Cricket v/s Rain- The cover play - Part II

....As I was feeling cold and sick, the rain stopped and they announced that the match would start by 9 p.m. All of us felt very happy about it and continued our photo session. The 'cover-men' (men who covered and uncovered the plastic sheets) removed all the sheets on the pitch and out ground. Albeit I was wearing a thick jacket, I started feeling really cold as I was already half wet for not having a hood over my head. I need to mention about a man who showed his moves in the stadium. This man was a stranger who was sitting in the row, which was just in front of us. He was completely sloshed and was continuously dancing for the music which was played in the stadium. He was dressed in white shirt and white trousers, wearing a lot of gold ornaments in his fingers and neck (such a show off I say!!). His paunch was making him look like a droll man. When he went to a hyper mood, the guy next to him fortunately took the man away from us.

Pitter patter it started raining again, this time a little heavily. I thought, that we had to get into the wilderness to get good glimpses of the rain and nature. But what a stupendous view that was, watching rain in the floodlights. It was totally worth it!! After enjoying the view, we were a little disappointed that there was no sign of the match starting shortly. The cover-men came running with the sheets as soon as the rain started pouring again. It turned out to be a game for itself, covering and uncovering the ground. But you have to admit that those men were filled with such good spirits. They were not looking tired or were not seeming that they were whining about their job. They laughed, they shouted, they smiled and were with full of energy.

It was 9.35 by my watch. We assumed that the match was not going to happen and decided to leave. We thought we will go to some restaurant, have dinner and then go home. We walked back till the exit of the stadium in the rain itself and immediately the rain stopped. Had we jinxed it for RCB!!??
Then came a roaring noise from the crowd inside the stadium. The noise gave us a run of goose bumps and we thought the match would commence any minute now as the rain had also stopped. We ran back inside the stadium again, where our seats were gone. We had to literally fight for a new set of seats for us to sit on. We waited for any announcements but there was a sudden, pin drop silence in the stadium.

Plip plop, the rain began again. They didn't announce anything in the stadium but we called people at our homes and found out that the cut-off time was 11.20 p.m, that they would wait till that time and if the rain stopped, they would conduct a five-over match. After waiting till almost 11 p.m, we decided we'll leave again. Everyone were hungry and we thought, we should find some restaurant that would be open for 24 hrs as it was already post 11. Ten of us had gone to the stadium in 2 cars, 5 people in each car and I had to switch cars while going back. Me, Pinku, Maddy, Simha and Yash had to go together in Maddy's car. We left the stadium and started walking to the parking lot where Maddy had parked his car.

We walked at least for 1 k. m. but could not find the car. For the first time we walked through the Cubbon Park in the mid night and it was an amusing experience. Finally we found Maddy's car by around 12 a.m. and we drove towards the restaurant 'Empire' in Church street. As we had anticipated, the rain didn't stop and 'Empire' was over-flooded with plenty of RCB fans. We didn't have any space to get-in or have dinner, so we decided to hunt for restaurants nearby. Our cars were already parked and we managed to find some restaurant finally, by running around in the rain at 12.30 a.m.The person in that restaurant told us that there was nothing else but Pasta available. We agreed!!

Later, after Deepak went and spoke to the garcon, he agreed to serve us soup and Veg. Biriyani along with the Pasta. We didn't order any fancy food, nor any kind of drink. Just for the Biriyani, Pasta and Soup, our cheque came up to Rs. 5000!!!! :(  This was the big surprise of the day for all of us!!!!  The cheque at the restaurant turned out to be more expensive than the ticket price for the match. :( The sad part was the soup wasn't even tasting good and we had to waste most of it. Not at all worth it!! At the end, we left from there and reached our homes by around 1.30 a.m.

So this is the story of the "Cover play" - Covering and uncovering the ground!!!!