Today with the culmination of IPL4 auctions I came to the end of a wonderful chapter of my life. The chapter named Cricket. Although the last paragraph in Cricket still remains unread I know that the chapter is pretty much done for me. The last line that I read marked the beginning of the climax of a glorious story in which "God on the Off side" was Crowned as "Prince of a City of Joy". In this story the Prince created a legend of his own quite different from the other Kings who also find glorious truisms through out. The other Kings are Gods in their own Right too and each worth more than the word itself. But I am not going to mention them here for they deserve a separate dedication. I ended reading the chapter as the story got filthier with the God on the offside finding an unceremonious exit.
The God on the off side, the Crown Prince, is famously known as Sourav Ganguly a.k.a Dada. He created his legion of fans who could trump all logical reasoning for a dose of insanity, for he was their ambrosia. They would go to lengths where they could immolate themselves to protect the Prince from being harmed. But then fans are meant to be unreasonable.
I am here to dedicate an ode, for the Prince himself, which reads something like this -
You are the God on the offside, With that glorious cover drive -- { memories of the cricket field}
You are an attitude, Which made the team stand up with pride -- { the Australian tour of India & vice versa }
You saved the game, From a bunch of fixers -- { took over captaincy from Azhar in 2000 }
You made the game look beautiful, With those "dancing down the track" sixers -- { memories of Toronto galore}
You waged a lone war, Standing behind enemy lines -- { the era of Greg "Chappal" }
You made a glorious comeback each time, Defying their sinister designs -- { the SA tour & MoS in Vizag }
You are Sourav Ganguly, A name which no money can buy -- { proved literally true in IPL4 }
You are my (our, Kolkata's, India's) Dada, To see you bat again I am ready to die. -- { Ask me }
With the story's penultimate paragraph I have learnt a valuable lesson. Business & sports can't go hand in hand. Both are wars but of different kinds.
The war of Business is fraught with Greed, Cold emotions & Inglorious Bastards.
The war of Sports is fought with Grit, Killer instincts & Glorious uncertainties.
