The 5th Penalty

So this is my first blog after I joined Amrita School of Engineering!.Room D441,3rd Floor Yagnavalkia Bhavanam(trust me the names get weirder) has become my new home :-) .The first month and a half of college has been eventful to say the least.Pretty much similar to Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone(which ironically I read for the first time just a couple of weeks back).Maybe come May 2013(Grad Day-*Hopefully*)I’ll probably have enough material to write a book of my own :P.For now this blog is about the 9 Sporting moments over the past few years that I’ll never forget .

1-Desert Storm 98-Back in the late nineties Sharjah was pretty much the cricketing hot spot.India Pakistan matches were always special and oddly enough back in those days I was a Pakistan cricket team fan :D(Aussie fan now mind you :D).Me and my bro used to play cricket inside our room with a kutti bat and a sponge ball(Dad never used to let us use tennis balls because he was scared we would break things which was true :D) and these matches used be highly competitive (We used to have a diary were we recorded each of the days events and all) and I used to represent Pakistan in those games. Anyways back to the real cricket –My uncle who works for Srilankan Airlines used to get us free tickets for all the matches and the seats used to be awesome.The corporate boxes right next to the pavilion(I have the entire zimbawean teams autograph :D)was where we would be seated for most of the games.There was this one triangular series in the latter part of 98 which featured India ,New Zealand and Australia.In the last league game of the that series India needed to beat Australia or lose to them in such a way that their net run rate was ahead of New Zealand .Australia batted first and posted 280 odd which meant we needed to score atleast 240 to make it into the finals.Back then all hope of an Indian victory rested solely on how Sachin batted.I still remember my dad would turn off the tv the moment sachin got out.However on the day Sachin didn’t disappoint.I still remember watching his game from the stands and what made that day even more special was the dust storm that hit the stadium.The entire field was covered in sand and game stopped for 25 odd mins before Sachin went on to lead India into the finals .

2-Fifa World Cup 02-Back in those days I wasn’t really a big football fan but the world cup changed that.We didn’t get the games on tv at home so I used to tag along with my Bro and his friends(which I did a lot back then)when they went to K.F.C(mmmm…) and saw the game on the big screen.I was a brazil fan back then…I even tried getting the infamous triangle haircut that Ronaldo (the less destestable one )had which my dad didn’t approve of and I ended up with no hair at all and a slightly greenish head.Anyways back to the World cup Senegal turned out to be the story of the tournament .They made it all the way to the quarters and The weird haired coach and his team was most cheered for among all the fat arabs in K.F.C(All of them taking full advantage of the “All you can eat and drink for 20 bucks”offer).Brazil eventually won it in the Finals against germany 2-0 and I guess that was probably the time I started playing football more often .

3-Cricket @ Municipality Buildings-For those who aren’t abu shagarians :-) the municipality buildings are a bunch of 3 storeyed oddly painted squarish buildings that are lined up in rows like those lego block houses .I lived in building 4 in the 1st row till the 5th grade(which the last time I saw was painted blue and yellow-the 2nd most appalling combination of colours I’ve seen-my G.D school uniform being the first).Anways the roads in between these buildings was were my brother and his gang of friends would meet up every day to play cricket.I loved playing along with them although it meant I ended being the last batsmen more often than not and got only mini overs (3 ball over :P trust me we had weird cricketing rules ).It was only later on I realized how much this helped my game.I had to make the most of any opportunity I got and playing with the big boys sure did improve my cricketing abilities .I still remember most of my bro’s friends who used to play there-(Sudeep the spinner,Lejin who hated being called chacko(I learnt that the hard way),Pradesh the funny guy,Pradin who I always got out when I bowled too,Avijith who bowls like sohail tanvir etc etc).We had some memorable moments down in that parking lot(some not so memorable as well-quite a few rear view mirrors ended up being broken there :P).The one game I remember the most was a test match were my brother and I had a partnership of around 120 runs over two days and I ended up scoring 60 odd which was great cause normally my scores were restricted to single digits :D.Plus being able to bat so long with the person who taught me how to play the game was special too .

4-Natwest Series Final-02-Matches like these were a fun filled affair cause it normally meant my parents family friends would meet up somewhere to sit and watch the game together .This time in was in Ranji uncles house which was a 10 min walk from our old place (lol apparently once when I was around 6 there was this party there and I was so irritated at how long my parents were taking to get ready I ended up walking all alone to their place which scared the hell outa my dad).Anyways the usual suspects were all present for the game including Vinuettan (Ranji uncles nephew) who I consider one of the funniest persons I’ve met to date.England posted a huge total of 325 (it was huge back then-T20 hadnt been invented yet :D) and all of us were slightly pessimistic about our chances of winning.The fact we lost 5 wickets for 140 odd runs (despite Vinuettan’s superstitions which included not changing ones seat in between overs and so on) didn’t help the cause . But Yuvraj and Kaif ended up taking us to victory in what turned out to be one of the most amazing cricket game ever played.I still remember the racket we created in the last over which led to the neighbours complaining to the watchman (who didn’t get any happier when we told him India won-he was a Pakistani :P).

5-Football On the Grass-Most of my evenings after my brother and his gang left for college was spent in Abu Shagara park playing football on the grass there (which was illegal according to the lame ass watchman there ,and all of us would run at the sight of him…cause if he caught you playing there he would puncture the football on the many date palm trees available there ).Apart from his occasional interruptions (and that of arabs who get bored and decide to thrash the life out of a random Indian playing football –not a very pretty sight trust me ) most of our games were fun filled and highly competitive . Much to the irritation of my Dad I would play without shoes and because of the broken glass pieces from soft drink bottles(again the fault of those arabs)I would end up hobbling home and bleeding all the way to Ashok Menons (My Family Doctor there who made me drink this horrible energy drink pocari sweat whenever I was down with fever ).One day I set off to play footie without shoes again at Al ittihad park the one next to Saudi mosque where one dude with a stud kicked my toe so hard it went backwards (I still cringe in pain when I think of that moment )and I ended up with a dislocated toe (which was fixed by the surgeon in the most gruesome manner ever-he pulled it till it fell back in place ) and I ended up spending one month in complete home rest.And the funniest part was my bday was spent home with my friends during this time and they ended up giving me a skate board much to the disapproval of my Dad!.

6-Challenge Café-Most of my pocket money back in the 8th and 9th grade was spent here :D.Challenge café-our gangs main hangout spot back in the days (Mega Mall and Mahatta park being the other two).Most of our time there was spent playing counter strike (the coolest game ever :D) and boy was it fun or what.Shouting our heads off warning someone that another player was approaching him with a knife from the back which got us into trouble more often than not with the management there,.During the vacations we spent a minimum of two hours either there or in Fast track (another café but much less successful and with slightly misshapen chairs).Once we had a bet with our seniors in S.I.S and we ended up winning it making a profit of 60 bucks one of my proud achievements to date (little things make me happy just in case you thought my life was pathetic):D

7-T20 India Vs Pakistan-The t20 world cup back in 07 was an amazing event I must say.The construction hats, cheer leaders, the big hitting, the cheerleaders, the close matches ,oh wait did I mention the cheer leaders ?:P it all came together in spectacular fashion in South Africa that year.The tied game between India and Pakistan was a great example of that (unfortunately I ended up not being able to watch the ending as I had an exam the next day although I did hear Ouseph -one my bro’s friends who stayed over to watch the game screaming his head off when we ran the last batsmen forcing the game into a bowl out which woke up the entire building complex:D).The Final was another spectacular game and although I was slightly disappointed Australia didn’t make it into the finals cause of their defeat to India I was totally behind the men in blue as were 5 of my bro’s college mates who turned out to watch the game and if you thought Ouseph screaming his head off was loud you should have been there (or somewhere in a 2 sq km radius area )when Shreeshanth caught the ball to win the game for India!.It was indeed a special moment for India and perhaps one of the reasons for the IPL concept to take off.(Go Royals !-Rajasthan that is…).

8-Football in the Red No10 Jersey-No no don’t worry I haven’t suddenly turned into a pool or united fan but the school football jersey does hold a special place in my heart(Not so much for its design I must say:D).It was a proud moment leading out the first ever G.D school football team and although we ended up losing 3-1 I’ll never forget that day much like how I can never forget Uranus House winning the football Trophy at Nehru Stadium.Whenever someone asks me what was most memorable about my 2 years spent in coimbatore it would have to be being part of the Uranus House and all the fun we had together(luv ya guys!) .The football match at the Nehru Stadium (an awesome place to play btw kudos to the officials there ) was another special moment we had .The first game against Jupiter(eternal rivals) was an absolute cakewalk ..we thrashed them 3-0 to make it into the finals where we faced off against Mercury(eternally last unfortunately with all due respect :D)and boy did it turn out to be one helluva of a match or what.After we scored the goal in the first half we were pegged back in our own half for most of the game and to make matters more interesting they even missed a penalty and when the final whistle blew never before have I felt so proud in my life.All of us had worked really hard for that moment and when it finally came it was Special.(Extra credit to Ambi,Gan,Niki and Nandy who cheered for us from the stands )

9-The 5th Penalty-Ever Since Jose Mourinho’s first press conference and the subsequent Barclays premier league season I have been a die hard Chelsea Fan.For me Chelsea Football Club is a very very significant part of my life.From the weird rituals while watching Chelsea games(which include the pepsi bottles ,the Chelsea shirt and the not going to the loo during the game :P) to getting irritated when Justin tv (my online tv for the games not being telecasted on the normal tv) hangs everything about the club is special for me :D.Now even my mom who had zero knowledge about the game can identify most of the Chelsea players although her pronounciation isn’t quite up to the mark(deco with an I instead of an e being the most funniest to date).So when we made it to our first champions league final in May08 it was special special occasion.I was so nervous the day of the big game and the fact that ten sports suddenly disappeared from the tv didn’t help.Finally after letting my cable operator what I thought of him with my limited tamil knowledge the channel was back on in time for kickoff.We didn’t start off well but soon as the game progressed we became better and better especially after we equalized late in the 1st half .As usual both teams were inseperable and it was tied after normal time.To add more drama to the occasion there was a scuffle between the players late in the game which ended up with Drogba getting sent off.And then came the penalty shootout.As John Terry stepped up to take the 5th kick all that separated us from the trophy was that one spot kick.And he Missed.We ended up losing the game on sudden death and much like terry I spent the whole night in tears.But as they say the show must go on and despite another set back suffered in last seasons champions league semi’s I’m 110% sure that one day that hair raising tune of the champions league will be followed in the end with Terry lifting the trophy!

There are definetly so many more sporting moments that I remember fondly –the likes of the Ashes Series 05 which was one of my favourite test series ever,The Wimbeldon finals which seem to be getting better every year,the image of Tiger Woods sinking a long putt on the final hole to win etc etc .Hopefully Chelsea pulling off a Quintuple this season will be on that list too:D.For now it’s off to my lovely bed(the one I have in the hostel sucks!).GoodNight and Goodluck™