Atwoods Corollary
No books are lost by lending except those you particularly wanted to keep.

PART I

Rain rain go away
Come again another day
Big India wants to play
Rain rain go away.

That can probably summarise the feelings I had for today - when I went to see my third match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai...
How did I get my tickests? Well my uncle is some sort of bigwig in the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and the manager for the Indian Team in Chennai. So it is inevitable that he would get complementary tickets. Well, I just asked him. And we (myself and two of my cousins) got tickets for the Control Box, rite below the the commentary and above pavilion - worth about 3k.
My day started pretty late - 8 am (that is late for me). But I got up with a juicy feeling that I was going to watch the match today. I originally had a feeling that the match would be cancelled due to some heavy rains the previous nite. By Jove it was not. And since it was a day and nite match and started at 2 only, I decided that I would attend the morning session of college (which to my luck had only one class). As soon as I was finished with that, I dashed off to my cousin's house and then left for the stadium.
BTW cricket is a big event, especially in Chennai when such a match occurs. Huge crowds, good enthu atmosphere all make it a very exciting game, whatever team plays. And if the home team plays, need be said more?
To use Sudhon's technique, Flashback

The first match which I witnessed at Chennai is the Kenya - Bangladesh match, God knows when. I went with my cousins (same source of tickets as above) and their friends. Had a pretty electrifying atmosphere. I vividly remember me shouting "Go Kenya Go Kenya Go". I didnt get to see the full match, but Kenya won.
My second Xperience was the third or the fourth day of the India England Test match. (Again the same source of tickets. I dont have that much enthu to buy tickets to watch a match..) I dont remember it that clearly, but I did have a nice time.

Back to reality
Went to the seats. They were supposed to be costly tickets, and only the pseud sophisticated junta were supposed to be there. But we were in for a surprise. Very clamorous. Besides, tomorrow was Deepavali. We Xpected similar sort of fireworks display today too.
We had luckily brought binoculars, and we could see clearly upto the pitch (and lots more!!!). The forecast was supposed to be thunderstorms in the evening. The current weather was cloudy, the sky not yet decided whether to hide the sun or not... The climate was perfect for a match (if it does not rain). The match started on the dot at 2:30pm. India won the toss (yipeee) and elected to bat (another YIPEEEE).

Continued in the next post.

Before I forget, I wish you all a

HAPPY DEEPAVALI

PS : The first is an expansion for a e i o u
And yes, the second is an expansion for a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z