How mom became my #sportsenti accomplice

My friend Anu works for PlayCKC. When I saw the hashtag #sportsenti on their FB page, I was teleported to the ’90s. Kapil’s Devils lifted the world cup in 1983. But in India, the entire next decade was an extended presentation ceremony.

‘Ravi Shastri is from Inna, my mother’s village. He had come to visit the temple last year.’ I used to gloat to my friends. Nobody asked, ‘So what?’. But when one of my well-informed friends ridiculed Shastri for his low batting average, I took it personally. I talked about his utility in the team as an all-rounder and rattled off some of his match-winning contributions. That night I did not sleep well. I have to be more prepared, I was convinced. For that, I needed more statistics, and stats weren’t easily available at the time.

If there was a live match telecast, on school days by the time I reached home, it would be over. At home, more than dad, mom was interested in cricket. Knowing how #sportsenti I was, she would keep a tab on the match and apprise me of the result. But I needed to know much more; who was the man of the match, who took how many wickets, and what was Sachin’s scoring rate, etc. I needed the details. I could only turn to mom. I cajoled her and promised to help her in house chores if she wrote down the detailed scorecard whenever I missed a match. Reluctantly, she agreed as long as academics were not compromised. In the middle of all her responsibilities, she maintained a notebook of handwritten scorecards. We had a hearty laugh once when she missed an ‘i’ and Mongia became Monga in the scorecard. As I write this, I realize she deserved much more credit for her efforts than I ever gave her.

In addition to mom’s handwritten scorecards, I started cutting out scorecards and still photos from old newspapers. Though my ‘cricket album’ was not a secret affair, dad was not aware of it. He got to know only when the old newspaper mart refused to accept them as they were all mutilated. He wasn’t pleased. But I guess he let it pass. I would say, he took one for the #sportsenti family!

Thank you PlayCKC. These memories indeed tug at our heartstrings.