After a scintillating Premier League weekend, and 4 hours of sleep, I woke up too early too soon before the alarm belled at 5 o'clock. Manmohan, Babla, Munish & Mayank had called up for a different kind of rider's meet this Sunday morn'. A morn' that would start off with cricket and end with tea. So after reviewing my cousin Martin's college essay transcripts for an hour and a half, I rode into the pleasant winter sunrise. Left college campus by 5.55 am and reached our rendezvous point at Golf Club Lucknow by 6.15 am. I met up with Manmohan and his son Aman, Babla & his son Debanshu, Rastogi ji, Ajay, Shivam, Rajiv, Mohsin, Amit, Vivek and his son Sarang. Amit & Paritosh, were 2 new bulleteers I got introduced to, today morning. So now that almost all had gotten together, it was time for some cricket. We'd got the willow, the ball and the wickets to play. Only thing that was missing was a freakin' playground. The kids, Debanshu and Aman got too restless to wait and started their own game near the golf grounds. Mayank, who'd been entrusted to arrange the ground had a good slumber that we knew ceased only when he popped up at 6.30 am. By that time, the kids were done a with a few practice shots off the blade, and managed to get a ball or 2 off limits.
Initially, we thought, we'll play at the La Mart's Ground. But since we hadn't taken prior permission from the school authorities, the new venue was fixed at the Grounds near Mankameshwar Mandir, along the Gomti River. Kicked the moto-engines to life, and trailed in a file to the pristine green ground by the river side. Quickly formed 2 teams.
Team 1: Manmohan, Aman, Amit, Rajiv, Mohsin, Ajay, Uttam, Joshin
Team 2: Babla, Debanshu, Paritosh, Mayank, Rastogi ji, Shivam, Sarang, Vivek
We (Team 1) won the toss and got on to bat first. To take advantage of the dew factor, before the heat gets on. Ha! Mohsin & I opened the innings (I was holding a bat almost after 6 years! Scored a boundary and got out). Mohsin was amazing with the bat, anchored the innings till the very end (8 overs), scoring more than half the runs of the innings total of 51. Paritosh bowled exceedingly well, but Mohsin smashed away during the slog overs. It was interesting to watch 55 year old Rastogi ji trying to spin the ball, to his credit.
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Mohsin, the Man of the Match
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| Paritosh, the ace bowler of Team 2. Ajay, the makeshift Umpire, and a very tough one at that! |
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| One of my better shots (err... the only one!)... Babla bhai looks on! |
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| Rajiv Misra (our David Boon!) |
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| Mohsin #MOTM in action! |
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| Debanshu on the field! |
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| Mayank spinning it ! |
With a target of 52 on the board, and a required run-rate of 6.5 to achieve it, we had a defend-able total. Our bowlers did very well, specially Rajiv, Ajay and Uttam. The only batsman from Team 2 who'd got some flying shots off his blade was Shivam. Babla who'd begun off well couldn't sustain it. And finally Team 2 was bowled out for 33 runs, 18 runs short of victory.
It was a good game. And after congratulating each player in the spirit of the game, we pushed off to have some breakfast. Yes! we were starving. We reached Sharma's Chai Shop by 8.15 am. Talked with Rastogi ji about our dream trip to North East India, to the borders of Myanmar. Been dreaming this trip for a couple of months. The only thing that now stands between "The Trip" and me was my PhD. And I hope to get it done in a few more weeks. The the motivation to go on this dream ride persists, and pushes me to get my work done soon. Shivam and Mohsin offered some help at National Parks / Wild Life Sanctuaries through some contacts. This is one of the best things of a biker's club. There are people from all walks of life. And you get help no matter where you are. Mayank bhaiyya reminded me of getting him a view of our pool and further being introduced to some mermaids. Jeez! I promised. But how am I going to keep it?! After some awesome ginger tea from Sharma's and Madhu Makhan (Buns sandwiched with sweet yogurt), we pushed off, but not without some nice conversation and the regular leg pulling. The next game, they promised would be football, probably after Diwali. Reached back at campus by 9.30 am. A fresh start to a Sunday. We should have more of these off-beat events, biker-bros!
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| After Chai at Sharma's - From Left to Right: Sarang, Shivam, Uttam, Mohsin (hidden), Babla, Manmohan, Rastogi ji, Mayank, Amit ! |
PS: Munish Khan! You absconded!!!! Will catch you next time !
PPS: Photo Credit: Manmohan Singh Bashera
