For every Indian watching the WC final, the experience was intensely emotional, still is and will be forever. I won’t get into why winning the Cricket World Cup was so important to us, but I can tell you how I felt, what I saw and what I did on the 2nd of April 2011.
It’s very hard to explain the Indian psyche, particularly the one that bled blue on that beautiful Saturday. It wasn’t about a stadium full of supporters for a team; it was about the emotion of a whole country that had the same prayer and the same dream. It wasn’t about saffron or green or white…it was about blue. Being it, bleeding it!
I wasn’t in India on that day; I live in London, the closest you can get to India on foreign soil and boy was it good enough! I sat in a crowded basement of a sports bar (Yes, football fans got the airy upper floor), with people Id never seen before and together we shared, worried, cheered, laughed and eventually cried. We sulked when our “God” left the pitch, we cheered when our captain hit a six and we hugged and cried with pride when our favourite team hugged and cried with joy.
Londoners in Marylebone joined the mayhem, they cheered with a bunch of Indians outside a bar, shouting slogans, rejoicing, for Sachin, for Dhoni, for our country. The evening took us to the centre of London, to the iconic Trafalgar square where we found our way to the plinth of Nelsons column, cheering at the top of our lungs. For a few hours from then it was all about our love of cricket and our love for our country.
There's something about standing high up on a plinth in the centre of London, flags in hand, smiles on the faces of total strangers, hands over eachothers shoulders and pelting patriotism by singing, "Jana Gana Mana...", "Saare Jahan se acha...", "Vandematram.." and "Yeh Dosti..." too, thrown in for good measure. We announced to London in our loud, happy, boistrous way..WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!
Like millions of others, Ill never forget that day, or those moments. Something for them grandkids, thats what it will be!
Here are a few pictures of the post-match celebrations. I have many more, will leave those for facebook perhaps. Jai Hind!
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| Outside the Sports Bar in Marylebone, the party has just begun! |
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| Indiaaaa India! |
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| Victory for a billion |
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| The Trafalgar Square party |
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| Vande Mataram!!! |
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| Sheer joy! |
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| Proud to be an Indian! |
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| The lions were not spared either! |
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| It wasnt long before I joined them on top! |
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| Bleeding Blue |
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| VICTORY! |
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| For my country... |
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| Jai Ho! |
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| Yeh dosti hum nahi chodenge!! |
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| We are the Champions! |
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| VIP's forever after! |
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| :D My blue blood boils! |
