IPL T20 - My experience

 Jumpak Japang... keep practicing... this ad had caught my mind & the theme of IPL with the music is something that I paid attention to this time!! May be it's because I was destined to go to the match this year :)

I am not a cricket fan ... fan being far, cricket doesn't interest me. To me it is purely waste of time. I rather use that time doing something else that really matters to people rather than sitting & wasting time in front of the TV assuming that we are cheering the players when the reality is that they don't even hear us. It probably is the same even when we go to stadium. We might scream at the top of our voice, but the players might not even pay attention to how we are cheering them when they are concentrating on how to play better. It's my thought process and generally I don't see any match. But there are always exceptions for any rules. Yes, I have an exception that "IF", the match is India, Pakistan match, "then" I really don't mind wasting the time in front of TV. It is all about the simplest algorithm that we use in our day to day life "if-then-else"

I have known earlier when I got this opportunity to go to any cricket in the stadium to watch a match live, I have taken a conscious decision of NOT going there. But this time, after I saw the mails about IPL, somehow felt like going there!!! I had a dead line to decide whether I am going or not till Friday. But it is just me not to decide anything till I cross the deadline. I decided to go to match on Sunday. Alas, tickets were not available. So I told myself, its fine to miss a match. It is after all only a match. I have nothing to gain or lose irrespective of who wins. It was going to be just another miss in life like any other misses that I have had earlier.

Call it luck, or whatever, I happened to get the tickets. 4th April, evening match T-20, should not take much time since it is T20, I told myself. It is Thursday & getting back home late on Thursday night mean I would have an extremely tiring day at work the next day. I prepared myself with necessary medications so that I can be at my best when I go to watch the match, with the food cooked at home for the afternoon, so that I don't feel hungry while watching the match. In short, I had started looking forward for the match!!! I think about it now while writing this, I am smiling thinking about how my thinking had changed!!

My knowledge on cricket is pretty bad. I should say very bad as that would be the apt word. Yes, my knowledge is extremely bad. I know very few cricket players. Morning while I was getting ready to head to office, my husband came to me & said, today match is between  Royal challengers Bangalore & Mumbai Indians. RCB's captain is Virat Kohli. He wanted to make sure that I know the minimum details at least while I go to watch the match.

After having a long day at work, we headed to watch the match. My friend accompanied me to the match. There was lot of other people who were in the stadium from my work place. I entered the stadium, & the 1st thought that hit me was "Wow, it's nice to watch a match in the stadium during evening with the flood lights on. I have made the right decision of coming to the match."

If there was a way to collect energy level to be used later, then visiting the stadium to collect the energy would be the best idea. I saw people oozing out with energy to support the teams. That 1st boundary by Chris Gayle took me by happiness. I stood amongst the rest of the crowd to cheer the RCB team. My friend instructed me to sit whenever he sits & stand whenever he stands. I thought that would be the right thing to do as I might not even be doing the right thing if I don't do so, only to later realize that I could do it on my own. I stood up for every boundary cheering the team. I stood there to check if the claim they are doing is truly the right claim. List continues.

I heard a familiar voice announcing, ladies and gentle man, let us cheer up the team. RCB, RCB, RCB... Chris Gayle, Chris Gayle.... My thought process shifted to figure out whose voice it is. It was extremely familiar. May be a RJ/MJ I thought. I was unable to figure that out till the end of the match. Familiar voice, extremely familiar, but was unable to figure out whose voice it was.

I always thought what would happen in the stadium while the ads are running in the TV between every innings. I wondered what happens in the stadium when a wicket is lost & the new player has to come to the pitch to play. I know I sound very silly when I say that, but that thought always was there at the back of my mind. After watching the match in stadium, I realized that they would just be standing in the field or getting ready for the next over :). Chris Gayle is hurt. He isn't able to get up also. But in next 5 minutes, I see him getting up & running to score few runs. I speak in exclamation, how can he run? He was so hurt. My friend replied, even when you are not well, don't you sit and code. It is all about being used to it. True :)

While the match was on, I saw a small boy may be about 2 or so, waving a RCB flag. Would he even know what he is doing? Why he is doing? But there he was cheering the RCB team :). The little boy wasn't next to his parents. His parents were seated elsewhere, & he was somewhere else waving the flag. I immediately told myself, how come they have left that small kid alone to be away from them in this huge crowd of people.  I would never do it with my kids. I will freak out if they were to be away from me even an inch in the crowd. I could no longer bear the thought & mentioned it to my friend to hear that I need to give little space and freedom to the kids. :) May be true, but I am just this way I thought & smiled over it.

I see a boundary from Chris Gayle & my thought process is disturbed. What an amazing player he is. I hear from my friend if you marry your interest with total work ethics that is what you become :). I wondered what we all had then. No interest in our work or no ethics in our interest :). Another 4 by Gayle & my thought process is disturbed again. It's truly a pleasure to watch them. There was a strategic time out. I didn't pay much attention to that. I hear familiar songs that are run for the cheer leaders and also see Yakshagaana steps by one of the other person on the bench other than cheer leaders.

Match starts again. Few wickets are gone. More boundaries. More fun in the stadium. Gayle is 50, not out. A huge cheer and screaming is heard and seen. The energy level there is very high again. 6 & 4 alternates when Gayle hits the ball. Only aim - "score as much as you can" is clearly seen. RCB's finish their innings at 156 runs. I checked the time then. It is already 9.45. Unbelievable!!! Did I also get sucked up in match so much that I didn't realize the time? Must be!!!

2nd innings start. I see the God of cricket coming in for batting. People in the stadium get up & bow to him as if they are truly in front of the God. Which team they are supporting doesn't matter when they see Sachin. Yes, he is extraordinary. No 2nd thoughts about it.

The match starts & there are few 4 & a 6. I see a comparison done between MI & RCB. RCB were this much for this over etc. I see MI are ahead of us at that particular point in time. People supporting MI were generally lesser & is expected. I know it is not right to compare the score over by over between the teams. But I did that. Again, part of me!!! I see strategic time out again. What is strategic about it? I ask myself. I don't find a convincing answer. I asked my friend about this without being able to hold it to myself. To break the flow of the players & to get the revenue :). It is during this time out that the ads are screened in the TV I heard. It sounded convincing. Yes, it indeed was!!! Just 2 balls after the strategic time out Sachin is dismissed!!! It truly broke the flow & sounded strategic :) Required run rate is crossing 8 per over & is a good thing I thought. I was getting low on energy & it was after all "Pepsi" IPL, so landed up having "Pepsi" & watermelon to gain some energy. I wondered how people retained their energy screaming out so loud and cheering up for so long. Mine was almost dropping to zero & so felt the match was dragging a bit :). I started drawing parallels again. Even while I go to watch movie, I feel it is drag in between the movie. I had a similar feeling in the mid of 2nd innings. But, I see MI's were struggling now to catch up with the score. Last few overs & I see amazing hits by bats men. Only 6 & 4 were hit in one of the last 5 overs. It again increased my adrenaline rush!! I see the increasing pressure on the batsmen. They want to perform, but they are not able to. I started drawing parallels again. Even in life when pressure increases, we just cannot perform. This match is so uncertain. Last 2 overs to go & there is tremendous pressure on batsmen, no one knows who would win. Life is similar too I thought. Life is equally uncertain, what happens the next moment nobody would know.

Some good fight by RCB in terms of fielding & there goes Vinay Kumar claiming 2 wickets. MI's are almost losing yet trying hard to win. There goes the last ball & RCB's win the match. The whole stadium goes screaming to cheer the team. I was no exception. It definitely was a match worth watching. It was a lot of fight, lots of pressure, lots of fun :). I am sure this match was like any other IPL match probably, but for me it truly was an outstanding match for 2 reasons. I neither watch cricket, nor had gone to stadium. It was a 1st hand experience for me.

People rush out of stadium to make sure traffic doesn't affect them & we are no exception. While heading back home, I mentioned to my friend, how close we stayed to the stadium for 14 years & yet didn't even watch any match earlier. As my friend aptly mentioned "closer you are the temple, farther away you from God!!" may be true.

Next morning I update my facebook status to "IPL se koi nahin bachega... Truly ... :) "  I see few likes and comments & am sure they have experienced it too :) 

Fear overrides every other feeling

It was way back in 2010, I have given a try to visit a falls in Sirsi. I have heard the sight of it is extremely nice and beautiful but haven't been successful to get a sight of it. I have tried but wasn't successful. Everyone who had been there say it is extremely nice. I wasn't able to go there as I was tired half way. I was so tired in the mid way (I suppose), that I was neither able to  go further nor come back.

I rested for a while. There was no way I could go further to see the falls & so decided to head back home. We started climbing the stones/steps to head back home. But I was not able to do that either. I was struggling to get back. May be it was a wrong idea to venture into something that I could not have done. But it is all about trying out new stuff you see.

It was a deserted place as well. I was wondering what can bring in energy in me. That's when my one of my closed ones said, imagine that there is a tiger & our life is in danger. You will start running out of fear and all your tiredness will vanish in no second.

How true!!! If our life is in danger, we will run to save our life irrespective of how tired we are or what our physical state is. It is this fear which over rides all other feelings and emotions. Any one in fear will just do what he/she can do to best come out of the fear.

It need not have to be just the fear of life, it could be any fear. Fear of losing our reputation, fear of spoiling our name, fear of being caught by cops for doing some wrong stuff on road including the signal jumping etc makes us disciplined. If there was no law, if there was no fear of anyone or anything in life, then I cannot even imagine what a place world would have been to live. Even with so much of laws, control etc, world is a miserable place to live in. If there was no fear of anything, then there was absolutely no way people would be disciplined.

Everyone is controlled by a set of fear. Well known phobias apart, some people have the fear of consequences for every act; some people have the fear of answering people, etc. It is this fear which overrides every other feeling or emotion in everyone. 

Bitter fact of life

It is very funny on how people treat you. If you listen to every shit people tell about you & do everything they expect you to do, then you are good, you are nice & all its synonyms. One day, you don't listen to them or question them or ask them the reasoning, you are nonsense, and you are bad & all its synonyms :)

You can impress one person, probably 2, probably 3. But if you have to keep everyone happy around you, you are killed in the process. No body really cares about it as long as they get what they want!!! Yes, sounds harsh, but that's the fact of life.

To all the guys out there

I remember a line from a song of Kannada movie called Paramathma, which says "Hudigeera manasalli yen yen ide, thilkollo thakat namgellide", which means guys don't have the capability/capacity to understand ladies :)

I have heard this a lot of times that it is difficult to understand ladies... No guys, it is not. Girls are as simple as you guys. But guys are so complicated that they don't understand simple things we girls say. Nope, I am not a feminist when I am writing this.

We girls communicate & say what we need very clearly. I have read in lots of magazines, books & on net that when a girl says "NO", it means "May be", & when a girl says "May be" it means "YES" & very rarely  girl says Yes. I disagree to this. I am sure most women do. When we say NO, it is a simple NO just like the way you guys say. No means No. There is no May be in that NO. You guys interpret it that way & assume that your interpretation is right & make such statements. I agree it is very difficult for us to say NO lot of times, but when we say NO it is a NO, it no way means it is a may be. If it is May be we will say May be. So please understand what we say & not interpret what you want :)

You guys talk about our shopping habits, our IQ, our sense on routes/directions, driving skills, what not? We can also talk about every habit of yours, but we don't do that as we don't have that extra time like the way you do to make fun of you men & waste our precious time :). We may have bad driving skills or have bad sense of direction/routes. But we are good at lot of other skills. Home making is not a simple task to just name one. We are good at lot of things but we don't boost ourselves about the skills we possess.

Yes, we spend time in shopping because we value everything we do. We want the value for money. So we spend that extra time to choose nice things for the money we pay :). We don't talk about those new Gadgets that is released in the market everyday or about that new car which is to be released yet. Our life is simple. It just revolves about the people we love the most & we talk about them. Our life is just that. We can sacrifice everything for our loved ones, including our jobs & career. But we never make you guys feel that it was a sacrifice. We handle everything with a smile :)

We gossip a lot is your perception, but the latest survey says men spend 76% of the time gossiping while women spend only 58% gossiping :) So your assumptions & perceptions of women in general are wrong.

We are emotionally weak but you guys are no different. We express it & you don't. We will have tears running though our cheeks, but we don't cry to get sympathy from you. We cry because we want to flush away those emotions & be done with it!!!

Now that you know few things about us, I guess kannada song I was referring to should sound like, "hudugira manasalli yen yen ide, thiLkollo thakat namgu salpa ide", which means, we have little capability/capacity to understand ladies :)!!!!