3rd April 2011.... A week long work… Alongside cricket matches, the code fixes got really BUGGing! Come Wednesday, I witnessed one of the greatest ever cricket clash of arch rivals India V Pakistan. Thanks to Cognizant, I was able to watch the match live while in office. As for Code fixes that day – God bless the Onsite :p. The team lived up the expectations. Now Team Pakistan has to wait at least 4 more years to retrieve their glory! But it wasn’t finished yet for the Indians.
This time it was more than a Cricket world cup really! It was about a team trying to get a Man who deserves the glory! A man who toiled hard for 20 long years, and entertained the whole country with the bat and at time with the ball; almost single handedly he won so many matches for his team. A man much adored by his country. But he felt short of something. Indeed it was this one moment he had waited for. The rest in the team were young men who grew up watching him win games for his country. Almost the whole team had him as their role model. They started off the journey to win the cup for this man. The wounds of 2007 were still at the back of the senior pro’s in the team. All of them fought hard. “One more good day” they said to themselves and their life’s all worth it. But their opponents are the toughest you can ask. It was the battle of equals. All the ‘Odds’ meters including the one in Doosra (Cognizant's Internal portal similar to super selector) said it was a 50%-50% chance on either side.
The day started off with a lot of hope for me. Almost everyone I spoke to were having a unanimous thought. Let’s pray for our men they said. A comment in Cricbuzz website read – “Madad Karo Santhoshi Maatha. In Sikhadaron ko shakthi do aur hume Jeeth ki kushi”(Help us O’ Mighty Mother Give these warriors the strength and give us the happiness of victory). All eyes on TV, (Back off my mind I was thinking; how much money would these TV Channel guys have made? Never Mind this is bigger than the money I said to myself.) Was ready to watch em even before the toss! Toss by itself turned out to be chaotic! Moving on - looking at all stardom (from all Industries) to watch this glorious match, I reiterated to myself, this is not a just a game; It’s a Religion!
A Splendind Innings from Jayawardena, coupled with early loss of openers by the magic of Malinga made me switch off the Box. But I was still on with Cricbuzz watching the score. Gambir and Kohli batted their hearts out to bring us to a decent situation. But once Kohli was gone (for the most spectacular and almost the most important catch of the tournament by Dilshan), I was damn surprised to see Dhoni in. I was like, did this guy get booked up by bookies or somethin! What the hell is doing? Where is Yuvi? BUT Come the hour Cometh the man! What a knock by a captain, under pressure. He is the truly un-paralled the greatest of all captains. He had now won it all, the T20, the ODI, the Test Match cricket, IPL and Champions League. He is truly one of a kind.
All this grandeur apart, there was something that struck me like a bolt! There were about 15 – 20 middle aged men, including the great – “Little Master” himself in the middle of the cricket ground shedding tears like babies. It showed how much it meant to them. It showed the amount of effort that went on to this. We the normal people, who complain so much about everything and end up achieving things that are almost insignificant in the broader context; complain, demotivate and even pelt stones at these men’s houses when things don’t go as we expect. But the tenacity these men showed; the resilience to not give up on themselves. To come back and be the MEN who are most talked about in the country right now from what they were four years ago really requires a write; hence this post. Victory and Defeat are just two aspects in life. Two end points. What matters more is the ‘Journey’! What matters really is the Justice we do the Journey called Life!
Unlike the stereotypic weekends, this was one special weekend for me personally. Not only because my Team ended up in the winning side, but also because I had so much to learn from the ‘Men in Blue’. Thank you Team India, you guys were splendid!
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