Okay, so this year’s Christmas chronicles actually doesn’t have much on Santa and Rudolph. It’s more about cricket and the Goddess Kali.
CRICKET
So Thursday the 25th started on a rather hasty note, as I, not shocking anyone, woke up somewhere around 9 in the morning, and things HAD to be done rather fast since me, Asim-da and Prosenjit, both cousin bros of mine, had plans on catching the first show of ‘Ghajini’ at Navina. And I guess the day didn’t start off as well as I had wished it to, since Ghajini turned out to be a bummer! I mean, okay, I never expected it to match up to Memento, but with a premise like that, a guy in his dreams could’ve pulled off a better scrip than that! Aamir actually disappointed, after a really long time, actually!
But in any case, the movie was FUN thanks to Prosenjit who was laughing at all the right places, and especially the wrong ones! (He started guffawing hysterically when Asin was being MURDERED! That had to be the benchmark!) Its always the same with him. As my mom explains it, ‘He laughs coz at the back of his mind, he’s always thinking “That’s not real” and so, he doesn’t get the tragedy of the tragic parts… and laughs instead!’ I guess she could be right!
In any case, I had to return as fast as I could so I wouldn’t miss the opening of the tournament! There was a para-cricket tournament to be played in the evening under lights (a first-timer in our locality) and I wanted to be a part of it! Not coz I wanted to play cricket (coz I haven’t played in months! And I’m sure I’m gonna suck big time!) but because it would be a fun way of spending the Christmas evening… and also coz I didn’t want to offend my pals by not participating! Both the reasons were primary!
I was actually greeted quite grandly by my friend Sambudhha (who was actually not very happy for some personal reason of his) who was doing the live commentary to the whole locality, and he greeted me by saying, “Let’s give it up for…” ya, and he said “Joga”, so I didn’t appreciate it very much!
The games started. I was scorer for the first game! And really, it isn’t as easy a job as it looks! I mean, you always have to give the commentator latest update of scores and everything, so it’s a pretty hectic job, and I was tired before the first innings ended.
The 2nd match featured the team that had ‘yours truly’ in its prestigious ranks. And well, we lost the first game! I started well, hitting a couple of 4s, and then there was a little communication gap between me and Shivam-da (who played really well) and I ended up getting run out!
I came back to the “press box”, this time as a commentator, and even though some were pointing out faults and stuff, many (they said, I’m not exaggerating! Trust me! On second thoughts, it was obvious they liked it! I mean, I wasn’t just telling the scores, I was bringing in expert PJ-ish comments and entertaining the crowd too!) liked my commentary, and I reigned in the voice department for the next few matches until it was our turn to take the pitch again!
It was a must-win match, and we did win it thanks to Pompom-da (Prachet, that’s his real name!) Babusona-da, the assigned captain of our team, and our star batsman who flopped, had handed over the team’s rein from Shivam-da, and ultimately to me… flopped in this match too… and I was run out again (Never in the competition would I be out in any way other than being run out!) But the match, in a strange twist of fate, got tied after a marvelous innings from Pompom-da, and ultimately, he pulled off the match with a superb show in the bowl-out.
Next match… well, I played a superb innings of 31 (ya, I didn’t expect it either! I was really out of practice and everything!) and well, we still lost the match and it came down to a tie breaker thingy between out team and Gaurav (Dabbu’s). Well, we won that match!!!!! IT WAS indeed AWESOME!
I came home to have a light dinner (it was 10 in the night) and returned for the Semis game, where I was run out again, and we lost… so nothing more to write home about. Rishav (Tumtumi’s) team won the tournament, beating S2, a seniors team. Tumtumi, who happens to be a really awesome player, kinda went away with all the major trophies, except the one of the Best Fielder, which went to his cousin Gaurav. I was a contender for the Highest Run-Getter award, but then we were too tired to calculate the individual runs of all the players at midnight, and decided to calculate and give it away by the 31st. I guess Aditya-da would get it, but hey, at least I’m a contender too… and when I expected to suck big time!
KALI PUJO
Mom has wanted to organize a Kali Pujo at home for the last few years. Well, one way or the other, it was always gotten delayed, even this November. So we didn’t miss the chance to do the ‘Poush-Kali Pujo’ on the 27th of December.
The preparations… well, I kinda escaped almost all of that as that department was dexterously handled by mom and Asim-da. I chipped in with a couple of helps… but who am I kidding, I’m a lazy git!
An all-black protima (idol) was ordered and the preparations reached a pitch on the 27th as we prepared for the evening date of the Puja. We went to fetch the idol in the morning, then went to the market where Asim-da almost decided to take the entire market home… and I helped him do that! Phew! Had to go out again in the late-afternoon and then again at night… man it was SOME day! And there was the Puja, of course, although I didn’t witness or hear every mantra with the utmost attention (I was playing NFS: Undercover… ya, I did that UNDERCOVER!) Friends of the locality came to have the bhog-dinner, and the khichri prepared wasn’t joga-khichri, but a really tasty one (thanks to Asim-da… who’s studying Hotel Management, and Santu, who took care of so many things like decorations, lighting and all! He’s a great guy!)
After than hectic day, the next day started slow, but with a lot of fun as we teased Asim-da about a prospective wife (a childhood friend of mine; or maybe mom’s friend’s daughter, who came all the way from Sodepur) and then of course, there was the Immersion (bisarjan). We hired a truck to take us all the way to Babughat… and the journey was FUN with all capitals, actually! Boy, I loved the wind, the sights, all the excitement… the feel of the whole family being together! And the return journey, too, where me and Prosenjit teased the hell out of Asim-da and our uncle, and the others who were chipping in with cheerful cries hailing the goddess and inviting her to come back again next year! I sure hope she does!
Now it’s hard to beat this in the next four days (29th, 30th, 31st and the 1st of January- my dad’s birthday!) but there’re already some plans made on the 31st, and hopefully, it won’t be too bad either!
Signing Off,
Happy Holidays,
-Jagannath (Jesse)
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