Reunion!

Last Friday I was eating an Indian pizza from CanAm. When I bit into the butter chicken topping, my brain was expecting the taste of naan or porota with it, but it actually was the pizza base! It took my brain a fraction of a second to actually process the taste. The same thing happened on Saturday when I watched the All Stars cricket match between Sachin's blasters and Warne's warriors at the Dodger Stadium in LA. When the commentators were saying that it is from LA or when they were talking about the previous matches in Houston and NY, my brain processing took longer. I was expecting places like London, Sydney, Calcutta, Mohali, Lahore or could be even Dhaka, but Los Angeles!!!

You can see the edge of the baseball diamond at the end of the pitch

Cricket is something I grew up with, and most of the cricketers in the All Stars series are like old friends. Actually, I can remember their first names and faces better than I can of my old classmates. I also still remember their unique styles like Murali's eyes when he is about to bowl, Jonty's amazing dives, Shoaib's capacity to run from almost the edge of the field... pleasant memories I should say. When the players retired, of course nobody thought that we would see them again in action, and that too here in the US! It was really a dream come true.

I don't know what the best part was - it was our favorite players in action, it was fun knowing that the idea came to Sachin and Shane (Warne) and they basically called their buddies from across the globe to form the two teams, it was also the creative idea that a baseball field could very easily be turned into a cricket ground! I really liked it when the baseball comments were flashed on the giant screen during the cricket match. When there was a no ball, it read "Free hit". When Laxman missed a catch, "butterfingers" was flashed. They didn't have any when sixes were hit, so they showed "home run". Well, that works. It is the spirit that counts.

It was amazing to see the crowd comprise of people of our generation from all the cricket crazy nations. Where flags of India and Pakistan could be seen next to the Union Jack, when Sangakkara was thrashing the bowlers Sri Lankan flags waved and Indian flags waved too! In the All stars game it was difficult to really choose a team to support, though of course Sachin's team was our favorite, it still felt good when the other team did well. With Shoaib Akhter and Moin Khan on "our side" the line between the "sides" really got blurry. I heard Moin Khan shout out to Virendra Sehwag who was coming to bowl about where Muralitharan is positioned "oye, Murli zyada door ho gaya" ("Murali is way too much on the outside"). Seeing Shoaib chit chat with the other players and take selfies with the spectators opened my eyes. From time immemorial we have religiously hated the Pakistani cricket team. But is there any reason to do so? It was a moment of introspection for me that Akram, Shoaib and Moin Khan are just the same cricketers as Sachin, Sourav and Rahul. Putting them on "our side" really was a learning experience for me. The commentators also spoke like they are sitting in someone's living room. There was such a relaxed atmosphere all around that I think I enjoyed watching this match much more than a real professional one. There was another unique thing of the players speaking from the ground while the match was on. I guess it will never be possible to do at a real match because you'd lose concentration if you play and talk, but for this match it just worked fine. The frisky Jonty Rhodes was running, talking and throwing the ball at the same time :)

On a broader scale, this looked to me like a sharing of culture. The new generation of sub-continentals came to see the match, there were American friends and spouses of South Asian cricket fans, Hollywood stars came too... in the heartland of America comes a new sport. When the balls were hit high and they were making their way to the galleries, I could see the writing Dodgers with the star spangled banner next to it. A cricket ball going past the US national flag? Well yeah, that could be the beginning of a whole new era!

Live from LA!!

PS: We ordered a cricket bat on Amazon and it has arrived today. A new era of us playing cricket in USA will also start at home!

Stop getting offended

Recently, being politically correct is a huge thing because apparently people are getting offended by everything! At my previous workplace we were not allowed to put up a Christmas tree because it might offend people of other religions (though I personally don't know of a single person who said he/she will be offended by a harmless tree). We were not allowed to write "Christmas spirit" in a poster created for a toy drive, we had to write "holiday cheer". Public schools are trying to ban the word God from everything. On the other hand, a poor red paper cup has created a turmoil because Starbucks decided to do away with the holiday symbols and go with a solid color.

If you really understood what Jesus taught, a red cup wouldn't be able to shake your faith. I think that if a certain paper cup has the ability to fluster you, then you need to introspect and rethink about your relationship with God. Same goes for all those people who are offended by other people's religious beliefs. I went to a Catholic school. I had tons of classmates who were Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain. We all attended the prayer every morning and recited the Lord's prayer. None of our family got offended. None of them kicked up any row that we are being "converted" and till date, I guess all of us have a wonderful relationship with Jesus (even if we still belong to other religions). We celebrated Eid with our Muslim friends, got gifts from them and their moms sent all the amazing food for us to share. In Calcutta, since Durga Pujo is a big event, my friends from all religions and cultures enjoyed it with us. It is so silly to get offended and stay in your own bubble when you can go and enjoy all sorts of festivals with all sorts of friends.

Human beings, here's my plea to you - please stop looking at everything through a lens of politically correctness. If you truly have that much extra energy, go spend it on something worthwhile. There are major issues in the world that would appreciate your help. Go fix the Syrian refugee problem, or go help provide food and medicine in Afghanistan. Find a way to bring water in Africa in the summer heat. Find a solution to controlling population in Asia. And if you can't do any of these, then keep your mouth shut and don't add to the problems already existing in the world.