Lagaan!

Had a great trip to my native place. As I said, the Kumbhabhishekham of our ancestral temple was the backdrop of some 60-70 of us, extended family getting together. Getting to meet some of them after almost 4 - 5 years, there just was not enough time to catch up with our lives. Or to pull each others' legs, play some pranks, etc etc

We cousins made the most of it - took bath in the tubewell ('pumpset'), initiated some of the younger cousins into the KuruviMalai Baywatch Team ;) (I hope we escaped from the prying eyes of the paparazzi!), played cricket against the local team and so on..

We have a river running just behind our house and most of the time, there is hardly any water flowing. So, that becomes our default cricket pitch. Usually we play amongst ourselves with all the uncles and aunts joining in, either in the team or the cheering squad. This time we decided to involve the locals too. There it was: Lagaan XI vs KuruviMalai XI (Or may be we were the goras!)

The first match was a complete rout: we just didnt have enough practise you see.. We made some 43 and they finished it in just 3 overs! @*#^#$ ! In the next one, we made some 52. And then the match saw some sterling bowling performance by you-know-who! I took three wickets in the second over of the match and the local team was grappling for runs :) That included a spectacular catch by one of my cousins that put the Indian cricket team to shame. Followed with some tight bowling by the inspired team and yet another three wicket haul by another cousin of ours and the local team was bowled out for some 38 or so. I ended with the match figures of 3Overs-0Maidens-10Runs-4wickets!!! (that doesnt include the local maidens bowled over by my performance ;) :P

The Pooja/Kumbhabhishekham went well and everyone was happy. But, more than anything else, it is the feeling of belongingness and the emotional bond that got stronger and that is preciously beautiful!