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Bowled over by cricket

There are cricket fans. And then, there are the fanatics. People who would go to any extent to show their passion for the game. Vocalist T. M. Krishna is going all the way to the West Indies. Polio-afflicted magician `Escape' Arun rode blindfolded around the city. Venkat Prabhu made a mainstream film as an ode to street cricket. K. R. Ramakrishnan has cricket Ganeshas padded up and ready to influence the course of the game. SUDHISH KAMATH caught up with the cricket-crazy to find out what they were up to as the World Cup gets into a decisive phase for India.

GULLY GULLY CRICKET A scene from "Chennai 600028"

CARIBBEAN CALLING
T.M. Krishna

Vocalist T. M. Krishna has been waiting for this trip for a year now. "An uncle and I planned it last August. We got around seven to eight guys to pool in to rent a villa in Antigua. We booked the tickets on the Net as early as October. We wanted to get things organised well in time."

Understandably, because going to the West Indies is an extremely expensive affair. And accommodation is very difficult to find with most hotels running full and on a premium. Renting a villa costs around $100 a day and is considered to be the cheapest option for groups.

"I planned concerts around the same time. So I'm actually performing in the U.S., then joining the group in the U.S. and heading to the West Indies for 10 days to watch India play in the Super Eights." Krishna is certainly not the only one hoping India will get into the Super Eight.

HOW, PICTURE THIS
Vekat Prabhu

Gangai Amaran's actor son, Venkat Prabhu, who is making his debut as a director, is waiting for India to enter the Super Eight before he can release his film Chennai 600028 in April. "We came up with the script long ago. We were supposed to release it long back. The film is about street cricket, about local teams playing with tennis balls, under floodlights in local tournaments in Corporation School grounds. It's about two rival teams - one from North Chennai and one from South. It's a fun film about cricket. It's just a co-incidence that we will hit the screens around the World Cup. And that's only because we couldn't shoot in November because of the rains."

Haven't we all played this brand of cricket with its flexible rules! "Yes, we can change the rules anytime," laughs Prabhu. "The film is called Chennai 600028 because my team grew up there in R. A. Puram. More than patriotism, this is about your area's pride. It's like the concept of `the hood' in the U.S. How did Sachin start his career? Even Sachin played street cricket. But the thing about street cricket is that they play for themselves."

Music director Yuvan Shankar Raja, producer S. P. Charan and Prabhu grew up playing street cricket. "We play even now," says Prabhu.

GOD, HELP THEM
K.R. Ramakrishnan

If India's chances are left to the gods, K. R. Ramakrishnan has made sure that they are reminded everyday. The practising company secretary has a Cricket Ganesha temple within his house. "I had installed an ordinary Ganesha on March 11, 2001, when India was playing Australia at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. By then, Australia had piled on a huge score and I thought that only Ganesha could save us. I prayed and soon enough, Harbhajan Singh got a hat-trick and though we were made to follow-on, we went on to win that match, and stopped Australia's dream run." For this World Cup season, Ramakrishnan has installed special cricket Ganeshas in his temple. "One is the Team India Ganesha with 11 heads. It has five left trunks and five right trucks, to signify left-handers and right-handers. It's a granite idol of one and a half feet." He also has another Ganesha in cricket attire, a right-handed batsman, a left-hander Ganesha playing a square cut and a right-hand bowler. He also has come up with six prayer songs for the occasion — one of them is set to the tune of A. R. Rahman's "Barso Re," re-written to request Ganesha to rain runs. He's given the "Thiruvilayadal" song `Pattum nane' a cricketing flavour, and re-interpreted the 108 mantras from "Swagatham Saranagatham" in cricketing terms. "With faith and belief, we can win this Cup," he says.

PASSION IS BLIND
'Escape' Arun

Polio-afflicted magician `Escape' Arun recalls playing cricket when he was a kid. "We used to play in school. Now, the Indian team is not in form. They need will power. I wanted to demonstrate the power of concentration, so I rode blindfolded from the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, then to the Beach Road, and then Radhakrishnan Salai, Mount Road and came back to Wallajah Road. Since I am differently abled, I rode on my automatic gear modified bike with three wheels. I have been practising for a few months. I did this earlier after the tsunami as a fund-raiser. I collected Rs. 10,000. With will-power, you can do anything." The Chennai Mayor, M. K. Stalin, had flagged off Arun on his bike. "There's a temple in the stadium. So I first started with a prayer for the team."

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