens. It was the 2nd final of Pepsi Independence Cup between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Even though India was not in the finals, that didn't stop cricket crazy Calcuttans from filling up the stands. I saw de Silva's strokes hitting the ball to the ropes and I gave a standing ovation on his half century!! That is surely an evening to remember.
My next experience was a little way off. I received de Silva's mailing address from a distant relative of mine and wrote him a letter. Months after posting it, when I was about to forget the whole thing, I received a letter. It was a hand written letter from HIM!! He sent me an autographed photo of himself and has written, besides other things that his dad lived in Calcutta for a while and went to St. Xavier's college there! I have got the letter laminated :-)
Finally, with time, I grew out of the ardent admirer that I was in my teens. Last year in April, I even supported India against Sri Lanka for the World Cup final. (I used to support SL for many years because of de Silva, yes I know I was a traitor, but everything's fair in love and war, right?) I even lost the charm for cricket a lot due to not watching it for many years and also because of the new T-20s and IPLs which I'm not much familiar with. However, when I found de Silva's autobiography on Amazon, I bought it! It was shipped from the UK (of course! Who in the US would want to read it?) and cost 28 pounds, but I had to get it. It's the book of my dreams....
I miss de Silva's match winning performances, I miss the shots that neatly bisected fielders and hurled the ball towards the boundary, I miss the days when his kookaburra ruled the 22 yards, but I'll cherish the memories forever... he'll always be my first love from my teeny-tweeny days :-)
It was that time when I fell in love for the first time!
Like many people not realizing that they were in love when they first saw that "special person", I didn't realize it too. I considered him as an enemy when he came, burdened with the responsibility of pulling through when his team was floundering. I was happy in an evil way!
However, after watching his batting that evening, his calm disposition amidst crushing pressure, wielding his kookaburra for cover drives, square cuts and sweeps and sending the ball over to the boundary countless number of times, he won the hearts of Calcuttans but he was yet to win me!!
That came 4 days later at the Gadaffi stadium in Lahore. I was still hating him. I wanted him to get out on 99. I was still a little evil. His not out century and an outstanding 3/42 finally bowled me over and I became his fan from the next day....
Well, no points for guessing... he is Aravinda de Silva from Sri Lanka...the magician with his kookaburra wand.
From the later part of 1996, I started following Aravinda de Silva's matches with great interest. I have never seen the "playing to the galleries" batsman who was aptly nicknamed Mad Max, but I witnessed the anchor who was surely Mr. Dependable. Coming to the crease at one wicket down, I have seen his stable performances in countless matches. I remember the Singer Cup series where he remained unbeaten in the entire tournament. One sultry summer evening in May, I was lucky enough to belong to those 80,000 spectators at the Eden Gardens. It was the 2nd final of Pepsi Independence Cup between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Even though India was not in the finals, that didn't stop cricket crazy Calcuttans from filling up the stands. I saw de Silva's strokes hitting the ball to the ropes and I gave a standing ovation on his half century!! That is surely an evening to remember.My next experience was a little way off. I received de Silva's mailing address from a distant relative of mine and wrote him a letter. Months after posting it, when I was about to forget the whole thing, I received a letter. It was a hand written letter from HIM!! He sent me an autographed photo of himself and has written, besides other things that his dad lived in Calcutta for a while and went to St. Xavier's college there! I have got the letter laminated :-)
Finally, with time, I grew out of the ardent admirer that I was in my teens. Last year in April, I even supported India against Sri Lanka for the World Cup final. (I used to support SL for many years because of de Silva, yes I know I was a traitor, but everything's fair in love and war, right?) I even lost the charm for cricket a lot due to not watching it for many years and also because of the new T-20s and IPLs which I'm not much familiar with. However, when I found de Silva's autobiography on Amazon, I bought it! It was shipped from the UK (of course! Who in the US would want to read it?) and cost 28 pounds, but I had to get it. It's the book of my dreams....
I miss de Silva's match winning performances, I miss the shots that neatly bisected fielders and hurled the ball towards the boundary, I miss the days when his kookaburra ruled the 22 yards, but I'll cherish the memories forever... he'll always be my first love from my teeny-tweeny days :-)
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