AAGEE Syndrome on a long weekend...

Long weekend of Holi-Easter-Id-Milad was too much to bear for me. As all I had to do was just sit at home & watch the Idiot Box go blah-blah-blah… After spending two days in the confines of the four walls, the third day was really refreshing… A good Formula1 race, some good food & a little bit of cricket surely did cheer me up or should I say prepared me for the grueling week ahead…

A friend of my room mate came-up with the Idea of going to the ICL T20 challenge, the price banding really warmed me up to the challenge a meager Rs. 100/- So after the Formula1 race & seeing my hero Kimi win, I was all cheered up to go. Now it was time for “Good Food” I accentuate here because all week long it is the same exorbitantly priced tasteless office canteen food of dal-roti/chawal… bleech!!! Not that I have anything against dal-roti/chawal, I guess most office-goers will understand & agree with me.

So after food it was turn to go. The best part of all was none of us knew where the stadium was situated! We had our tickets courtesy internet, knew the name of the place but didn’t know the way!

After a lot of asking directions & hearing only one direction “AAGEE” (straight ahead) we managed to reach. If ever one has to ask directions in the dust-city called Gurgaon don’t bother, everything is “AAGEE”. Collecting the tickets wasn’t much of a fiasco. Again we were hit by the “AAGEE syndrome” of Gurgaon. I have come to call it so because in just one evening I heard the word around 30 times. Genuinely no one knows where the place being enquired is they have just the same answer. AAGEE… I am planning on applying for a patent for a new syndrome I happened to discover.

Anyway be as it may be, after collecting tickets we entered the preordained location. On reaching we found were felt let down. The coveted stadium is called Tau Devi lal stadium. I would say Tau Devi Lal Park would be more precise. The longest boundary was I think, around 45-50 Yards. This according to me was fit to play a tennis ball tournament between two school teams. It reminded me of my Engg. College Cricket ground only difference this one had a green cover all over.

Despite being such a small field of all only 2 6s were hit in the entire match & both in the Lahore team innings. The main reason for this was Mushtaq Ahmed. Mushtaq was wonderful, for a guy almost into the 40s he was fantastic... He was a class apart... Delhi batsmen weren't able to pick him... like Navjot Singh Sidhu would say; they were bamboozled, flummoxed, like a baby in a dance bar. Mushtaq bowled one Delhi batsmen round his legs... that poor chap was just gaping as to how he got bowled.

Pricing of tickets is ok, Rs 100/- sit anywhere you want. Most of the crowd that came was more interested in the dancing girls than the sport...

When it was evident that the Lahore team had outdone the Delhi team all of a sudden there were Indian & Pakistani flags sold & a cry of India India… Hey this is just a private company conducting a competition to earn money. Why bring in patriotism here? As the last few overs of the match were being bowled there was pin drop silence in the stadium. This sort of behavior was shameful… No one, yes sir, not a single person spotted the fact that the throws coming in from the deep fielders of Lahore team were thudding into the keeper’s gloves… There was a passion in the way they played. Why can’t Indian fans just accept that??

Imran Nasir again showed the world why the legendary Imran Khan regards him so highly. He saved around 15-20 runs at point position. Then guiding his team to a wonderful victory scoring majority of the runs.

Once out of the stadium we again experienced the AAGEE syndrome managed to get home. End of the day it was a wonderful experience. A good way to spend a weekend. A good chance to meet some of the international stars & see them play from close quarters.