Not Yet Smitten by the Cricket Bug :(

I remember the last Cricket World Cup very very well. Am sure every cricket fan in India remembers Reliance's "Karlo Duniyaa Muthi Me" with Shewag waving his bat and mobile phone and Shewag's mother sharing with us her Kheer recipe (I only remember her talking on TV, I don’t remember the recipe)

I watched every single match; pre match and post match session with my mother and brother. My father joined us towards the evening when he got back from work. But the three of us were at home and watched every single match. That said, more than the matches, it is Mandira Bedi that I remember. Just wondering what she was going to wear the next day provided us with enough excitement. :) ( I distinctly remember her wearing a tri color saree with noodle strap blouse for one of India’s matches)

My father, as is my brother, is a great fan of the game. So, I have grown up watching the game. I knew every player in every team. I knew the World Cup schedule by heart and I knew which team was good at what. Every morning, I got up and faithfully read the Hindu to see what the cricket experts and specialists had to say about the game, and the Times of India to read the mere mortals views on the game. (My father calls the Hindu a text book. It has accurate, to the point information. Growing up I hated the paper, but with age I have realized its importance. The Hindu’s online paper is the first thing I open every morning once I get online)

Back to the last World Cup. That one month was dedicated to the game. We were excited about it for weeks before and felt sad about not having any entertainment once the season ended.

Anyway, all this was four years back, when I led a simple life in my parent’s beautiful house in Bangalore.

I now work nine hours a day with hardly enough time to speak to my husband, let alone watch a match. (Working cannot really count as an excuse because my father has been working through every World Cup and is still charged up each time) I don't seem to be excited about the World Cup at all. I tried to muster some interest and started betting with my office colleagues. But it has been a week since the World Cup has begun and I haven't watched even one match. (I have only lost money so far betting on old favorites who seem to be losing).

Sometimes I wish I never had to grow up. What fun it was to sit at home with my mother (who can never remember the score or even who's playing), my aunt (who always asked Why?? (never how) a person got out, after he got out!!), my dad (who always switched of the TV if India showed signs of losing), and my brother (the most normal person to watch the match with. He would consume loads of kaju, lassi (more "moree" to us South Indians) and onion pakoda and hope India won).

I am just hoping that this weekend’s cricket party at my house in Mumbai is a success and I am able to rekindle some of the old memories watching India thump England.