The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Empty bottles make the most noise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Empty bottles make the most noise

By Karthik Subramanian

Simone, Shane Warne's wife, flashes the victory sign after the leg spinner became the highest wicket taker in Test cricket. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI, OCT. 15. At 1.25 p.m. on Friday, the noise was simply deafening at Chepauk. For a few seconds, all that many spectators at the M. A. Chidamabaram Stadium could hear was a ringing sound, caused by the high-decibel whistling by charged up cricket fans.

But then what do you expect when an Indian batsman scores a century in any stadium in this country? You can do one of two things to do: Scream your guts out if you cannot whistle or just shut your ears hard if you do not want to hear the ringing sound afterwards. Most fans at the M.A.C chose to do the former when Virender Sehwag scored his first century in Chennai on Friday.

The culture of noise is not new to cricket. In the West Indies, they have the calypso; in India, we have our own way of keeping the decibel levels very high.

In fact, one lay down a general proposition that applies to all grounds in India: the more exciting the cricket, the louder the noise.

The background noise, if we can call it that for the sake of convenience, comes mainly in two forms: A regular rhythmic beat that reverberates through the entire stadium and the more conventional cheering. Empty plastic bottles when slammed at plastic or wooden chair make a `thwack' sound - and it has to be heard to be believed. In fact, a lot of demand for the one-litre water bottles in Chepauk, was not simply to quench the thirst; the crowds have discovered the noise properties of the ubiquitous water bottles.

In the cheering department, the Australian fans, particularly the team calling themselves `fanatics,' were breaking into songs, especially when Warne was on song. For the Indian fans, there was the standard cheer: for instance, Sehwaggggg ... Sehwag, Bhajjjji... Bhajji, usually followed by three `thwacks'.

The most popular accessory for those who could not whistle was the paper horn. Hawkers have had a field day already selling the conical horn for Rs. 5. R. Parthasarathy, a resident from a colony in Triplicane, said he had sold more than 300 paper horns in last two days. The horn is made of glossy paper handouts, that most companies freely distribute with corporate details or product listings. The key element that contributes to the whistle is the piece of film on the mouthpiece. "We visit film studios at least a week before the matches begin to get all the film we can," he added.

Warne does a Sachin

In keeping with its tradition of appreciating good cricket (remember the Pakistan team's victory lap in 1999), the Chepauk crowd applauded and cheered Shane Warne on becoming the leading wicket taker in Test history. When the image of the leg spinner's wife, Simone Warne, was shown on the giant screen, the crowd joined in congratulating the Warnes.

Warne himself was appreciative of the cricket-loving crowd. Towards the end of the day, Warne turned to the crowds at the Royal Sundaram stand and saluted the fans. Sensing that the crowd was behind him, he broke into several antics that had the crowd in raptures. The most popular among them was the spinner's imitation of Sachin Tendulkar: he did the half-squat that the master blaster does before facing a delivery and followed it up with a typical dancing-down-the-wicket hoist for six. It was Warne's way of telling the crowds that he still had not forgotten the treatment he received at the hands of Tendulkar when he bowled at him in MAC in 1999. The crowd loved it and were soon cheering "Warneee Warne."

It's a rare opportunity for many to get to watch the cricket live, too good to be missed.

V. Anirudh, a primary school student, was there to watch the Test with his father, R. Vijayakumar, who is a club cricketer himself. Anirudh, whose favourite cricketer is Glenn McGrath, had to feign fever in school to see the Test match. It was the fourth time he is seeing the cricket action live. He was there for two days of the India-Australia Test Match in 2001 and for the India-New Zealand one-dayer last year. So which school is Anirudh from? No. We won't do that to him.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News Update

Stories in this Section

Empty bottles make the most noise

Gilchrist and Jones bowl them over

This kolu is all about women's issues

Helmet use can cut road deaths by 80 p.c.

Fishermen rally in city

Producer Rathnam gets court summons

Around the City

In Chennai Today

Police have no key to unlocking this mystery