Eden at it's best- well almost

Disclaimer: I always try and see the positive side of things but the series of events that took place forced me against my conventional rule. I may be incorrect. These are my views. Please read at your own risk…

8th February- Who could have been more happy than me. All these days I had been grumbling and cursing VTU for the odd timing of our holidays but I was more than happy when I heard that the Eden match and the famed book fair of Calcutta would be coinciding with my visit.

A day night ODI at Eden (capacity 90,000), a fairytale comeback for Dada (Sourav) and a ticket just beside the Indian players dressing room- all made a perfect recipe for a perfect cricket match at the perfect ground and with a perfect company. Phew!!! Calcutta was grooming for an encounter with the world cup team. Almost all the tickets were sold 2 days prior to the scheduled date of the match. In fact the cost of black tickets of the Club house on the day of the match was as much as 12,000 bucks. Wow, I should have sold my ticket for a higher price but then craziness surpasses everything. Crazy for being a part of that Mexican wave (banned in Australia because it distracts players, but who cares when the crowd is in full swing), crazy for that cheap paint on your face which affects your skin, crazy for cheering the team India and crazy for a feast for the eye..

All was fine till the rain gods decided to shower their blessing a couple of days before the ‘grand event’. Well, Calcutta is Kali Ma’s place and everyone prayed and prayed and prayed which resulted in 8th Feb starting with a sunny morning (for me morning means 10 A.M. so don’t blame me for the weather conditions before that). So the celebrations rolled on and Calcutta’s other works came to a standstill and I was inside the stadium by 12:30(yes, 2 hours before the scheduled start of the match.)

Players practicing, stadium full so why won’t Calcutta tremble. The whistles were out and the banners were ready and we were gearing up until we heard a loud sound- Dhoom.. It came a few feet away from where we were seated. It so happened that a stout man (heavier than me.. ) stood on the cemented seat and it came down crashing ( see picture for more details ). No injuries. No problems. Small things happen in big grounds such as these. We were back to our self. The weather office had said that there was possibility of slight rainfall but we guessed it wasn’t a big problem at all. A ground like Eden is fully equipped to small crisis such as these. But we were proved wrong.

Dravid won the toss, elected to field and the first ball was driven for four. Doesn’t matter “Dada hai na”. Our block was jampacked but still people were trickling in. We knew how. Today was a day of celebration- let even the police earn. We adjusted but even then petty fights broke out here and there. No problem. Calcutta was just gearing up. Wickets fell and a deafening noise echoed the stadium. Mexican waves were at full swing. It couldn’t have got better than that. Even Jayasuria’s hits were cheered. Afterall the Indians need some runs to chase. Overconfident..

18.2 overs..4 P.M. .. One and half hour of play and then the dreaded thing happened. The players were walking back to their dressing room. Oh shit! The match will have to be shortened by a few overs. Doesn’t matter but Dravid’s decision to field first was absolutely correct. Maybe the D/L rule can also come into affect later. The short drizzle converted into heavy shower and the skies opened up. Monsoon came early in Calcutta. There was mahem in the open sitting area. All were running to the basement for cover. “fine, the rain will stop. Don’t worry”, I was telling this to my friends when suddenly imaginary cracks appeared on the ceiling and water (DIRTY WATER) started falling just infront of us. The rain might have lasted for about half an hour. The authorities were on the ground by 5 and rescue work started. Plastic covers had been placed earlier and a sloppy looking super sopper entered the field to dry the uncovered areas. We surveyed. None. Just 1 soaker for such a huge ground. It will take almost an hour to dry the whole ground. Shit! Precious time lost.

Comments began to trickle in. “why can’t they just cover the whole ground using plastic sheets?” , “1 soaker.. usse kya hoga?(what will happen with that?)”. Anyway I thought it doesn’t matter much. We waited and waited and waited….

But mind you this is Calcutta. We were not idle. Cheers and the wave was on. The party was on in full swing. Hurray! But 1 super sopper and 9 groundsmen. Is this the limit and capability of one of the best ground? And look at the god damn pace of the workers. They are walking at a speed of 0.00001 m/sec. Just when these things were being discussed the machine went of order and sprayed all the water in the ground itself. What shit man.. It was repaired and after sometime instead of throwing the water outside the ground, the worker threw it inside. The whole crowd was shouting but why wasn’t he stopping? Never mind. Some more time lost. In total the machine broke down 5 times..

It was already 6 and they had not yet removed covers. 5 workers were standing and gossiping. The hand sponges were not working. What was happening? Will anyone tell us?

The umpires, Dravid and Ganguly walked out amidst loud cheers at 6:30. They inspected the something. Wait man.. the work is underway(though sloppy). They had a long chat. Sharad Pawar came out and waved to the crowd. We went berserk. That was a sure sign that the match was going to take place. Until… Until… we saw that it was displayed on the board that a ‘final inspection’ was going to take place at 8:30. shit! Maybe it will be a 20 over match per side.

We were happy. India had the upper edge. A nice game will be seen today. But to our surprise the working speed of the groundsmen decreased further. Before this announcement a small wet part was visible and even after 4 hours nothing was done to cover that. The groundsmen were just standing and staring. What the heck…
Oh yes and I forgot to mention something. While removing the covers(whose apparent job is to collect water over itself and protect the layer beneath), the workers spilled all the water in the ground itself. What was this? Were they trained people? Something was seriously wrong..

We again waited and waited (that small patch was still wet), until news came around 8:20 that the players had left. What? We refused to believe in that rumour. Dravid, Mahela and the umpires walked out at 8:30, patted on that wet patch and went back with only the umpires staying back and talking to a commentator. What? We still refused to listen to the rumours. What was happening? The stadium still had around 70,000 people (fools) waiting to watch a 20-20 match. After about 15 minutes it was displayed on the board-“play called off”.

What? All of us were shell shocked and were being pushed towards the door by the rushing crowd. So sad. The players had left by 8:15 and we fools were waiting to watch a match. Is Eden not adequate to fight a half hour off season rainfall? 1 super sopper? 9 groundsmen?

Next day the authority reports, “ We never received any intimation that it’s going to rain. The groundsmen worked very hard but unfortunately some water was still left on the ground because of which the match couldn’t take place. We actually have 2 machines but 1 was at Jadavpur University.” Wow! Will god come at your house to tell that it’s gonna rain baby and was the other machine………..(control)

If we take the average price of a ticket as 600 bucks (will certainly be higher than that) then Eden gets around 600*90,000. Sorry I forgot my mathematics. Isn’t this money enough to hire adequate people to dry the ground when everyone knows that it’s going to rain? Ok lets agree it’s not adequate but why play with the emotions and time of public? (not public god damn ‘fools’). I guess even at 6 they made up their mind that at no cost will they allow a match to take place. But why keep us waiting bruder?

Agreed your ground, your players, our choice to be fools and come and watch a match but why were we kept in dark about the conditions? Wow! Players leaving before the inspection. Great man. No doubt India still remains a ‘developing country’. But don’t worry you people can’t be reason enough to hinder our progress to fulfill our President’s dream(off the topic). Once bitten twice shy.. Eden ‘was’ my favourite ground.