Venue: My small bedroom at my Adayar flat at 3 am.I woke up after a rather tortuos dream of me having to complete my homework during the prayer time and submit the homework late..and in fear as I got up from my dreamI got up to the rather immortal voice of Richie Beanuad and Tony Grieg during the 1992 World Cup. This was probably my granny at her best, when it came to watching cricket at 62.She fervently got up at 3 am and followed the scores and kept giving her version of her analysis which usually differed from mine.She would say The Indian Team should drop Shastri and Manjerekar, as they used to slowdown the innings,and as usual be more superstitious than umpire Shephard,when it came to nelson scores. She didnt have much knowledge about the game, but many years of TV watching and newspaper reading had made her more knowledgeable atleast to a bare minimum of being a viewer able to discern match predictions.
Thw World cup in 1992 with the Indian team in the Australasian continenet was my first experience getting up with her and watching cricket matches.My parents never exuded so much interest unless and untill an India Pakistan match was in the offing.My parents preffered to watch cricket as long it didnt interefere with their household chores and sleep. They never minded me getting up or sitting up late, watching cricket on DD(BTW parents had nothing to fear those days, MTV Grind was unheard of :-) ), but the only grouse till date they have with me is the fact that they dont like me sleeping after switching on the TV.
My grandmother's company in watching the matches atleast ensured that the TV is spent usefully in watching Cricket and not some silly Mahabharat,Byomkesh Bakshi or Junoon.Not that I didnt like the former serials, but when it came to cricket, every thing came second for my granny and me, much to the consternation of my grandfather who despised watching cricket,as it raised his blood pressure.The advantage of a grandmother sittingup with you to watch matches, at uneartly hours was the fact that the parents wouldn't mind as a senior person was with me,and would switch off the TV and secondly also would keep me ona tight leash when it came to finishing the remnants of my previous days homework before the first innings of the match ends(usually around 6 30 am).The other advantage was that, if you had somebody else also watching the match, there would be some feeling of importance attached to the match.
My grandmother was hooked on till 1997 , when the evil world of Raj Tv,Vijay Tv and Sun Tv invaded her "Cricket watching time".The advent of STAR TV at home had its repercussions slowly in form of distractions of Balachander serials ate into my granny's time.Granny who usually watched even a Bangaladesh vs Kenya game, slowly grew out of the habit of watching Cricket,and had her USP as "watching India matches only". With time her eyesight, also became worse and her glaucoma flared up again.My grandmother could now only make out that a ball was being bowled and hardly had any idea as to how the match would go on..and this reduced her interest levels and she would hit the sack by a predefined 10 pm bedtime,which made me wonder..how her interest levels in watching cricket has ceased over time.
A couple of years back she could see only 10% from her eyes and last year when my grandfather passed away, she couldnt even see his dead body properly.That pained me a lot and she became a little isolated in her thoughts.Cricket was hardly in her minds.My mother was still trying to see if something could be done to rectify and restore partial vision.Some doctor who said , that she would never see, in years to come , was proved wrong when a doctor in the Egmore eye hospital suggested an operation,as my granny frankly had nothing to lose.We went ahead and in two months we saw that her vision improved dramatically and she was able to see with both the eyes and perfectly.It must have been a feeling of rebirth for her,getting her eyesight back.
She's got started with the Tamil serial fest and I found some time to speak to her last morning, when I played her some old cricket videos and the Live England Pakistan onedayer which seemingly had her viewing cricket after what seemed like eons for me. I am planning to get her back to form and waiting to listen to some of those old views of hers,despite the fact that a lot of water has flowed under the bridge , in terms of she missing a lot of cricket.
Come September 12th ,with the Malaysia Tri seriesI am going to make my Granny the Granny of the Old, the granny I had known 14 years back.
5 comments:
I have seen Pak bashing reach a crescendo at times when Pati and Thatha used to watch at home..they would have made good cheerleaders for the Indian army....dont you think? :) But nice times those..
Oh Ya!!! I remember if i got happy at say a shastri getting out,My thatha(Rajaram) would give me a stare,esp when we were playing Pakistan. Those days were fun.
Being able to see properly again, must be amazing for her. Hope you both have a good time watching the game.
looks like its broad daylight(check the picture) when this match was happening and not 3am in the morning as you had quoted in your blog.
That photo wasjust taken to show her recent photo, not meant to show that this was a 3 am match.I have mentioned that I had showed her a few cricketvideos.
BTW Those days hardly had digicams.
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