In-di-aaaa!!! In-di-a!

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 2^nd 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!

Outside the Sports Bar in Marylebone, the party has just begun!

Indiaaaa India!

Victory for a billion

The Trafalgar Square party

Vande Mataram!!!

Sheer joy!

Proud to be an Indian!

The lions were not spared either!

It wasnt long before I joined them on top!

Bleeding Blue

VICTORY!

For my country...

Jai Ho!

Yeh dosti hum nahi chodenge!!

We are the Champions!

VIP's forever after!

:D My blue blood boils!

Technicolour India

I'm bright and colourful. That includes my personality, the clothes I wear, the pictures i take and so on. My eye just picks out colours. Maybe its beause Im a hardcore Indian and we live upto our stereotype. We love colour and we love bright lights. Hey, we even paint our fire engines!! Our trees magically grow technicolour leaves, we crowd the streets every evening after a hard days work only to take the family out to eat bright green deep fried chillies. More than anything we love to celebrate for any reason under the moon.

These pictures were taken at the annual Flower Show at the Kanakakunnu Palace gardens in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This may seem as just another exhibition of plants but its really not. For an Indian, its a celebration. Its about lighting our trees, eating cotton candy, sitting excitedly on a rickety old giant wheel, watching a free movie under the stars and spending evenings with family.
As its neighbour, I have to admit, I bickered about the noise and crowd and the basic inability to get to my gate but you cant deny the fantastic Indian spirit for turning flowers into a party!

Balloons anyone?

Techinicolour Trees

Natures technicolour

Gold lights for Marigolds

Explosion of love

I know there are too many balloons in this post but how can anyone resist those colours!!

Malayalees love heart shaped balloons!!

In India, even fire engines dont escape the paintbrush!

No fancy machinery for us!

Aaah, the taste of childhood, fairground cotton candy.

Chillies ready to be deep fried! yummmm!!

We risk our lives for a bit of fun!

My Heart Will Go On (cheesy, Iknow!!)

Lady Vaijayantimala

Theres something about my household. We are not your average run of the mill human beings and we dont like cats. Our four legged pets are more than a handful and we certainly cant cuddle them in our lap. Jayanti is one of our two beloved elephants and boy is she a joy! These arent pictures of her in full glory and Ill post more soon but for now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the beautiful Vaijayantimala.

  

Bright lights and starry eyes

Winter was fabulous last time around, and so was walking around Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. It was all about sausages and mulled wine, spiked(baileys nd rum to be precise, ha! ha!) hot chocolate and churros, merry-go-rounds and plastic santa's. But for me it was about bright lights and colours and my starry eyes.