Social Networking to the Vijaynagar days

Social Networking has become a part of my spare time these days...Every day after work I spend close to 2 hours on the net, switching between gmail, facebook, twitter ( thats the latest sensation for me), the long forgotten orkut, cricinfo (my daily dose of crickentertainment) and sometimes wiki...

Athough I still enjoy fervently the time I spend on playing cricket outdoors. Waking up at 6 am on a cold winter morning, wearing my cricket gear and winding my way to Maidan in Kolkata for a 2 hour "nets" gives such immense pleasure that it can withstand a boring week at work.

It reminds me of my childhood days where cricket was a daily ritual. Me, Arvind, Roshith, Anil, Hemanth, Ravi...our team of six alongwith some more guys, would assemble almost in congruence at 430 pm post school, Swabhimaan and snacks...Hemanth would start ringing the bell. "Chal aaja." " haan 2 minute".

By 445pm, we would reach the colony ground and ready to play our 7 match series with the Marol Academy team.

It used to be what 6 overs a side match... Hemanth our strike bowler, I used to be his bowling partner, while Roshith was our version of Sehwag. Anil the Lara of the side, Arvind was the Phil Defrators while Ravi...I wud say, he was the burly mercurial Afridi...

Arvind ke bowling action se hi batsman out hote...while Roshith would usually forget about the game and start looking for deposits on the ground for his gunpowder experiment. Hemanth was the most serious about the game...

But what was really funny was the most match conferences that the "think tank" wud have on the water tanky. Passionate, heated and verbal abuses would be the order of the 15-20 min sessions with strategies for the next game lined up.

Our rivals would usually be the guys from LT2/3/4. We had a 1:1 record with them, so it was fun playing. Although we never played for money. That was our policy :D

Ball Selection: I remember how we used to pick tennis balls from the kirana shop. We would keenly check the hardness of the ball, try bouncing it once or twice, eventually deciding on the right one...The new ball taken for the match...And 3 balls later...the ball was cut into two!

I still play the game I am so passionate about. Its a terrific feeling...And with Roshith, Anil, Arvind and myself in Mumbai for the next 2 weeks, Im sure we will find time to relive those memorable days.