Absolute Bliss – Underarm Cricket

Gully cricket in Mumbai is dominated by the underarm variety of cricket; this phenomenon is rarely found in other cities. Underarm cricket is most suitable for Mumbai because of the city’s lack of recreation/open space. Breaking all barriers of age, caste, language, status; it is emancipating to say the least.

My flirtation with underarm cricket began when I was in the 5th Standard; it was a great feeling to finally move on from the constraints of my building and the girls with whom I had spent my entire childhood up till that time. So moving on from the gossiping and bitching to the swearing and fighting was an eye opener. How could I miss out on so much fun? But I sucked at cricket in the beginning; I wasn’t good enough for the gully level team also. The blame can be put on the days spent playing langdi, badminton, lock and key etc.

Three years was a long enough learning curve to get the basics right and move on to a different set of friends to play gully cricket with. In this gang it was a great feeling to be considered a better player as I was among friends of my age group, moving on from the kacha limbu tag I fancied earlier. This was the time I really started enjoying it, not only because the performance improved but also for the friends I made during my time playing the game. The games used to bring out the best and worst of our behaviour, this went a long way in forging very strong ties with others as we knew each other inside out. Fights still continue as everyone wants to win (whatever be the cost) every time we play but we never carry the baggage after the game; swear and make up that’s the funda, remove it from your system mate then and there.

Never realized when the flirtation transformed into love for the game. Even though the playing days have been reduced to the weekend and the occasional public holiday, this has not subdued my passion in any way whatsoever. I owe a lot to gully cricket.