For the Love of the Game.

Yesterday, I went out with one of my best friends for Lunch at phoenix, a shopping place in Mumbai. Since India was playing with South Africa, we choose the eatery which had a LCD which was showing the match. The place was a semi-formal dining place with formal people coming in to have food. But as we both sat down for the meal, we realized that they was an over throw and it went for a four. A collective ‘Yes!’ went around the place; I realized I was in the room full of Indians!

As our meal got over we decided to do some window-shopping. We ended up shopping too! It was so much fun to try clothes and giggle for no reason. We then realized how expensive clothing has become! Rs. 5000 for a party-dress at Vero Moda! I mean, are diamonds stuck on them. Even food and toys are so expensive! As we decided to go to Palladium, an ultra chic mall at Pheonix which houses all the international brands. People who shop here should have lots of time and money to waste! We kept on window-shopping and giggling at over-dressed aunties who were there for their kitty-parties. As some time passed on we realized that there was a mob of people outside a shop. We thought maybe something happened so we rushed. After we reached there, we were facing an interior design store which had 10 LCD’s and a mob facing them. Sachin Tendulkar was on the verge of his 48^th ODI century! As we waited him to complete those last 3-4 runs, there was a feeling of oneness within all these people. We were complete strangers but we were collectively abusing Morkel for not allowing Sachin the single. Talking about stupid ads between the overs to praising Gambhir for giving Sachin the strike, we all became best of friends for those ten minutes.

Now remember, this is an ultra sophisticated mall where you would normally never see people standing outside a store, staring inside just to watch television. As Sachin made his century, each and every one of us burst into applause. The grand master deserved it. We loved the way he looked up to the sky to acknowledge his dad. But as I stood there watching it all, I realized that people with tons of Zara bags were standing along with people who came in to window shop. All for the love of the game and off course, Sachin Tendulkar.