Explain this, someone!

Sometime during the week that went by, I was driving up from Powai towards Andheri, a nice, sunny but pleasant afternoon, lots of breeze, the waters of Powai lake being rippled into small waves....  as one approaches the flyover at the L&T junction, just as one begins to make that little climb, you see the top of the L&T Infotech building.

 

 

That bit of cloth flying up there is a sight. All across the city, and elsewhere in the country too, one encounters many such bits of clothing - sometimes hanging limply, sometimes fluttering bravely. But THIS one piece caught my fancy, made me wonder. The Indian FLAG, when it flies like this in a gusty breeze - WHY does it make one's heart quicken when flags of political parties do not? Look around - the Congress, the BJP, Shiv Sena, RPI, NCP, CPI you name it and they are there, jostling for space. And, amid all, an occasional Indian flag, standing proud, just makes one sit up that little bit straighter, square one's shoulders and brings a quizzical smile.... thank you, Naveen Jindal! Why does THIS bit of cloth appear special and different from the others?

 

 

 If it is "patriotism" - in some undefined, vague form - then, I ask myself, what the hell happened YESTERDAY?

 

Reaching home around 8 pm, plonked in front of my TV I watched the Bangladesh team carry out a brutal execution, demolishing the Indian bowling - and, I found myself actually laughing, laughing out loud, at the look of puzzled despair on Irfan Pathan's face. Praveen Kumar, for one over, flattered to deceive while Dhoni remained, unruffled, ice cold and in control of his emotions till the very end.

 

Where did THAT emotion vanish? Had this been an India - Pak or an India - Australia match I guess I would have been a mixture of anger, frustration, depression, tension etc. I don't need to describe that - YOU know it as well as I do! But yesterday, with every ball that went screaming over the ropes, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hassan simply waltzed their way right into my heart - guys, you just have to hand it to them for their sheer audacity, the attack was blunt, brutal and brave. And I enjoyed it so much - this, despite an overdose of cricketing defeats in recent times. 

 

Patriotism, someone said something?    

 

Sats