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The Spare Crib/ Abhilasha Khaitan

It's raining on my parade...

I thought it rained in Spain. But, the rain in the plains of Aussieland didn't stay away, either. We were expecting Hurricane Lee, and that would have at least been speedy and short, right?! What they didn't tell me was that it rained in Australia. And, like so. Thought everything these guys did, they did with aggression. But the rain, that was mild and irritating. Why it didn't just come down, and be done and over with, I couldn't figure out. Would have been a darned sight better than waiting and waiting.

So, I'm concerned about my mates. Yeah, I do tend to catch on to the lingo fastish. Sharp, thats me. As I was saying, the boys were a mite worried, laundry bills and all that. Just kidding. Like they say at Channel 9, "Great day at the MCG, so what if its raining, and its not packed and Junior's not looking good...".

Us guys who get to watch a bit of TV, waiting to bring in the drinks, also get a load of them guys who talk. And, if some part of my career were dependent on what they had to say about me, I'd be a goner. Thankfully, not only is my career not dependent on them, currently I don't exactly have one. Career, that is. Okay, so I'm begging for sympathy. Anybody?!

About today. Boxing Day finally arrived. Paaji's off his crutches, and Mongia off to Mumbai. We felt really bad, letting him go. We may feel even worse if Prasad's finger gets worse! Kinda awkward calling the boy back, huh? And if that doesn't happen, then my heart goes out to my dear friend Rahul. Just when he'd dumped his wicket-keeping gear into the recesses of his baggage and memory....

Oh, you guys do know what happened today right? Besides the rain, the hoopla about young Lee being given the baggy green, a couple of wickets for Sri, some dissent, oops, make that disappointment, from Langer and all around excitement, panic and what have you over whether the weather would hold up?

Not much. Heh! Heh! It's true though, it was a rather boring day. I don't know what they mean in Australia when they say 'big crowds expected'? Is it relative to the country's population or what? When we say big crowds in India, say for instance in Calcutta or Ahmedabad, come rain, hail or even snow, we're talking big numbers. But the chappies here are selling any number over 10,000 as huge.

Well, ours not to wonder at the demographics of Aussieland. Ours to wonder at our psychographics. And the way I see it, we're doing just fine, again. So, it wasn't exactly as great a day as we'd have liked. 138 for 3, umm, well, pretty much on even keel, we think, could've been better, and could've been much worse!! For instance, had Blewett not played on and gone on, Anil would've been in the dog house, and we, in deep excreta, I'd say!!

But the cookie crumbles thus. Junior, comes in, makes sure that we see him at Sydney, courtsey a few multiples of 10, and then, adios amigos. Welcome, Big Bro, nice day at the MCG, eh? All yours!

And that was that for the day.

Oh, what was I doing when all this was happening? Hey, I was in the thick of the action, right there with Paaji, planning, strategy, you know, all that conceptual stuff? Yeah, that's what I'm doing till such time the recorder comes through. We were thinking of buying it before the tour is done, but it looks like both my careers, cricketer and cinematographer, are non-starters. ( I hope the handkerchiefs are out, ladies, and as far as the men are concerned, they can just can it!!)

Think I'll just settle for being a commentator. Thats an easy job. Get to talk a lot about something which I know nothing about, and be paid to do it, in Australian dollars, no less. Sounds good, eh?

So, I'm sulking and cribbing, but hey, isn't that where I come in?!

The Spare Crib/Abhilasha Khaitan