India won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2012.... & cricket explained!!

Yes, India totally did it. After defeating Pakistan in last match, India defeated Sri Lanka in an awesome match played at Vankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India. I am very-very happy. last time they won was 1983, I wasn't even born then. They really had to wait a along time to win it again... considering Cricket is like the National Sport of India; which it actually is not, the official national sport is Hockey or Field Hockey as american's say it. But India really won & its AWESOME.

You know what, let me take this opportunity to explain cricket here. FYI: Baseball is something like Cricket. In Cricket, there are 2 teams with 11 players each. Both the teams get to Play 50 overs. One over has 6 balls, which means the bowler throes the ball to batsman 6 times in one over. The toss between two Captains decides which team selects to bat or bowl first & the other team does the other. The batting team sends 2 batsman on field to face the bowler. The bowling team does fielding as well, with one bowler bowling and rest 10 fielding i.e. trying to catch/stop the bowl. The batsman run between the two wickets & every one complete run gives one RUN/point. If the ball is hit directly outside field boundary, its 6 runs & if it drags to boundary its 4 runs. If the ball hits the wickets (the tree stumps behind batsman), he's considered OUT & replaced by next batsman. Even if the ball is caught directly after the batsman hits, its a catch & the batsman gets out. There are lost of other details but forget about it for now. Once the first batting team is done playing either 50 overs or until their 10 batsman last (last batman can't play alone), they have a score fro the other team to chase. The 2nd team tries to make that score in 50 overs & within its 11 players (10 batsman to get out). 1st team tries to get them all out before they can make score or not let them make that score in 50 overs. The team with more score at the end wins. SIMPLE!!!

Yesterday was April Fool's Day. I celebrated this day as a smart person doing smart thing. Might have started as a fool actually; someone knows what I am saying.... LOL. So again -> CONGRATULATIONS to all my fellow Indians or Indian Tea supporters for this awesome win, we made it happen. We did it.. Thanks & have FUN..... WE ROCK!!!!!

India won against Pakistan in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Semi-Final

So big news is that India won against Pakistan in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Semi-Final. Big deal?? Totally!! A cricket match of India & Pakistan is a BIG deal always. And this is Cricket World Cup. Pakistan's PM was invited & watching the game being played in Mohali in India (to see his team lose). Pakistan's Home Minister Mr Malik threatened his players saying "it'll really suck for them if they fix the match or lose" (or something like that, not sure). And they lost.... Bad for them, I don't know what's he gonna do. Or what Pakistani cricket fans will do (throw rotten eggs & tomatoes, they really do it). But you see... one team had to lose. That's how most of the games work. 2 people or 2 parties play & one loses, one wins. Pakistan has never defeated India in World Cup anyways. They just could not again, history repeated itself (right? that's what you say). I am no Cricket Expert to make comments or judgements that 'why this happened' (liek many so called experts or even on the street/train/office/coffee-shop cricket fans are doing). I am just happy India won. My lunch guy was not though. I sometimes pickup lunch from this wonderful cart on Wall Street, great food. It's run by this Pakistani guy... & he didnt seem excited/happy at all. I mean ofcourse he wont be, but he was visibly upset. Sauce overflowing in my platter, not looking good & what-not. He did try to congratulate me (like I made it happen). Even I was congratulating all my friends & family.. why do we do that?? Anyways... Good that India won. India deserves it & so does Sachin. It's gonna happen this time, we will win World Cup!!!

BTW, for all you americans & non-cricket followers, who are saying WHAT IS CRICKET???? I'll write another blog to explain cricket . In the meantime you can click here & read this if it helps. SO, until next time... Good Bye, Good Luck... TEAM INDIA ROCKS, LETS DO IT!!!

Sachin hits Double Century

Sachin made a not-out double century in One Day International Cricket, the first ever by any cricketer ever (Click here for detailed news). He already has the most number of centuries & runs in both one days & tests, isn't he just the best.. ofcourse he is!! People have doubted him & his talent at many occassions, but he has always come back and proved them wrong. He's the living legend of the game of cricket. I have always admired him, he's not just a greatest player but a great star, great celebrity & great person. Congratulations Sachin, great job... we are all proud of you & All the Best!!

Trip to Marlborough/Westborough... Hopkinton State Park

So, it was my first trip outside the city since I came here and it was to Marlborough (& it's not where Marlboro cigarettes are made or not even remotely connected). Why was I there? There was a summer party/picnic from my work there at Hopkinton State Park. Remember those amazing picnics we used to have with family/friends as kids; all the fun & excitement of food, play & fun. can't do that now I guess!! So, I went a day in advance to be ready for the event. I took the commuter rail to go there from South Station (Boston) & reached Westborough station on Friday. Commuter rails are pretty cool, they are double storied and I traveled on the top floor to get the experience (reminded me of the double-decker bus we used to have in New Delhi when i was a kid, they are not there any more. It was like a bus on top of the bus, without a driver!!). You can buy the ticket at the station or you can even buy inside the train when the TT comes (without any fine... but make sure you buy it & don't think of going WT i.e without ticket plz). The ride was nice & the view outside the train was fine too. I reached my destination in evening & stayed with my friend for the night.

Saturday was the 1st day of Navratri so after waking up in morning I thought of going to temple. There's a temple nearby in Ashland called Laxmi Temple. It is a south Indian Temple (yeah, south Indian temples are different from North Indian Temples. They had a temporary made up Durga for navratri!!). So, I went to the temple... It's quite large in a nice place & it was good. Then I went to the park. As usual, weather was fooling & faking it. Yeah, here in US it's normal... It's so damn sunny outside but you step out & its chilly cold. Same was the scene there, it was very windy & chilly outside (& inspite of facing it so many times, I got fooled again & I was wearing just a T-shirt & left my jacket at home. it always happens here). Luckily it was better later in noon with sun kicking the heat up. It's a huge park with fake beach (it's normal in US to make fake beaches in these lovely parks. I could understand in Kansas which was thousands miles away from real beach but why here??), lovely greenery & nice grounds. Friends & people (well, everyone is not a friend) showed up in some time & they started with a game of cricket (now you get a bunch of Indian guys in a ground even in US, all they want to do is play cricket). We tried to get some American folks too to play with us (why am I saying we, I never played. I don't play cricket, or any outdoor game much for the fact!!) & taught them cricket & how similar or different it is from baseball. Suddenly they decided to quit cricket as its not fun & play soccer (yes dear, in US the football is what is played with hand & also known as American Football. & what the world calls football is known as soccer only). After some gaming the time came for food & the grills were on. The food was good & there was lots of stuff to eat, I had samosa burger (just stuff samosa inside a bun, easy-breezy. make sure you use lots of ketchup or sauce too!!) for 1st time which was actually nice. Then time came to play some team game with everyone & they decided to play rumal-dupatta (you don't know rumal-dupatta, c'mon!!) and my team won (& I did play this time & I played well!!). We also did kayaking in the lake there & I did pretty well there too. Kayaking is fun, but it needs skill too & it's real full upper-body workout. Overall it was a nice day of fun at the park... meeting new people, hanging out, eating good food & having lots of fun.

Then we drove back home & rested. In the night we went to dunkin donuts for dinner... I asked for there special toffee donut they had on display but turns out they didn't have it. Then I took a low fat blueberry muffin (I am really into low/no fat/sugar food these days. however the muffin was coated with sugar!!) & the guy offered free donut with that. I like this thing about American service industry, they always try to make sure that customers are happy & will do anything needed for that. You can't do that in India, can you?? We know how to take advantage of everything, I know people taking advantage of the return policies here (would get into more details some other time but many of you know what I mean). The mufin was actually nice & donut was okay too, then I went off to bed for the day. That's all I got for today, I know that Cambridge Carnival blog is till pending & would be coming soon. Until then guys & galz & friendz & foes... bye, take care & Jai Ho!!!