India's Favourite Sport

India is a cricket-crazy nation, and my family is most definitely high up there on the scale of craziness where the sport is concerned. I however am not. In fact, in the span of my life in India, I may have watched at most 2 complete games if you cobbled together the bits of the ones I caught on TV while on my way to the fridge,  stepping out the front door, or if I happened to be sitting in the living room when my sister ran in throwing a blue fit about how dare the channel be on something else other than a game that was in progress, and didn't I have a book to read or something?

Now that you have a fair idea of my deep involvement with the game, I want to share that I went to watch my first live cricket match at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore where the Royal Challengers, Bangalore gave the Kolkata Knight Riders a fair trouncing. I shall also admit that this is 4 years after my move to the States. Better late than never, what?

My sister, seated next to me ruptured my left ear drum during the course of this outing with her incessant shrieking, so if I don't respond when you talk to me, move to my right and repeat. Also, I narrowly escaped with both eyes despite some frenzied flag waving by this very large, not young man in the row in front of us.

That I was also people watching rather than being riveted to the game is a cause of disappointment to my sister, but I have no such regrets. In fact, the guy who was dancing as though possessed - rapidly jerking his head with his tongue hanging out, which in turn caused his considerable belly to also rapidly jerk (imagine a walrus having a seizure) - more than made up for a wide ball. I had no idea that a Bollywood song could inspire such reactions.

The spouse, having had no exposure to cricket since his childhood was spent doing little league and soccer, and who this outing was really in aid of, had his first taste of India's favourite sport. He rather enjoyed it, contrary to his pre-conceived notions about the speed of the game, and the possibility of being able to pack for a trip between runs.

In any case, good times were had, much thirst was experienced (since they don't allow any bottles with liquids into the stadium, and if anyone has a strategy to get to the iced tea vendor before he is mobbed and robbed of his meagre supply, let me know) and I finally bonded with my family over that game.