Category Archives: madras

The newest meme in the desi blogosphere – the one’s that only the hardcore cricket fans know about – is the one that Prem Panicker is guilty of starting. Though I am usually guilty of ignoring memes, I really have to take this one up. Not only because of the fact that the meme originated from someone that one looks up to, but also because the theme is something that is close to one’s heart.

My earliest memories of cricket are actually of my mom’s faux commentary in Tamizh – “Kapil Dev vegama bowling pottanaa…” (When Kapil Dev bowled fast), “Gavaskar ball-a balama adichan” (Gavaskar hit the ball very hard), “ball nera boundary kku pochu” (The ball went straight to the boundary) – while feeding me. The description of the ball traveling to the boundary usually coincided with a handful of rice going from the bowl into my mouth. Study time was then also cricket time with mom holding my hand and tracing the path of the ball like the shape of the alphabets accompanied by her commentary. Thus, cricket ensured that I, as a pre-schooler, ate my food and learnt to write with minimum fuss and soon Srikkanth, Gavaskar and Kapil Dev became my generic names for cricketers. Continue reading →