HOTBED of sporting celebrations in city, the Laxmi Bhavan Square, wore a festive look as hundreds of cricket aficionados from all walks of life, all age groups from toddlers to senior citizens, boys and girls, men and women, a few sporting skull caps and some wearing turbans joined hands in celebrating India’s convincing seven-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in a World Cup game in Ahmedabad on Saturday evening. No sooner than a certain Shreyas Iyer slammed Mohammad Nawaz straight over the bowler’s head for a four completing his fifty and an Indian win, cricket fans started to pour in at the joint carrying the tricolours of all sizes. There were a few ultra patriots who waved huge saffron flags with ‘Vande Matram’, ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jaanta Raja’ inscribed on those. It was a pre-Diwali celebrations as firecrackers made some deafening sounds and lit the night sky. Bombs, rockets, flower pots (anar) and the favourite multiple-shots competed fiercely with the echoes of India....India...; Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Vande Matram, Ganpati Bappa Morya and Rohit...Rohit.

 

One of the dhol-tasha guys made bonnet of a Thar his stage as those surrounding him gyrated to the rhythmic beats waving the tricolour and shouting slogans. With many eateries nearby, a fan came with a huge plate full of ‘jalebies’ and distributed to the celebrating public. Some small groups of over-enthusiastic fans resorted to below the belt slogans demeaning the neighbours but with intervention of some sensible elders, betters senses prevailed and those slogans were stopped. While most of the public parked their vehicles close to the square (on all roads leading to it) and walked to join the frenzy, there were two-wheeler borne youths, some even riding triple seat, holding the flags, made rounds near the square. Some fans who came on four wheelers were not allowed to stop at the square and they passed it waving the tricolour from the windows and roof tops. India-Pakistan match is one of the most looked up to games in any big event. Though most of the celebrating fans were happy “that a win is ultimately a win” some were not happy with the poor show from the neighbouring nation. “Thoda fight hota toh jada maza aata. Pakistan failed miserably,” they said.

 

A group of women was of the view that now other matches of the World Cup are not that important. “This was the biggest match of the World Cup. It feels that we have already won the cup,” the women fans echoed the same sentiments. A young fan rued Rohit Sharma’s missed opportunity of scoring yet another World Cup hundred. “He had all the time and was going great. In the last match, he made the record of maximum tons in WC and must have bettered it,” he said. One standing close to him, chipped in, “He allowed others also to score.” Since Laxmi Bhavan Square is at the border of Sitabuldi and Ambazari jurisdiction, police personnel from both the police stations with senior officers were deployed at the scene. They managed the celebrating public and the traffic on the West High Court Road. Since the policemen had arrived much before the fans, they had it easy in exercising control. The celebrations continued well for hours and Nagpurians loved it to the hilt before slowly leaving the venue for home...happy and satisfied. n