I was there

I was there when India beat Pakistan 4-1 in the Hockey World Cup. The taste of vitory was...... ssswwweeeet.

It wasn't the final ofcourse. It was only the first match. But historical data suggests that neither Indians, nor Pakistanis care two hoots about the World Cup as long as their team beats the other.

It was 1982 when Pakistan beat India 7-1, labeled as the darkest day in the history of Indian hockey.Though i'm not even close to being an expert on hockey, but as a commoner, to me, the darkest day in Indian hockey was when India failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

There were many things about the match last night that went beyond my expectation.

To being with, the crowd that turned out for the match was unbelievable, both in quantity and quality.People were civil, and the ages groups, diverse. People actually stood up when Pakistan's national anthem was played and acknowledged their team with cheers as it ended. Verbal battles with the small group of Pakistani fans can be excused in my opinion. It adds spice to the game as long as the larger picture maintains the good spirit of the game. The Pakistani fans were cheered for as they entered the stands and i remember seeing a poster that said "Happy holi to Indians from Pakistan". Very thoughtful.

And guess what? the security was super tight and the policemen super courteous. For a sec i couldn't believe my ears when i heard them say "Please". Bravo !

As i entered the stands i was surprised (im not exaggerating here) to find these beautiful chairs there. I was prepared to sit on the cemented steps. I looked at the ground and it looked.... fresh and green... so green it made me grin :)

And finally, the team that played last night against Pakistan was something else. Their body language was full of confidence and their game aggressive.



My brother btw, came up with this fascinating story post-match. In all seriousness he said to one of our older relatives, who wouldn't know anything about hockey and would believe anything my brother said, he said...

1982 when India lost to Pakistan 7-1 was darkest day in the history of Indian hockey. AND you know what, Sandeep Singh, was born on that day in 1982....
(which ofcourse is not true)

To which my amazed relative then said in hindi....

"Bhagwaan ne bhi socha, inse kuch nai hona. Sandeep.. chal tu ja"
(God must've thought, Bunch of good-for-nothings.Sandeep... go help)