The surreal feel.

 And the game begins..

There are people who feel so strongly for a certain thing that sometimes it over powers them, controls them and makes them lose sense. They feel so lost without it, as is like their life is miserable or incomplete without it. That is the way I feel about cricket. I know this is a clichéd sentence, but I have to use it here.

Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God.

I feel so possessive about the sport that there are very few people who can actually get a proper response from me on the subject when they come to me to talk about it. It is like my own baby that I don't like anybody ever coming close to it.

This feeling is rather dangerous, I tell you. Cricket is such a huge thing in our country that every Tom, Dick and Harry is seen or heard talking about it. It infuriates me to no end when I hear random comments about cricket or a player in particular. It sometimes gets so annoying that I can feel my pulse quickening.

So, for a person like me, I take it very personally when a random person who doesn't know what a leg slip is, or what a beamer is, comes to me and says that he/she is going for a match or has gone for a match. It gets worse when someone come up to me and says "Oh I have met Ashwin. I know he is a cricketer, but what exactly does he specialize in?"

Hell breaks loose inside of me. Every inch of me wants to just catch hold of that person's neck and snap it.

I used to always think that there was some jinx when it came to me meeting players or going for a match. Never have I seen a player in person. Never have I gone for a match (the whole concept of watching a match in the stadium was alien as far as my family was concerned). It seemed like I was always at the wrong place at the right time.

Then came September 11th. The day that will go into the annals of my history for sure. Match tickets were in my hand, amazing people were around me, and I was standing in front of the stadium. It was happening, at last.

The experience was enthralling. Everybody around you is so pumped up that it is impossible to actually sit down for one whole minute. When Yuvraj made his entry into the field, the crowd went insane. I have never seen people hyperventilating like that, ever before. The whole of five hours were spent screaming and enjoying.

The fist pumps, the high fives, the hugs, the jubilation, the sadness, it was a complete package.

Yuvraj and Kohli were so close to the fence that at one point I just wanted to scream and jump over the fence and hug them.

Nidheya and I went so mad that we screeched our hearts out. We screamed so much that Virat actually heard us and waved at us. After this Nidheya said "It is disheartening that to them we are just another face in the crowd." But I felt that we were THE faces after that wave.

Yuvraj did a Bhangra jig for the crowd. The crowd's noise levels reached a new peak.

Just as everything seemed perfect, things got even better. My role model, my God, my teacher, my inspiration, Harsha Bhogle, walked past our stand. My whole body shook with excitement. I just looked at him. It was all I could do. I understood what being speechless meant at that moment of my life. People were roaring around us. He gave a jovial smile, turned around, coat in hand, and waved at us. I was still looking at him as he walked past. I was contented. I saw Harsha. I saw my inspiration.

All in all, it was the best experience of my life. I will cherish it and replay it, over and over again, for a very long time to come.

Aishwarya Kumar.