Slipping of a banana peel hurt the one who falls but also brings the smile for others who are watching. Hitting a four on the first ball is a moment of joy for the batsman but not for the bowler. Any incident on or off the field is joy for some and sorrow for others. But sometimes it also becomes controversial for the one who is laughing at the victim’s mistakes. Hence the people are aware of this while doing it. This is what was seen during the IPL’s match between Delhi Daredevil and Mumbai Indians at Mohali one day after the spat between Sreesanth and Harbhajan, which already have huge media coverage.
It was a moment of joy for the Delhi Daredevils in Sunday’s match when in the fifth over Shoaib Malik hit a four on the first ball of Sreesanth. This particular four of the match was so significant that Rameez Raza in his commentary said “Shoaib slappppppppped through the off side”. These words could have easily dissolved as so many fours were hit later on. But Rameez corrected himself after saying that “actually I shouldn’t say it slap, it would become controversial”, so he said “he hit it so hard through the off side”.
Now Harbhajan Singh has been banned for the rest of the IPL matches besides 100 per cent fine on his match fees. Both Bhajji and Sree were seen hand-in-hand and cheering with each other, as if they have sorted out their problem. Harbhajan has realised his mistake and apologized to Sreesanth. Sree also has been so kind of saying Bhajji his elder brother. It’s a part of the game, Sree said on Saturday. That is what the spirit of game is all about, leaving all the bad incidents and move on for better and learn from your mistakes.
'Let the lights be off'
Kolkata is known for its craziest fans of cricket across India. Hidden Garden that hosted 4th IPL match is the proof of that where 90,000 people came to see the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers. The hot & humid temperature could not resist the spirit of Kolkata’s cricket fans. However pitch dampened the spirit of the game as it was very slow, dry with uneven bounce.
Arun Lal in his pitch report, before the start of the match predicted that it would be a low scoring match and whoever wins the toss should bat first. As predicted the pitch proved very slow and dry with lots of dust flying but Deccan Chargers managed to put 110 runs on board.
Chasing 111 runs was a dreadful task for Knight Riders who lost half of their wickets because the ball was not coming on the bat easily and wicket was hard to play on. Match was evenly poised when Knight Riders required 23 runs of 22 balls with 5 wickets in hand. But another barrier came when stadium flood lights went off and stopped the play. Arun Lal during the commentary was heard saying that this could result in a tie or perhaps the Duckworth-Lewis method would come into play.
It was a relieving sight for the thousands tensed Knight Riders fans who were cheering for their home team. Some might be praying that the lights should not come back hoping that it could result in a tie. However stadium lights were on once again and Knight Riders won the thrilling match with one over still remaining, which really enlightened the spirit of Kolkata Knight Riders fans back once again.
Arun Lal in his pitch report, before the start of the match predicted that it would be a low scoring match and whoever wins the toss should bat first. As predicted the pitch proved very slow and dry with lots of dust flying but Deccan Chargers managed to put 110 runs on board.
Chasing 111 runs was a dreadful task for Knight Riders who lost half of their wickets because the ball was not coming on the bat easily and wicket was hard to play on. Match was evenly poised when Knight Riders required 23 runs of 22 balls with 5 wickets in hand. But another barrier came when stadium flood lights went off and stopped the play. Arun Lal during the commentary was heard saying that this could result in a tie or perhaps the Duckworth-Lewis method would come into play.
It was a relieving sight for the thousands tensed Knight Riders fans who were cheering for their home team. Some might be praying that the lights should not come back hoping that it could result in a tie. However stadium lights were on once again and Knight Riders won the thrilling match with one over still remaining, which really enlightened the spirit of Kolkata Knight Riders fans back once again.
Two best friends in the muck
I wrote this story last year, but i happen to see these boys again in the surprise rain on April 2, so thought of putting this on my blog...
The heavy downpour of Aug'07 brought the city to a standstill as severe water logging was reported from many arteries. Week after, still there were areas where the drainages were full and water pouring out. Sewages were blocked and water seeping into houses, causing a foul smell. People living in a congested and under-developed area were having a hard time as they could hardly walk on that clammy surface. MCD with limited staff were not able to handle the situation swiftly. In this current chaos and dying situation there were boys Monu and Bappi who were benefiting from all these. These two boys had an unusual work, which they do only in the rainy season.
There was a slight drizzle on Saturday (Aug15) morning in Chhattar Pur when these two boys spotted. They were wearing dirty clothes, was completely drenched in muck. They were emanating awful bad smell as they were taking out metals from the drains with a big magnet, which was attached to a thick wooden rod. They insert that rod in the drain and move it back and forth for three to four times and then take out. Any metal blocking the drain or existing get glued to the magnet and then they take out that rod from the drain and take off the metals, jewellery, coins, iron etc that got stick to the magnet with their bare hands and put it into their thailas (bags).
One of the boys whose name was Monu lives in Usmanpur near Seelampur and he hails from Vardhaman, Kolkata. He was from a poor family and have seven members in the family. He is the eldest son of his parents and has two sisters and two younger brothers. He sends Rs 3000-4000 to their parents every month. He said “I can do this work on my conditions as there is no senior-junior in this work and nobody can scold me for anything. I am a boss of my own work.”
Monu said that he and his friend Bappi rummage around for metals from the drains only in the rainy season, as every metal in form of jewellery, iron, coins, etc flows down to the drains and it is very easy to dig them out. We do other works also like serving in the marriage parties and some labour works. We are doing this for the last 10 years. We earn Rs 200-300 per day after selling the metal, which we collect it from the drains. We have travelled all parts of delhi for this work. We start early morning at 6 and finish 2 in the noon and never leave the area unless it is finished completely.
Another boy, Bappi who was earlier busy in metal picking said, “People often make fun of them, they laugh at us and deliberately tell us to glean metals in some drains near their houses assuming that it will clear the drain blockages.” He did not say anything about himself, as he was very shy. But he told that his life is as same as Monu. “MCD people encourage us and support our work viewing that it will clean the blockages of drains. But they have never awarded us or offered us any job in MCD as told by Monu.
Sultan Singh, one of the resident of the colony where these two boys found working said that after the heavy Wednesday and Thursday rain no MCD guy has turn up to their streets to clean up the blockages. The water is pouring out on the streets. These boys who I have seen only in the rainy season are of a great help. They take out the small and heavy metals from the drains, which clear the blockages.
Monu and Bappi had work and they were working with full dignity, hard work and confidence. They had atleast hope against hope. Where rain had dampened people’s lives and with flood alert in most of the eastern region these boys were living their livelihood because of rain. One’s loss is another’s gain.
The heavy downpour of Aug'07 brought the city to a standstill as severe water logging was reported from many arteries. Week after, still there were areas where the drainages were full and water pouring out. Sewages were blocked and water seeping into houses, causing a foul smell. People living in a congested and under-developed area were having a hard time as they could hardly walk on that clammy surface. MCD with limited staff were not able to handle the situation swiftly. In this current chaos and dying situation there were boys Monu and Bappi who were benefiting from all these. These two boys had an unusual work, which they do only in the rainy season.
There was a slight drizzle on Saturday (Aug15) morning in Chhattar Pur when these two boys spotted. They were wearing dirty clothes, was completely drenched in muck. They were emanating awful bad smell as they were taking out metals from the drains with a big magnet, which was attached to a thick wooden rod. They insert that rod in the drain and move it back and forth for three to four times and then take out. Any metal blocking the drain or existing get glued to the magnet and then they take out that rod from the drain and take off the metals, jewellery, coins, iron etc that got stick to the magnet with their bare hands and put it into their thailas (bags).
One of the boys whose name was Monu lives in Usmanpur near Seelampur and he hails from Vardhaman, Kolkata. He was from a poor family and have seven members in the family. He is the eldest son of his parents and has two sisters and two younger brothers. He sends Rs 3000-4000 to their parents every month. He said “I can do this work on my conditions as there is no senior-junior in this work and nobody can scold me for anything. I am a boss of my own work.”
Monu said that he and his friend Bappi rummage around for metals from the drains only in the rainy season, as every metal in form of jewellery, iron, coins, etc flows down to the drains and it is very easy to dig them out. We do other works also like serving in the marriage parties and some labour works. We are doing this for the last 10 years. We earn Rs 200-300 per day after selling the metal, which we collect it from the drains. We have travelled all parts of delhi for this work. We start early morning at 6 and finish 2 in the noon and never leave the area unless it is finished completely.
Another boy, Bappi who was earlier busy in metal picking said, “People often make fun of them, they laugh at us and deliberately tell us to glean metals in some drains near their houses assuming that it will clear the drain blockages.” He did not say anything about himself, as he was very shy. But he told that his life is as same as Monu. “MCD people encourage us and support our work viewing that it will clean the blockages of drains. But they have never awarded us or offered us any job in MCD as told by Monu.
Sultan Singh, one of the resident of the colony where these two boys found working said that after the heavy Wednesday and Thursday rain no MCD guy has turn up to their streets to clean up the blockages. The water is pouring out on the streets. These boys who I have seen only in the rainy season are of a great help. They take out the small and heavy metals from the drains, which clear the blockages.
Monu and Bappi had work and they were working with full dignity, hard work and confidence. They had atleast hope against hope. Where rain had dampened people’s lives and with flood alert in most of the eastern region these boys were living their livelihood because of rain. One’s loss is another’s gain.
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