When admin faces the test, resolves to stay updated
My close relatives are members of the Cricket n Flash group. This group caters to the taste of the relatives aged from 18 to 70 years. Being the oldest member, I’ve been given the responsibility to be the chief admin.
No good morning messages are sent in the group, which becomes active on days when there is a birthday or a wedding anniversary of a member. Since the group is of close relatives, everyone knows each other by their pet name. Almost every month, there are one or two birthdays. Everyone wishes each other with flowery messages. Sometimes, photos are also shared in the group. Some of these pictures are rare, which even I haven’t seen earlier.
In these Covid-19 times, it’s not possible to attend birthday functions and we could not get together to celebrate even momentous milestones such as silver jubilee wedding anniversaries.
Most of the younger generation of our Cricket n Flash group stays in the US, Australia, Canada and England. It’s only when they come to India that we decide on a common venue and a convenient time to get together. The host of the function is invariably a member of the older generation.
Our group came into existence five years ago when Ashok’s son was getting married to a girl from Dubai. Since it was a three-day function in Chandigarh, the nights were free and all uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces got together to play a game of cards with small stakes. After the session that invariably lasted till 3am, the winner had to give a party from the booty he or she won. It was all in fun.
The photographs, when someone won a game, were shared in the group so that the other members could cheer for the winner. This would happen once or twice in a year.
Since the younger generation is cricket crazy, the group becomes active whenever there’s a Test match, a oneday match, T20 match or even during the IPL matches. Everyone supports the Men in Blue in spite of the fact that some of the members are now Green Card holders in the US or have residency status in England or Australia.
The other day, Abhinav, who stays in London, posted a picture of his sixmonth-old son all dressed in red and white, holding a pink object in his tiny hands. He captioned the picture: “Aarav getting ready for tests tomorrow.” He had put a few smileys after the caption. When I saw the picture, I was worried for little Aarav and immediately wrote, “Best wishes to Aarav. Hope the tests get along fine and he gets the first dose of vaccination. But what was the hurry?”
After posting the comment, I dozed off. Usually, I don’t check messages often and the notifications are muted. So, when I opened the messages in the group, there were more than 50 about India’s batting against Australia in the first test. It was for the first time that India was playing with a pink ball in a test match.
Being a homemaker who’s been busy cooking, shopping or embroidering all her life, I had no clue. I’ve never been passionate about the game of cricket and neither have I been interested in reading the sports pages of newspapers.
Thank God, there were no nasty comments from anyone but there were a few humorous ones. Everyone knows my likes and dislikes.
I looked at the object in Aarav’s hand again and realised it was a pink cricket ball. Curious, I asked whether Aarav, born in the UK, could ever play for India. This time, the comments were a bit nasty but all from the older generation. I was left a bit embarrassed and resolved to update my knowledge of cricket.
OUR GROUP CAME INTO EXISTENCE FIVE YEARS AGO WHEN ASHOK’S SON WAS GETTING MARRIED TO A GIRL FROM DUBAI. IT WAS A THREEDAY FUNCTION IN CHANDIGARH AND WE GOT TOGETHER TO PLAY A GAME OF CARDS THAT LASTED TILL 3AM