Bitter 'Rasagolla'

I couldn't believe my eyes. It is one of those 'unthinkables', may be by restricting self to 'unthinkables' i am being nice (my vocab isn't strong either). A sin, unpardonable crime has been commited. In the land of Kali her own son has be cornered. Yes, Sourav Ganguly, Bengal's greatest sporting gift to India is once again questioned, this time from within (probably first and will be the last time to happen). Avid followers of Prince (i being one of them) are shell shocked. Anti-Dada campaign in the heart of Bengal - I for one never thought that it can happen.

The poster read "Dada theke dadu bhai / tabu cricket khela chaai" -- Dada has become 'Dadu' (grand father) & still wants to play cricket. If that statement wasn't enough it had message for the IPL caretakers of KKR "Souravke tara re/Kolkata jitbe re" - Fire sourav if you want to win. In Indian cricket this is nothing new for cricketers in general, the 1.3 billions fans who follow the game are all 'Experts' (We all think we play better and understand the game superior to the 11 that go out and play the game). But the thing that doesn't sink in me is how can it happen to Dada and too in Bengal - 'Insane'. If it happened to Sachin in mumbai under the leadership of 'Marati Manoos' or to Dhoni in Jharkhand it wouldn't have come as an iota of surprise. But this getting dished out in Bengal is altogether different.

Bengal has always been known for its passion for sports. Be it be any sport (soccer, cricket) they wear heart on the sleves and admire it. And to those masses when Sourav turned out innings after innings taking Indian cricket to its Pinnacles, it was celebration time. The little boy from Kolkatta had become everything for them. He had become their 'Dada'. When the world questioned Ganguly they stood behind their Icon. Ganguly's enemies were Bengal's enemies. They took on the entire world (in any forum Tv chats, Interviews, public debates) and braved their child for more.It was a relation probably the whole world envied. It was emotional, it was PASSIONATE.

It took a certain innings of 88 runs the following day from the 'Lord of Offside' to answer the tweets of the selfcentered 'Bollywood Shame' (Sharukh Khan, I hate Hema Malini for giving this dual faced hypocrate a break and Yash Raj for giving him all those wonderful roles) rather than a reminder of his aura to the Kolkatta or his fans. 2007 of Indian Cricket (The Rising of the Pheonix) is still fresh in the minds of the people from the land of Hoogly and the rest of India too. He forever had to live with critics and enviers for the mere reason that he was Unique & Succesful (he installed belief into us, he captained us for victories-India & Abroad, he stood by his players against world and will remain the Icon who changed the way we played the game). He had the land of 15 million people behind him no matter what. Their 18 years of love story would become an Oscar winning movie by itself. But if every movie needs a villian and to spice it up even more if it is a 'Vibhishana' (the cult fig in Indian history who leaked his family secrets) then on March 30th we got The New Alipore Cricket lovers' Association (NACLA), under whose banner the poster appeared, even painted Sourav's picture with his hairs white and a walking stick on Sourav's left hand, the hand that holds the bat. They committed Sin. They will never be pardoned by the macher jhol, rasagolla and Dada loving people. I only could see the families of NACLA culprits abandoning them for the love of 'Son of Kali- Saurav'. Their love story continues; within 48 hours the posters were stripped away from the streets and support to Saurav was capturing the headlines once again (status co).